Drywall finished
Our drywall subcontractor Hans is amazingly fast and precise. This is his scaffolding, but he also walked around on stilts doing most of the ceiling. There’s a lot more to it than nailing up drywall. First, there’s measuring the holes for outlets, switches, can lights, corners, etc. Then you nail it up. Then taping. Then 3 (yes 3) mud coats to make it absolutely smooth. Then priming, then texture. Texture is added to make any imperfections less noticeable. We went with a “light-light-dash” texture, which is nearly smooth, but the “smoothcoat” level is plaster-like, and 50% more labor-intensive (and thus most costly).
In this picture, you can also see the open hole where we decided to add a window at the last minute.