A Bedroom From Bare Plaster to Finished

The first photograph is the room before the finish work: new white plaster, new ceiling and lighting, a heavy six-panel door hung and cased, the hardwood laid and finished, and beds moved in against a wall that still has nothing on it. Three restored windows across two elevations, and not a lot else.

The second is the same room in use — wainscot panelling and chair rail run around the walls, curtains up, a round wall mirror, and a bed and crib in place. The plaster, the floor, the trim, the casings and the panelling are the parts we built; the rest is the family's.

It is a quiet project and it is the kind of room that makes or breaks a whole-home renovation. Square walls, level floors, consistent casing reveals and windows that actually close — the work nobody photographs, in the room everybody lives in.