Case Study: Sandy Two-Tone Limewash and a Microcement Front Desk at Studio Eleven Pilates, Ottawa

Project Snapshot

The Brief

A pilates studio lives on two things: how it feels when you walk in, and how it looks on Instagram. The designers wanted a palette of warm sand, pale oak and soft greige upholstery, with the walls doing the heavy lifting. The finish had to look rich under track lighting without any glare, hold up to a constant flow of people brushing past with mats and bags, and give the front desk a presence a painted box never has.

Limewash and microcement were the natural answers. Both are mineral finishes. Both take light softly instead of bouncing it back. And both are colour-matched by hand on site, which matters when the tile, millwork and upholstery are already ordered and the walls have to land exactly where the designer wants them.

The Limewash: A Custom Two-Tone Sandy Finish

We mixed a custom sandy base to sit between the oak millwork and the upholstery, then hand-brushed a lighter second tone over it. The two tones move across the wall in soft clouds rather than stripes, so from across the room the surface reads as one warm colour, and as you get closer it opens into depth and movement. The limewash runs up the walls and continues across the ceiling of the lounge, which is what makes the room feel wrapped rather than painted.

The studio’s motto, Strength. Sculpt. Elevate., is mounted in dimensional lettering directly onto the limewash. We finished the wall first and the lettering went on over a fully cured surface, so the shadows from the letters fall on real texture. Along the hallways and around the change room doors the same two-tone finish continues, so there is no visible break between front of house and back. The organic-shaped mirror in the lounge is set into the limewash wall and the finish runs right to its edge.

The Microcement Front Desk

The reception desk is the first thing a client sees, and the designers wanted it to read as one carved block. We built up the microcement in thin coats over the desk’s substrate, wrapping the front face, the return and the top so there is no seam, no edge banding and no visible joint. The rounded corners were shaped by hand. The colour was matched to the limewash so the desk and the wall behind it belong to the same family, while the oak shelving and studio signage sit against it in contrast.

Microcement is sealed, so the top handles keys, phones, water bottles and the daily wipe-down without staining. It is the right material for a surface hundreds of people lean on every week.

Working With the Designer

Wei Sanchez Design Studio specified us in the drawings, which meant the general contractor tendered the finishing scope to us directly. We produced sample boards for both limewash tones and the microcement colour, reviewed them under the studio’s actual lighting, and locked the palette before the first coat went on. That is the workflow we want on every commercial project: the designer picks the direction, we bring the samples to site, everyone signs off before the work starts.

If you are a designer or architect in Ottawa and want a finishing applicator you can spec by name, that is exactly what we do. See our commercial services or the Carletto restaurant case study for another recent commercial project.

Photo Gallery

Why Limewash and Microcement Work in Fitness and Wellness Spaces

• Calm under hard light: mineral finishes absorb track and spot lighting instead of reflecting it, so the room photographs well and never looks flat.
• Built for traffic: limewash cures into the wall and scuffs are touched up by hand; microcement is sealed and wipes clean.
• One material, many surfaces: walls, ceilings, desks, counters and vanities can all carry the same finish for a continuous look.
• Breathable and zero-VOC: no paint odour in a space where people are breathing hard.

Frequently Asked Questions