Limewash & Limewash Effect Paint

Limewash gives you a wall with movement in it. Soft, chalky, cloudy, with light and shadow that shift as the day goes on and the colour pooling lighter and darker across the surface instead of sitting flat. It's the finish on old farmhouse walls and lime-washed European interiors, and much nicer than a modern flat matt.

It has all the eco creds and easy to use. Lime paints breathe, letting walls release moisture instead of trapping it, and they pull CO2 back out of the air as they cure. No plastic film, no sheen, just colour and a surface that moves with the light.

If your interested in lime wash effect paints the one I'd go for is Graphenstone Siena. It does everything a traditional limewash does and fixes the thing that usually puts people off about lime paints.  Traditional limewash paints chalks and marks. Graphenstone adds a little natural graphene into Siena and it holds a Class 1 wet scrub rating, the top band, so you can wipe it down and put it in a hallway or a kitchen without it wearing through. It carries Cradle to Cradle Gold, an EPD and an A+ VOC rating too, which is all the eco creds you could need. 

Limewash changes with the light, so try a colour on the wall itself before you commit the whole room.

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Graphenstone Siena - Decorative Limewash Paint
Graphenstone Siena - Decorative Limewash Paint
Graphenstone Siena - Decorative Limewash Paint
Graphenstone Siena - Decorative Limewash Paint
Graphenstone Siena - Decorative Limewash Paint
From £12.00
Graphenstone Siena - Decorative Limewash Paint
New Product!
New gorgeous limewash paint for interiors
Siena is an exciting new decorative lime wash effect paint from Graphenstone, which launched in the UK in June 2026. Everyone is loving it so far, as it's nice to have some texture back on...
£33.00
Traditional Limewash by Lime Earth Paints
Traditional Limewash by Lime Earth Paints
From £17.25
Traditional Limewash by Lime Earth Paints
From £4 a litre
Just add water and mix!
Traditional breathable lime wash paint by Lime Earth Paints for interior and exterior walls that allows buildings to breathe and salts to pass through, by combining naturally hydraulic and non hydraulic limewash bound with acrylic. This...
£17.25

Can I paint over my existing walls?

Usually yes, as long as what's on there now is sound and stuck down properly. Lime needs to grip and it needs to breathe, so over a normal matt emulsion in good condition you give it a light sand to key the surface and a primer where it's needed. Over gloss or anything plasticky, prime first so the lime has something to hold onto. If the old paint is flaking or powdery, sort that out before you start, or the limewash comes away with it.

Is it hard to apply?

It's different from rolling on emulsion rather than harder. You put it on by hand with a brush, mitt or sponge, in loose strokes, and you deliberately don't try to cover the wall evenly. The uneven bit is the whole look, so there's no perfect flat finish to ruin. Most people I sell it to have the hang of it by the end of the first wall. The one mistake to avoid is panicking when the first coat looks thin and loading the brush up to compensate. Go thin, two coats, and the patchiness fills in as it dries.

Lime is high pH. Is that safe?

Wet lime paint is strongly alkaline, around pH 13, so while you're applying it wear gloves and keep it out of your eyes. That's a handling precaution, the same as you'd take with plenty of building materials, not a sign there's anything nasty in it. Once it's dry and cured it's completely inert. Lime is naturally resistant to mould and the paint is very low VOC, so it's one of the better things to have on the walls of a room you actually live in.

How long before I can use the room?

Touch dry in a couple of hours, and you recoat after two to four. Two coats does it. Lime keeps developing for the first three or four days, so the finish can look patchy and thin before it fills in and evens out. Don't rush back with extra coats. You can use the room almost straight away, just leave the walls alone, no scrubbing or washing, while it fully hardens over about a month.

Will it last, or chalk off like old limewash?

This is the old knock against lime, and I'll admit it's a fair one for traditional limewash, which is soft and marks if you brush past it. It's also where Graphenstone Siena is different. There's a little graphene worked into it, and once cured it holds a Class 1 wet scrub rating, the highest band there is. You can wipe it down, and it stands up in a hallway or a kitchen where an ordinary limewash would be marked up within months. The lime look, without the fragility that usually comes with it.

Can I use it in a bathroom or kitchen?

Yes. Keep water off it for the first four or five days while it cures, and in the genuinely damp spots seal it afterwards so it doesn't drink up moisture and stain. Once it's hardened, the Class 1 scrub rating on Siena means it copes with the wipe-downs a kitchen wall gets. The only place to avoid is anywhere in constant contact with water, like inside a shower.

Why choose limewash over normal emulsion?

Standard emulsion is a plastic film. It seals the wall, sits flat, and gives you one even colour. Limewash is a mineral finish that breathes, so the wall lets moisture out instead of trapping it behind plastic, and it carries depth and movement that a flat coat of emulsion never has. It's very low VOC, so the room doesn't reek for days after you've finished. The trade-off used to be durability, and on Siena that gap has closed, so that's no longer a reason to stick with emulsion.

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