While the words "straw bale" are used to describe these homes, it's really the plaster that defines them. The plaster is the visible skin that makes people reach out to touch it and can give a stunning beauty to the home.
There are many types of plaster available for straw bale walls, from cement/sand/lime, to straight sand/lime, to earth and clay plasters and gypsum plasters. And these can all be finished with a variety of techniques from standard latex paint to lime washes, silicate paints with pigments, clay slip and alis. You can even do a traditional frescoe into wet lime plaster the way the great renaissance masters did (just ask Apollo Art Productions).
Here, the base coat of cement/sand/lime is covered by a lime plaster (1/2" thick) and then a lime wash. Then a silicate paint with red ochre pigment is painted on.
This is a drywall/stud frame wall that has been skim coated with a 1/4" layer of lime plaster, limewash, and silicate paint ragged in. Notice the sconce light plastered into the wall.
