diff --git a/src/app/editor.coffee b/src/app/editor.coffee
index c1516d416..417460a9a 100644
--- a/src/app/editor.coffee
+++ b/src/app/editor.coffee
@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@ class Editor extends View
   softTabs: true
   tabText: '  '
 
+  @deserialize: (viewState) ->
+    new Editor(viewState)
+
   initialize: ({editSessions, activeEditSessionIndex, buffer, isFocused}) ->
     requireStylesheet 'editor.css'
     requireStylesheet 'theme/twilight.css'
diff --git a/src/app/root-view.coffee b/src/app/root-view.coffee
index 2563e2297..fe8c781ad 100644
--- a/src/app/root-view.coffee
+++ b/src/app/root-view.coffee
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ class RootView extends View
     @div id: 'root-view', tabindex: -1, =>
       @div id: 'panes', outlet: 'panes'
 
+  @deserialize: (viewState) ->
+    new RootView(viewState)
+
   initialize: ({ pathToOpen, projectPath, panesViewState }) ->
     @on 'toggle-file-finder', => @toggleFileFinder()
     @on 'show-console', => window.showConsole()
@@ -57,7 +60,7 @@ class RootView extends View
       when 'Pane' then Pane.deserialize(viewState, this)
       when 'PaneRow' then PaneRow.deserialize(viewState, this)
       when 'PaneColumn' then PaneColumn.deserialize(viewState, this)
-      when 'Editor' then new Editor(viewState)
+      when 'Editor' then Editor.deserialize(viewState)
 
   open: (path) ->
     @activeEditor().setBuffer(@project.open(path))
diff --git a/src/app/window.coffee b/src/app/window.coffee
index 2de2205ba..32c0a9812 100644
--- a/src/app/window.coffee
+++ b/src/app/window.coffee
@@ -36,8 +36,11 @@ windowAdditions =
     atom.windowClosed this
 
   attachRootView: (pathToOpen) ->
-    rootViewState = atom.rootViewStates[$windowNumber] or { pathToOpen }
-    @rootView = new RootView(rootViewState)
+    rootViewState = atom.rootViewStates[$windowNumber]
+    @rootView = if rootViewState
+      RootView.deserialize(rootViewState)
+    else
+      new RootView {pathToOpen}
     $(@rootViewParentSelector).append @rootView
 
   saveRootViewState: ->