Ability Building Colours ’ surface coating, ‘the Paint’, has been used to imitate the appearance of mid-19th century stucco in Victoria’s Beleura heritage refurbishment project. By using a combination of two custom-designed colours and a variety of non-standard application methods, ‘the Paint’ is helping to achieve a blend of old and new in this popular house-museum.
Located on the picturesque Mornington Peninsula, Beleura is arguably one of Victoria’s most important heritage mansions. Whilst the house and gardens have long remained one of the State’s best kept secrets, the bequest of Beleura’s reclusive owner John Tallis, has seen the property transformed into a house-museum and opened to the public.
While the majority of users of ‘the Paint’ want a uniform and consistent finish, for Beleura the opposite was true. In order to match the mottled and age-worn finish of the exposed 1860s mortar stucco, the two colours were used in combination with a range of application methods, including brushing, sponging and roller application. In addition, the intentionally inconsistent aged effect was further enhanced by leaving ‘the Paint’ to dry without spray curing.
The coating has been used on the exterior walls of the main house, the summer house and the gatehouse, as well as on a number of internal columns, large decorative concrete urns, planter boxes and vases inside the gatehouse and throughout Beleura’s extensive manicured gardens.
