A 1928 Needham center-entrance colonial on Birds Hill — original plaster walls, original wood moldings throughout, original mahogany staircase. New owners wanted modern palette refresh without touching the character details.
The challenge
1928 plaster walls have settled cracks every 8-12 feet. Plus the original wood moldings had been over-painted in white over decades; preserving them meant deciding whether to leave existing trim color or refresh in matching white.
What we did
- Skim-coat 28 plaster cracks across 9 rooms
- Drywall primer on patches to even out porosity
- Walls in BM Regal Select HC-173 Edgecomb Gray (satin)
- Existing white trim cleaned + refreshed in BM Advance Decorator's White
- Ceilings in flat ceiling paint (hides plaster imperfection)
- Mahogany staircase untouched per owner request
- Hand-cut all cut-lines at wall-to-trim junctions
The result
1928 character preserved — moldings, staircase, original detail — while the walls and ceilings read modern.