Our 30x50' garage with 11' ceiling height is mostly built into a hill and has poured concrete for virtually all of the rear and two side walls. As I finish painting the sheetrocked ceiling, I can just imagine how good the garage will look once the big concrete walls and floor are also finished. I think I've settled on a coating for the floor, but the big unknown is how I should make the big poured concrete walls have a finished look.

I will eventually mount some cabinets and some of those horizontal modular wall hanging sections to the wall, but it is unlikely that I will end up covering all of the concrete walls with these attachments. Therefore, I'd like to finish the walls such that they have a nicer color, pattern and texture than the current concrete.

I am not keen on using paint or stain because a) the concrete is not smooth to begin with and b) I don't want to deal with the risk of peeling paint down the road.

I am also not interested in using firing strips or framing out the wall and adding sheetrock. Going that route seems like a lot of labor and material while actually reducing the overall volume of the garage.

I am thinking that there has to be a relatively low cost spray on plaster-like coating that would fill in the rough spots of the poured wall and produce a uniform finish (even it ends up being patina-like). Since a contractor with the right equipment and experience could probably knock this job out very quickly, I don't think DIY would make sense other than perhaps me doing the prep (e.g. power washing) and taping off work.

Although we're in the St Louis area where outside temps can get into the teens in Winter, being built into a hill and having some attic and front wall insulate plus insulated garage doors, the garage interior temperature rarely gets into even the high 30's.

Any ideas as to a cost effective, somewhat thicker than paint coating for such a large surface area?