How to Apply an Old World Plaster Look to Walls

Clean the wall completely with a dry cloth for dust. Wipe it down with a damp sponge and mild soap or spray cleaner if there are spots or fingerprints on the wall. Let the wall dry before priming.

Prime the wall with a high-quality primer using a paintbrush or paint sprayer.

Purchase Venetian plaster from your hardware or paint store, and have it mixed and tinted in a color you choose. An Old-World finish is usually cream, yellow or brown in color.

Apply the plaster onto the prepared walls with a metal trowel. Use long strokes, holding the trowel at a 90-degree angle.

Overlap your long strokes with short, curved strokes of thin amounts of plaster. The idea is to not make the surface completely flat but to leave some of the plaster raised, so that the curves are detected in the finish.

Cover your entire wall, and let it dry for about 4 hours.

Sand the first coat with coarse sandpaper to prepare for a second coat. Wipe the wall down with a tack cloth before continuing.

Apply a second coat, covering any thin areas or making more of a finished look than you had on the first coat. You can add a third coat, if you want, but it's not mandatory.

Allow the plaster to dry, and sand it between coats.

Rub the finished plaster wall with a clean trowel held flat against the wall or with a sanding sponge. This will burnish the plaster and remove any sharp edges sticking out.

Sand with 600-grit sandpaper, if you desire a more polished look. Wipe down the wall with a damp cloth to remove plaster dust.