The wide world of the building trades isn’t all about building roads and bridges and digging ditches and erecting buildings.

Sometimes, when you go off the beaten track, you will find building trades workers employed doing the darndest things.

A case in point are Russell Plastering employees Chris Richardson of Local 67, Robert Breen of Laborers Local 334 and two finish carpenters, John Shiels and Jack Strobl of Wally Kosorski Co. Some have been at a private residence every workday for up to two years, transforming the cozy confines of the home’s 5,500-square-foot addition into a showcase for the remarkably creative whims of the homeowners.

“Coming to work is a lot of fun; I love it,” Richardson said. “The owners have a real appreciation for old-world traditions, and they value good craftsmanship. My only disappointment is that once we leave, the rest of the world isn’t going to be able to see what we’re doing here.”

We can show a small sampling. The 50-ish owners, who have two grown children, asked us not to disclose their names or the location of their Michigan home. But the lady of the house was more than happy to show off the addition and explain their vision for the space inside.

She said the original home on the site was built in 1849, and several additions were made every few decades to bring it up to its current 6,000 square-foot configuration. The family has lived in the house for 22 years, and not long after they moved in, “we started planning for the addition, and for about 15 years, we talked about what we wanted to do.” Ground was broken on the addition about four-and-a-half years ago.

“We’re 56 months into the project, and we have no idea how much longer it will take,” she added. “The work can be tedious and mind-numbing, and it doesn’t happen overnight. The work is a marriage of carpentry and plaster, and the guys we have working for us are pretty amazing.”

Two separate architects were originally employed to draw up plans. One died, and the owners parted ways with the other. So the owners took on the duties of planning the finish aspects, working with their own whims and sense of style, the trusted input from the craftsmen they employ and the use of pattern books and picture pages taken from magazines. The budget for the project is unknown, but it’s apparent that the homeowners are willing to pay to have the job done to their specifications.

The interior of the addition, which includes a basement, has been broken up into a number of relatively small rooms, each with a theme and interesting artifacts:

• The largest room is an early Georgian style paneled library (c. 1735), with the sections removed from Brixworth Hall in Britain after World War II. The woodwork sections were painstakingly reassembled at this house using skimpy re-assembly plans, and even old photos of knots in the wood to provide clues showing what panel goes where.
• There is a “late Regency” period room (c. 1820), with an intricate plaster “guilloche,” a continuous spiral pattern embedded in the ceiling by Richardson. The room also has a fireplace owned by naturalist Erasmus Darwin (Charles Darwin’s grandfather).
• Plaster crown molding is the main feature of another small room that acts as more of a hallway. Inspired by work done in the Gardner-Pingreee house in Salem, Massachusetts, the molding symbolizes free-standing waves, and a plaster rope running behind the waves was cast from the mold of a real rope.
• Plaster columns modeled after an actual 19th century British cannon used in the War of 1812, complete with King George III’s royal crest, stand at attention in one of the basement rooms.
• A room on the lower level, which the lady of the house called the “piece-de-resistance” showcasing Richardson’s talents, is a “Mughal/Indian” display. It contains a “flattened onion-shaped dome” with a circular light cove made of plaster cobra heads, supported by stylized elephant-head brackets. The plaster work is truly incredible.

The lower floor is almost entirely for display purposes, including a collection of “militaria” of the British Empire, Anglo-Indian furniture and a room devoted to a Star Wars collection that will look like the inside of a space ship.

Plans can change quickly, Richardson said, but the homeowners always work with the craftspeople to see if what they want is possible or practical. For example, on one occasion, the homeowners took Richardson on a road trip to see the design of an oriental rug, which they wanted incorporated into a plaster design in their home.

“This is a fascinating project,” said Richardson, who has trekked to the house every day for the last two years, and figures to be around for another three months. “It’s a catalogue of everything that can be done in plastering. It’s like a movie set, and I’m helping the homeowners make their dream come alive.” Richardson is a master plasterer who was trained in England and has worked on plaster pieces in movies like The Empire Strikes Back, Moonraker and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

In Michigan, he supervised the plaster work on the renovation of the Michigan State Capitol Building and the Detroit Opera House.

“It’s great to work here,” said laborer Breen. “I do the prep work for Chris, mix mud, build scaffolding and do the clean up. The work that’s been done here is incredible.”

The addition to the home could hardly be described as kid-friendly, with opportunities for gouging plaster or breaking off molding literally around every corner. That prospect doesn’t bother the lady of the house. “If there’s damage, we’ll just have Chris back out to fix it,” she said.

Plasterers Steve Badanjek and Jack McCool have also worked on the house.

“We have a small crew, and they’re very bright and highly skilled and every one of them is at the top of their trade,” the lady of the house said. “I know on most projects the idea is to get the job done and get out of there. But this is a different way of thinking. You can’t rush perfection.”

IF YOU HAD THE TIME, the money and access to the talent of Chris Richardson of Plasterers Local 67 and Russell Plastering, you too could have all your plastering whims and dreams come to life. That's the case with the owners of a Michigan home, who are currently employing Richardson and a handful of other craftsmen full-time to perform the finish work on a most unusual addition. Here Richardson finishes what the homeowner calls his finest work, a dome in the ceiling ringed with plaster cobra heads supported by stylized elephant-head brackets. The lattice work on the wall and wall inlays are plaster, too.

Robert Breen of Laborers Local 334 prepares plaster and tends for plasterer Chris Richardson. "I love working around this ornamental stuff," he said.