The work speaks quietly.

A long section of stucco soffit on this Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie home in Oak Park had failed, leaving the original wood lath exposed beneath the dentil trim. We tore out the damaged stucco, re-wired the ceiling with new metal lath and re-stuccoed it, then blended and feathered the new work into the original and painted it to match the rest of the wraparound soffit.

• Failed stucco torn out down to the lath
• Re-wired with new metal lath
• Re-stuccoed, blended and feathered into the original
• Painted to match the wraparound soffit

OutcomeThe repair now reads as part of the original roofline.

On the same property, water had damaged the plaster above a doorway in the coach house. We filled the damaged area with plaster, built it back with a lightweight gypsum base coat and finished it in lime, so the wall and ceiling read as one smooth surface again. The owners then had us paint the coach-house foyer a bright, welcoming orange.

• Water-damaged plaster filled and rebuilt
• Lightweight gypsum base coat
• Traditional lime finish coat
• Foyer painted a bright orange

After a vehicle struck the side of Sam’s Pizza in Rockford, Illinois, the owners hired us to repair the damaged exterior insulation and finish system (EIFS). Damaged sections were cut back to sound material and rebuilt layer by layer — insulation board, reinforcing mesh and base coat, then a finish coat matched to the existing texture and color — so the repair disappears into the original wall.

• Impact-damaged EIFS cut back to sound material
• Insulation board, mesh and base coat rebuilt
• Finish texture and color matched to the building

OutcomeA seamless exterior the owners were very happy with.

Stucco work across the face of a three-story historic storefront in downtown Dixon, finished in an even gray texture beneath the building’s red cornice and window hoods. A boom lift carried the work to the upper floors.

• Three-story commercial facade
• Even, consistent stucco texture
• Upper floors reached by boom lift

This homeowner wanted the plain gray doors and trim gone. We painted the doors, frames and baseboards a rich red that warms the whole home — and the same customer asked us to refinish a black nightstand in a coordinating red.

• Doors, frames and baseboards painted
• Gray replaced with a rich red
• Nightstand refinished to coordinate

For this Dixon exterior, the entire house was pressure-washed and scraped, then primed with Sherwin-Williams oil-based primer and finished with two coats throughout. The wood trim was repaired and finished, and the color palette was selected to bring the whole exterior together.

• Whole-house pressure washing and scraping
• Sherwin-Williams oil-based primer
• Two finish coats across the exterior
• Wood trim repaired and refinished

The Beverage Store in Rock Falls needed a full facade reset. The weathered purple wood was removed back to the studs, OSB was installed, then an exterior insulation and finish system (EIFS) was built over it and painted bright orange — a color selected by the owner.

• Existing wood facade removed to the studs
• OSB installed over the new framing plane
• EIFS exterior system installed over the facade
• Finished in the owner-selected bright orange

These custom calico plaster ceilings were hand-worked in a French swirl with silica sand in the finish. Natural light catches every mark differently as the sun moves through the room. Instead of a perfectly uniform swirl, the pattern was intentionally varied by hand for an original artisan character.

• Custom calico plaster ceiling finish
• French swirl, varied by hand
• Silica sand worked into the finish
• Light-responsive texture with an original artisan character

Commercial wall covering installed at an LA Fitness club. Large printed panels were hung from a scissor lift, then aligned and smoothed by hand so the graphics read cleanly across the wall.

• Large-format printed wall covering
• Installed from a scissor lift
• Panels aligned and smoothed by hand