diff --git a/spec/app/root-view-spec.coffee b/spec/app/root-view-spec.coffee
index d6e948d41..0f6bdd1a8 100644
--- a/spec/app/root-view-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/app/root-view-spec.coffee
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ describe "RootView", ->
     rootView.focus()
     project = rootView.project
 
-  describe "initialize(viewState)", ->
+  describe "initialize(pathToOpen)", ->
     describe "when called with a pathToOpen", ->
       describe "when pathToOpen references a file", ->
         it "creates a project for the file's parent directory, then sets the document.title and opens the file in an editor", ->
@@ -45,13 +45,15 @@ describe "RootView", ->
 
         beforeEach ->
           rootView = new RootView
+          rootView.open()
           editor1 = rootView.activeEditor()
           buffer = editor1.buffer
           editor1.splitRight()
           viewState = rootView.serialize()
 
         it "constructs the view with the same panes", ->
-          rootView = new RootView(viewState)
+          console.log 'spec'
+          rootView = RootView.deserialize(viewState)
           expect(rootView.project.path).toBeNull()
           expect(rootView.editors().length).toBe 2
           expect(rootView.activeEditor().buffer.getText()).toBe buffer.getText()
@@ -74,7 +76,7 @@ describe "RootView", ->
           rootView.remove()
 
         it "constructs the view with the same project and panes", ->
-          rootView = new RootView(viewState)
+          rootView = RootView.deserialize(viewState)
           rootView.attachToDom()
 
           expect(rootView.editors().length).toBe 4
@@ -104,11 +106,10 @@ describe "RootView", ->
 
           expect(document.title).toBe editor2.buffer.path
 
-    describe "when called with no state data", ->
-      it "opens an empty buffer and sets the document.title to untitled", ->
+    describe "when called with no pathToOpen", ->
+      it "opens no buffer", ->
         rootView = new RootView
-        expect(rootView.editors().length).toBe 1
-        expect(rootView.activeEditor().buffer.path).toBeUndefined()
+        expect(rootView.editors().length).toBe 0
         expect(document.title).toBe 'untitled'
 
   describe "focus", ->
@@ -377,7 +378,7 @@ describe "RootView", ->
           rootView = new RootView
 
         it "does not open the FileFinder", ->
-          expect(rootView.activeEditor().buffer.path).toBeUndefined()
+          expect(rootView.activeEditor()).toBeUndefined()
           expect(rootView.find('.file-finder')).not.toExist()
           rootView.trigger 'toggle-file-finder'
           expect(rootView.find('.file-finder')).not.toExist()
@@ -437,6 +438,7 @@ describe "RootView", ->
 
     it "creates a project if there isn't one yet and the buffer was previously unsaved", ->
       rootView = new RootView
+      rootView.open()
       expect(rootView.project.path).toBeNull()
       rootView.activeEditor().buffer.saveAs('/tmp/ignore-me')
       expect(rootView.project.path).toBe '/tmp'
diff --git a/spec/app/status-bar-spec.coffee b/spec/app/status-bar-spec.coffee
index 4d0bc3120..310cda50a 100644
--- a/spec/app/status-bar-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/app/status-bar-spec.coffee
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ describe "StatusBar", ->
     describe "when associated with an unsaved buffer", ->
       it "displays 'untitled' instead of the buffer's path, but still displays the buffer position", ->
         rootView = new RootView
+        rootView.open()
         rootView.simulateDomAttachment()
         StatusBar.activate(rootView)
         statusBar = rootView.find('.status-bar').view()
diff --git a/spec/extensions/command-panel-spec.coffee b/spec/extensions/command-panel-spec.coffee
index d89accfe4..bf02c1293 100644
--- a/spec/extensions/command-panel-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/extensions/command-panel-spec.coffee
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ describe "CommandPanel", ->
 
   beforeEach ->
     rootView = new RootView
+    rootView.open()
     rootView.enableKeymap()
     commandPanel = rootView.commandPanel
 
diff --git a/spec/extensions/strip-trailing-whitespace-spec.coffee b/spec/extensions/strip-trailing-whitespace-spec.coffee
index e94c3475e..b7a993511 100644
--- a/spec/extensions/strip-trailing-whitespace-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/extensions/strip-trailing-whitespace-spec.coffee
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ describe "StripTrailingWhitespace", ->
 
   beforeEach ->
     rootView = new RootView
+    rootView.open()
+
     StripTrailingWhitespace.activate(rootView)
     rootView.focus()
     editor = rootView.activeEditor()
diff --git a/src/app/root-view.coffee b/src/app/root-view.coffee
index 98c07dcc3..2929595f6 100644
--- a/src/app/root-view.coffee
+++ b/src/app/root-view.coffee
@@ -22,13 +22,33 @@ class RootView extends View
       @div id: 'horizontal', outlet: 'horizontal', =>
         @div id: 'panes', outlet: 'panes'
 
-  @deserialize: (viewState) ->
-    new RootView(viewState)
+  @deserialize: ({ projectPath, panesViewState, extensionStates }) ->
+    rootView = new RootView(pathToOpen: projectPath)
+    rootView.setRootPane(rootView.deserializeView(panesViewState)) if panesViewState
+    rootView.extensionStates = extensionStates if extensionStates
+    rootView
 
   extensions: null
   extensionStates: null
 
-  initialize: ({ pathToOpen, projectPath, panesViewState, @extensionStates }) ->
+  initialize: ({ pathToOpen }) ->
+    @handleEvents()
+
+    @extensions = {}
+    @extensionStates = {}
+    @commandPanel = new CommandPanel({rootView: this})
+
+    @setTitle()
+    @project = new Project(pathToOpen)
+    if pathToOpen? and fs.isFile(pathToOpen)
+      @open(pathToOpen)
+
+  serialize: ->
+    projectPath: @project?.path
+    panesViewState: @panes.children().view()?.serialize()
+    extensionStates: @serializeExtensions()
+
+  handleEvents: ->
     @on 'toggle-file-finder', => @toggleFileFinder()
     @on 'show-console', => window.showConsole()
     @on 'focus', (e) =>
@@ -42,35 +62,9 @@ class RootView extends View
       @project.setPath(path) unless @project.getPath()
       @setTitle(path)
 
-    @commandPanel = new CommandPanel({rootView: this})
-
-    if pathToOpen?
-      @project = new Project(pathToOpen)
-      @open(pathToOpen) if fs.isFile(pathToOpen)
-    else
-      @project = new Project(projectPath)
-      @open() unless panesViewState?
-
-    @deserializePanes(panesViewState) if panesViewState
-
-    @extensionStates ?= {}
-    @extensions = {}
-
   afterAttach: (onDom) ->
     @focus() if onDom
 
-  serialize: ->
-    projectPath: @project?.path
-    panesViewState: @serializePanes()
-    extensionStates: @serializeExtensions()
-
-  serializePanes: ->
-    @panes.children().view()?.serialize()
-
-  deserializePanes: (panesViewState) ->
-    @panes.append @deserializeView(panesViewState)
-    @adjustPaneDimensions()
-
   serializeExtensions:  ->
     extensionStates = {}
     for name, extension of @extensions
@@ -134,6 +128,11 @@ class RootView extends View
     else
       @panes.find('.editor:first').view()
 
+  setRootPane: (pane) ->
+    @panes.empty()
+    @panes.append(pane)
+    @adjustPaneDimensions()
+
   adjustPaneDimensions: ->
     rootPane = @panes.children().first().view()
     rootPane?.css(width: '100%', height: '100%', top: 0, left: 0)
diff --git a/src/app/window.coffee b/src/app/window.coffee
index dd2b85fc7..21824a395 100644
--- a/src/app/window.coffee
+++ b/src/app/window.coffee
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ windowAdditions =
   startup: (path) ->
     @attachRootView(path)
     @loadUserConfiguration()
+    rootView.activateExtension(require 'tree-view')
     $(window).on 'close', => @close()
     $(window).on 'beforeunload', =>
       @shutdown()
@@ -39,10 +40,12 @@ windowAdditions =
 
   attachRootView: (pathToOpen) ->
     rootViewState = atom.rootViewStates[$windowNumber]
-    @rootView = if rootViewState
-      RootView.deserialize(rootViewState)
+    if rootViewState
+      @rootView = RootView.deserialize(rootViewState)
     else
-      new RootView {pathToOpen}
+      @rootView = new RootView(pathToOpen: pathToOpen)
+      @rootView.open() unless pathToOpen
+
     $(@rootViewParentSelector).append @rootView
 
   loadUserConfiguration: ->