This room presented a really big opportunity for us to create a masterpiece.  When we started this room it had a dropped ceiling and 70's styled paneling on the walls.  But the good news was that at least there were remnants of the original room still intact. 

It was really no surprise when we removed the paneling that there was nothing but a disaster awaiting us behind.

So, we carefully demolished the room.  We saved  sections of the Crowne Mouldings as well as the original plaster Corbels.  While removing some of the moldings we found slivers of wallpaper that we later used in picking the colors for the room.

With the plaster and lathe gone, some pretty serious issues with the chimney were revealed.  This was going to require quite a bit of attention indeed.

The mortar in the floor of the fireplace was so weak that it collapsed into the basement, but better now than later.

The plan is always to correct the structural issues first.  All the loose mortar was scraped away and filled with fresh mortar.  As a protective measure we encased the chimney in steel mesh and coated it with a fresh coat of cement. 

This protects the aging bricks and mortar and greatly slows any further decay.

With everything framed, the room was now ready for new walls and ceiling.  We insulated all the walls and ceiling for better acoustics in the future.

The archway was rebuilt exactly like the original

Everything was then all blended together like it never happened except for...

The original plaster Corbels.  During demolition, these were extracted with great care.  Keep in mind that there were cast in place in the 1870's, so they don't come off gracefully.  We then carefully chipped the remains of  the wall off the back until we reach plaster.

We then needed to remove the 5+ layers of paint without damaging the plaster.  We used a mild chemical wrap.

After a good cleaning and a little touch up with some fresh plaster, the original Corbel has all the detail as the day it was cast.

The Corbels were then mounted and blended into the wall. 

The marble fireplace was also a great concern.  The side was broken, the keystone had fallen off, the hearthstone was severely worn and the whole thing hadn't been polished in 80+ years.  We began by removing the broken side, Hearthstone and Mantle

The broken pieces were taken back to our shop for repair.  The side was placed face down and two grooves were ground into the back.  We placed steel rods in them for strength.

A specially tinted marble cement was then mixed and poured into the channels and allowed to harden.

The side piece was then wet sanded with diamond pads until the crack was undetectable, then re-installed.

The Mantle shelf had a rough back edge.  This was because when it was originally installed it was intended to stick into the wall and have the lathe and plaster wrap around it.  So we needed to shave off around an inch and give it a perfect flush edge for re-installation to the new walls.

The entire fireplace was filled with cement to make her fortress strong and to prevent future cracking.

Unfortunately the original hearthstone was not salvageable.  The stains had penetrated too deep over the years of neglect to be able to be polished back out.  In this photograph we had just poured a concrete base to support the replacement stone.  We were able to find marble  that was an exact match to the original.  We used the original as a template to create the copy.

The new Marble Hearthstone is installed.  We allowed extra height in anticipation of the new floor yet to be installed.

The brick in the Firebox itself was stripped clean and the mortar re-pointed.  Then a new floor was poured.  This fireplace was never a wood burner.  It contained a Franklin stove to warm the parlor.  This was quite evident by the small diameter of the chimney flew.  We ran a gas line for a gas fireplace as the flew had enough draw to support one but give the look of a real wood burner.

We had a knife made that matched the profile of the original plaster mouldings and went ahead and had them replicated in a composite material. 

The moldings were painted and gold gilding was applied in advance of installation

The moldings were installed using coped joints in the corners.  The pieces are fit together much like a puzzle.  This is a much more time consuming method, but ensures long lasting tight comers. (anytime you have Crowne Mouldings installed, by us or anyone else ALWAYS demand that they are coped in the corners)

The room is starting to take shape

The original ceiling medallion was badly damaged and missing parts.  It was not able to be salvaged.  However we did find this beautiful solid plaster medallion to replace it with.

We took the medallion along with samples of the wallpaper to be hung un the room and had it painted to match the patterns

The details just come jumping out - the way they were intended to.

Now it was on to the windows.  They needed to be completely disassembled and rebuilt.

Next the woodwork was Faux Finished.  This picture was taken mid-process showing all the hand-painted grains

After the Faux process is finished - the woodwork just glows with a deep English Oak tone. 

We had leaded glass panels made for all the upper sashes.  The colors of the stained glass were also matched to the wallpaper that was going to be installed soon.

Next, we installed a new Red Oak floor with a White Maple and Mahogany border

The Wallpaper that we chose for this room is all handmade in the exact same way it was back in the 19th century.  It is all hand silk screened on large rolls.  The details and colors are significantly more vibrant than any machine made papers today

This hand made paper requires a highly trained installer.  The rolls all have to be cut to width by hand.  Any trim pieces are all cut from one large master roll.  It takes precision at a level that requires a true Artisan.  Our installer has done two installations in the White House and is considered one of our Nation's best. 

The following pictures are of the finished room

This is a close op of the Crowne Mouldings.  We embedded certain elements of the wallpaper into the mouldings to give them more depth and detail.