Open-plan interior — Shandon

Shandon homes have details. Crown molding, picture rails, plaster walls, original casework with edges softened by a hundred years of paint layers. They're some of our favorite projects because the work shows — but they call for a different prep approach than a new build.

Plaster doesn't take roller pressure the same way drywall does. We skim-coat patches with setting compound, prime any repaired area, and roll lightly so we don't burnish the plaster. The original trim had six layers of paint on it — we lightly stripped the edge profiles with a fine carbide scraper and re-cut sharp paint lines before priming.

Walls got Sherwin-Williams Emerald in a matte finish (the wipeable kind, not the standard flat). Customer wanted a clean warm white that didn't fight the deep wood beams. Trim and the original mantel got Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel, hand-brushed — a sprayed finish on hundred-year-old trim looks wrong every time.

Six days on-site, finished on schedule. Customer kept the family in the house with one bedroom on a different floor sealed off as a refuge. The home reads modern but the original details still tell the story — exactly what they wanted.