With the high ceilings and matching plaster moulding and colour scheme, this helps create the illusion of one elegant, pleasantly proportioned and spacious reading area.

The auditorium was richly decorated with gilded bas-relief plaster moulding.

Air conditioning was added to the building, necessitating drop ceilings to make room for the ducts, which obscured the original plaster moulding in the interior.

Suddenly, everyone seemed to be doing up an old house and was desperate to know which hue would best complement their plaster mouldings.

But look at the ceiling: the ornate plaster mouldings have been restored after the owners found the remains of the originals behind a false ceiling.