Drywall

For the drywall, I wanted a couple specific things - a level 5 finish and a 1/2" reveal for the base. Drywall installation and finishes come in several different levels of quality. Most houses have an "orange peel" texture applied to the walls. This is done to better hide imperfections in the seams between the drywall panels. In order to keep with the minimalist aesthetic, I wanted to have no texture applied to the walls. This requires more effort to be put into the installation since any imperfections would be immediately visible. 

First, all the studs had to start out perfectly lined up. Using a laser, the drywall contractors carefully stapled furring strips to the studs where necessary throughout the house. 

Furring strips stapled to the studs

They then screwed on the drywall and taped and mudded all the seams.

Taped and mudded seams

After that dried, they applied more coats of joint compound to the walls to further smooth all the transitions.

Additional layers of joint compound applied

And finally, they applied a skim coat across the entire wall and sanded it down to give the wall a perfectly smooth, textureless finish.

Bedroom with finished drywall

perfectly smooth walls

The resulting walls look great. The drywallers also spent a lot of time installing a 1/2" Z-channel base in the walls in lieu of any trim. This creates a shadow-line between the floor and the wall and looks really clean.

1/2" reveal base with level 5 finish

Special thanks to Artistic Drywall for doing such a good job and being on budget.