A derelict winder staircase, its board partition wall, a crumbling cooking fireplace, and the ghosts of adjacent cupboards provided all the information we needed to reconstruct and restore this hospitable room. In reconstructing the cabinets, the doors were patterned after the only original door found in the house. The configuration and style of the open shelf unit were guided by markings left from the original shelves. A new mantle shelf was made to fit the original outlines above the fireplace. During the Victorian era, the ceiling had been comb-painted; a decorative feature the owners wanted very much to preserve. We repaired the plaster damages, carefully cleaned the surface, and then infilled all the missing comb painting.
