For the most part plasters are for interiors only. You do have some other alternatives. If you have unlimited money to spend, look into tadlect. This is not a DIY material. I am a professional faux finisher and worked with a tadlect applicator and I decided not to do it any more. You have several other practical alternatives. You could simply have the wall parged or stuccoed. You can have pigment added to the material and it will maintain it's color. You can paint it a dark color and cover it with trellises and grow vines on it. Made sure to have some evergreen vines if it is visible from your windows in the winter. If it's a prominent feature in your garden, consider doing your own mosaic on it. You could also include a wall fountain made from the mosaic material. If you are on a tight budget, you can make the mosaic out of marble and tile scraps that people get rid of on Craig's list. If the top is really ugly, you can get slabs of stone from a stone yard cut for you, and just mortar them on yourself. Have them cut the pieces into lengths that you can pick up yourself.

Oh dear, Dallasbill...I just saw this post because chiefneil was kind enough to link to the thread on another forum. Thank you so much for posting the pics and linking to more. Your house takes my breath away. That is the *perfect* wall treatment for the design of the home. That last picture of the several planes of wall with the different inflections of the finish...calls to mind Georgia O'Keefe for some reason, that same stillness... Going back to look at it again and sigh.

Hi, Joni, I’ve been researching Venetian plaster for an upcoming project. Behr has an acrylic Venetian plaster (about $35 a Gallon) you can special order. That’s what I’m using, it’s a really nice product.I believe Modern Masters is an acrylic product as well. First of all- there is NO 1-step process for a quality finish. If you have orange peel, you have even more layers (steps) to do because after you prime your walls, you will need at least 1 or two layers of skim coat to smooth out the orange peel texture. Venetian plaster is Usually applied to smooth walls over a primer, then 2 or 3 coats of plaster, the plaster has to be burnished (polished) with the trowel and then sealed with a topcoat of wax or sealer to protect the finish from fingerprints etc. you can apply a wax sealer that has metallic or pearlescent qualities over the Venetian plaster to give it luster and shine. This is a fairly labor-intensive process, that’s why it’s so expensive and usually only seen in higher-end homes, unless you have the time and know-how to do it yourself. Look up Venetian plaster on You-tube and decide if it’s something you want to take on. It’s a very cool product, but you may just want to do an accent wall. Let me know if you have any other questions- I am working on some sample boards I’m doing for my fireplace chase project. Here’s a pic of one with 3 layers of plaster over a piece of drywall that I skim-coated smooth, then primed. The darker areas have wax on them, the dark corner has colored wax on it- I’m experimenting before I do my project, and you should too, Good Luck!

@Sonya M, I ended up doing Venetian plaster throughout the kitchen. I did not want the walls to be very shiny, so the plasterer kept it relatively matte. She applied a special wax behind the stove, which makes it wipeable, but also gives that wall a little more sheen. So far it's working pretty well. We have splattered hot oil and tomato sauce on the wall, and it mostly wipes right off. The only issue we've run into is that she missed a few spots when she applied the wax, so we'll occasionally find a spot where the plaster stains. She's coming back to finish some other things, so I'm going to ask her to apply another coat of wax. I think if she hits the areas she missed on the first round, we'll be very happy with it. I designed the kitchen, but I did hire a kitchen design company because they had a relationship with a good custom cabinet manufacturer near me. I couldn't order cabinets directly through the manufacturer on my own. The kitchen designers had some very helpful suggestions, so I was happy I worked with them.