The sample-board consult
How a sample-board visit works
A hand finish changes with the light, the wall under it and the color next to it. A board lets you see all three in your own house before anyone starts.
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Step 1: The visit
Ariadna or Estefania comes while the room is in use. We look at the light, ask how you live in the room, and check the wall: what it is made of, what is on it, where it cracks.
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Step 2: Finished boards
We bring a case of finished boards: limewash, polished and troweled plaster, glazes, metallics. You lay them against your floor, trim and furniture.
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Step 3: Up to three, in your colors
You choose up to three. Azucena remakes them in your colors, and we leave them with you to tape up and move around the room.
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Step 4: Look at them at seven, noon and after dark
Tucson light turns a warm board pink at dusk and a gray one blue at noon. A few days with the boards shows you what the wall will do.
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Step 5: A test patch, if the wall asks for one
Old plaster and patched walls take a finish unevenly. We finish a hand-sized patch behind a door or inside a closet and let it cure before you decide.
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Step 6: The written estimate
Once you have chosen, Estefania writes the estimate wall by wall, with the finish, the coats, the prep, the days and what is not included.
On the board
What a sample board shows you
Each board is finished the way your wall would be finished, so it shows more than a color.
The finish, coat for coat, on a primed panel
How the color shifts from one hour to the next
How much texture the trowel leaves
What the finish looks like next to your trim and floor
What to expect
A chip, a board and a test patch
Each one answers a different question.
| What it shows | Paint chip | Sample board | Test patch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Color | Paint chipA flat color, printed | Sample boardThe color as the finish changes it | Test patchThe color on your own wall |
| Texture | Paint chipNone | Sample boardThe texture the trowel or brush leaves | Test patchHow your wall takes that texture |
| Light | Paint chipLooked at once, in the store | Sample boardMoved around your room for days | Test patchSeen in one spot only |
| Time | Paint chipA minute | Sample boardA few days at home | Test patchA day to cure |
Questions about the board visit
What happens at a sample-board visit?
Ariadna or Estefania comes when the room is in use, looks at the light and the wall, and lays finished boards against your floor and trim. You pick up to three to be remade in your colors and left with you.
Do the sample boards cost anything?
Your written estimate says whether boards carry a charge and whether it is credited toward the job. Ask at the first call and we will tell you before we make any.
Can you match a color I already have?
We can come close with a board, and we say so honestly: a hand finish changes the color you start from. You see the board in your own light before we begin.
What does a written estimate state?
Each wall and its size, the repairs we expect, the finish and the number of coats, the colors, the days on site, the payment schedule and what is not included. The How pricing works page shows a good one next to a vague one.
Ready to see the boards in your room?
Tell us the room and we will find a day that works.