Residential Drywall Installation in Oxbow, ND | Quality Finish
Oxbow is an upscale bedroom community about 15 miles south of Fargo, home to a country club and roughly 380 residents. The city only incorporated in 1988, so most of its homes were built in the years since. Many of the earliest are now reaching the age when owners want them to look and feel current. Fargo Elite Drywall installs, replaces, and finishes drywall for homeowners across town, from full-room remodels to the architectural updates that make an older layout feel new.
A quality finish matters most in homes like these, where large walls, tall ceilings, and open sightlines leave nowhere for a flaw to hide. We handle the changes that modernize a home from the late 1980s or 1990s, like removing plant shelves, squaring off arches, filling dated niches, and updating corners. Then we finish them so the new work reads as if it had always been there. Your floors, trim, and finishes are protected throughout.
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Careful Work in Finished Homes
Fargo Elite Drywall is based in Fargo, about 15 miles north of Oxbow, and most of our work here happens in homes with finishes worth protecting. Hardwood floors, stair railings, stone, and custom trim get covered before any tools come out, and interior scaffolding goes up on padded feet so it never marks a floor. We'll talk through design options honestly, including when a change isn't worth the cost, and give you a detailed quote before work begins. You can expect clear communication, a tidy site, and finished walls you'd be glad to show anyone.
A City Since 1988
Oxbow incorporated as a city on October 25, 1988, which makes it far younger than most of the communities around Fargo. It grew quickly in its first decade. The population went from 100 in 1990 to 248 in 2000, a 148 percent jump, then rose to 305 in 2010 and 381 in 2020. Housing units climbed from 84 in 2000 to 108 in 2010. The town is home to the Oxbow Country Club, and it's also the hometown of professional golfer Amy Anderson.
Households here have long been established families. In 2010, 86.1 percent of households were married couples, about half had children at home, and the average household had just over three people. The median age was 39.4, older than in many of the metro's newer suburbs. Back in 2000, the median household income was already $88,700. Many owners have been in their homes for years, and when the time comes to update, they want results that match the house.
Updating a 1990s Home's Architecture
Homes built in the late 1980s and 1990s often share a set of design features that now date them: plant shelves high above entries and kitchens, arched openings between rooms, small art niches, rounded bullnose corners, and heavily textured walls. Plant shelves are a common first change. Removing one means cutting out the ledge, checking for wiring or accent lighting inside, reframing the wall to a single plane, and replacing the board full height. A narrow strip patch would be far more likely to show.
Arched openings can be squared off by reframing the top corners and installing new corner bead, which gives a room a cleaner, more current look. Niches can be filled with framing and board, or rebuilt as recessed shelves with crisp square edges. Bullnose corners can stay, or be switched to square bead where a room is being reworked. We suggest planning these changes across the whole main floor at once, since a mix of rounded and square details from room to room looks unfinished.
Tall Walls and High Expectations
Upscale homes from this era often include two-story foyers, vaulted great rooms, and long open sightlines from the entry to the back windows. Those spaces are where a remodel shows most, because a wall that runs 16 or 18 feet tall catches light from top to bottom. Working at that height takes interior scaffolding, careful sheet planning to keep seams off the most visible areas, and finishing that stays consistent from the floor all the way to the ceiling line.
In a town described as an upscale bedroom community, owners tend to notice details, and they should. The difference between an average job and a good one is often small: a perfectly straight corner bead on a squared-off arch, a plant-shelf removal with no ghost line, a texture that matches the rest of the room. We plan for those details from the first visit. Then we check them again at the end, under the same light you'll see them in every day.
How We Update and Finish Oxbow Homes
Modernizing a finished home takes more planning than building new, because every change has to blend with what stays. The steps below show how we take a project from first ideas to final review, with the local details that shape each stage. Each step protects the parts of your home that aren't changing as carefully as it handles the parts that are.
Step 1: A Design-Focused Walkthrough
We start by walking the house with you and talking through what feels dated and what you'd like it to become. Plant shelves, arches, niches, corner styles, and wall textures all go on the list, along with any rooms getting a larger remodel. We measure each area, note ceiling heights, and look at how one change will affect the rooms around it, since a squared-off arch in the entry may call for matching updates down the hall.
Then we check what's behind the surfaces. In homes from Oxbow's first decade as a city, plant shelves and niches sometimes hide wiring for accent lighting, and arches may sit under framing that carries load. We'll flag anything that needs an electrician or carpenter before drywall work begins. You'll leave the visit with a clear list of changes, the order they should happen in, and the trades involved.
Step 2: A Detailed Quote and a Practical Schedule
Your quote breaks the work down item by item: each plant shelf, arch, niche, and wall, along with any scaffolding, protection, and finishing involved. That makes it easy to phase the project, doing the main floor now and bedrooms later if you prefer. If any part of the work needs a permit or inspection through the City of Oxbow, we'll confirm it and fit the inspection into the schedule.
We also plan the order of work so the house stays usable. Changes in the entry and great room usually come first, since they set the style for the rest of the home. Rooms you use every day, like the kitchen, are scheduled to keep disruption short. Before we start, you'll get a timeline showing which areas will be closed off and for how long.
Step 3: Protection and Staging for Tall Spaces
Before any demolition, we protect what's staying. Hardwood and stone floors get heavy-duty coverings taped at the edges, stair treads and railings are wrapped, and light fixtures and chandeliers in the work area are covered or temporarily removed. Plastic barriers with zipper doors keep dust out of rooms that aren't part of the project.
For two-story foyers and vaulted rooms, we set up interior scaffolding on padded feet, with planks arranged so the crew can reach every part of a tall wall safely. Over stairways, staging is set up with extra care so it stays stable without resting on finished treads or railings. Proper staging is what makes it possible to finish an 18-foot wall to the same standard as an 8-foot one.
Step 4: Reframing and Hanging the Changes
With protection in place, the changes begin. Plant shelves are cut out, the framing behind them is brought to a single flat plane, and new board is hung full height so there's no narrow seam to give the old ledge away. Arched openings get reframed corners, often by a carpenter if the header needs work, and niches are filled with framing and board or rebuilt with square edges for shelving.
In many 1990s homes, the original board and framing around these features are a little out of plane, so we check each wall with a long straightedge and shim where needed before hanging. New sheets are laid out to keep joints away from the brightest, most visible areas. Corner bead goes on straight and tight, whether it's square bead replacing bullnose or new bead on a reworked opening.
Step 5: Finishing Large Walls to Match
Large walls demand consistency. Joints are taped and built up in thin coats, and each coat is feathered wide enough that it blends across the full height of the wall, not just at eye level. On scaffolding, we work in sections, checking the transitions between them so nothing shows as a horizontal band once paint is on.
Matching the rest of the house is the final piece. If the surrounding walls have a texture, we test it on a sample area until it blends, and if you're moving to smooth walls, we skim the full surface instead of patching. Every reworked area is checked under a low-angle light from several directions. In homes with open sightlines like many here, a wall is seen from across the room as often as up close, so we check it from both.
Step 6: Detail Cleanup and Final Review
Cleanup in a finished home goes beyond the floor. We vacuum and wipe high surfaces that collect dust during a tall-wall project, including window heads, ceiling fan blades, light fixtures, and the tops of door frames. Scaffolding comes down carefully, coverings are lifted without dragging debris across the floor, and every protected surface is uncovered and checked.
Then we walk the house with you, room by room, looking at each change in daylight and with the lights on. Anything that needs another pass gets fixed before we call the work done. In a city that has only existed since 1988, many homes are just reaching their first major update, and we want yours to come out of it looking like the best version of itself.
Get Your Drywall Project on the Calendar
Tell us about the rooms you want finished, repaired, or rebuilt, and we'll set up a time to see the space in person. You'll get a clear written quote covering materials, finish level, and cleanup, along with a schedule you can plan your week around. Fargo Elite Drywall serves homeowners in Fargo and the surrounding communities on both sides of the Red River.