This house was featured in The Times Picayune’s Inside Out section last week.  Check it out and you will be amazed by the transformation:

Hal Collums renovation in the Times Picayune

Thank you to Central City Millworks who completed all of the new millwork in the house.

Before...

...After!

Renovation of a New Orleans cottage.

Bathroom renovation

Leah Glade - Project Manager

Working on a property of historic significance is always exciting for us, but it does present its own set of unique challenges.  We must work closely with the architect and the Historic District Landmarks Commission (HDLC) to ensure that any changes made and any details added are true to the history of the house.  Every detail, both interior and exterior, is important.  For example, on this job we went through an extensive design process to ensure that the newly milled interior doors matched the original doors.  The panels, casings, mullions, stiles and rails all were examined to make sure to be completely true to the originals.

We are very proud of this job and plan on posting additional blogs about it in the near future.  In the meantime, please enjoy the following photos of a great New Orleans renovation.

Renovation of a grand New Orleans house

All marble bathroom

Completed double parlor

New Orleans stairwell

Open kitchen area

]]> http://www.halcollums.com/greek-revival-renovation-in-new-orleans/feed/ 0 http://www.halcollums.com/new-orleans-restoration-of-shotgun-style-home/ http://www.halcollums.com/new-orleans-restoration-of-shotgun-style-home/#comments Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:22:29 +0000 halrc http://halcollums.com/blog/?p=685

Typical Working Class St. Ann Street Shotgun

The house at 2404 St. Ann is a marvelous New Orleans “shotgun.” I am totally amazed at how well preserved it is and how it has dutifully carried the soul and story of the original builder into the 21st century. The magic is in how well defined the original details are and how these details have lived through hard, neglected times to tell an important story today. Hal Collums Construction felt lucky and honored to have been the New Orleans construction company chosen to prepare this special shotgun for its second century.

Rarely preserved original rear porch

The impact of how standard the lean-to addition is as the rear facade of the “typical” shotgun double was really driven home when I saw the almost perfectly preserved rear porch and rear lean-to of this cottage. The front façade of this St. Ann Shotgun is the typical working class shotgun, built with the front right on the sidewalk, no porch and a shallow roof overhang. Decorative brackets, carved quoins, cornices, and shiplap front siding identify this structure as a working-class shotgun with an “upgraded” exterior trim package.

Clearly the original wood frame and deck of the back porch had rotted off and had been replaced with a well-designed and skillfully executed concrete deck and concrete stairs during a previous modification. The house has been fortunate over the years as its original builder was a craftsman familiar with the New Orleans building environment and a subsequent porch rebuild was skillfully constructed by a master artisan.

Large Pocket Doors are typical New Orleans Millwork

The Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans working with the Prince of Wales Building Crafts Apprentices Program needed a house ready for plaster in time to take advantage of the apprentices’ time in New Orleans. Master Plasterers would use the St Ann shotgun as a training lab for the apprentices.

We have been tasked to have the house ready for the apprentices within five weeks. We started the last week of November 2009 and intend to have it ready for the plasterers by January. To accomplish this we must complete all structural repairs, restore the historic roof, repair all exterior trim and siding, and then have all mechanical trades complete their rough-in.

Original indigenous cypress windows

The structure had a earlier termite infestation that went unchecked and the insects obliterated the sills, many floor joists, wall studs and even the original heart pine flooring.

The structural work is well underway with most of the damaged sills and joists replaced. Bryon Cornelison, HCC’s project manager, working with Max Mendoza (HCC’s operation manager), is responsible for maintaining this fast track schedule. Check back as we will keep you updated on our progress.

First, the problem…no stairway:

See the ladder? A stairway goes there.

And here is our solution to our client’s problem:

Stairway completed...elegant utility?

Here are a few more photos showing the progress of the installation:

Hal guiding the next step of stair installation...

An opening in the ceiling has been cut.

The stairway begins to take shape.

Gracious handrail installed.

Coming along nicely!

Wood finished and ballasters painted.

Complete!

This French Quarter apartment is one of the best condo deals ever! When the owners approached us this summer to update their condo it was clear that this was a very unique property. It was part of a seventies expansion of a Luxury Old World French Quarter Hotel featuring over 100 rooms and suites, all decorated with antiques and authentic reproductions.

The lucky owner’s condo is managed by the hotel, providing them the services of a luxury hotel: daily housekeeping, room service, valet parking, concierge, world class dining, etc. When they are not in town, they get a return on their investment as the hotel can use their unit for overflow booking and for hotel guests looking for a suite upgrade!

The owners contacted us looking for a renovation to bring the unit up to date. The original floor plan was fine but the owner wanted to make a few upgrades.  The idea was to add an additional Powder Room and to renovate the Kitchen, making it more versatile and user-friendly.  They also wanted to replace the out of date 30 year old fixtures.

Hal Collums Construction contracted with Central City Millworks to design a new kitchen to better serve the owners as well as the frequent hotel guests. The old kitchen was completely gutted and redesigned with all new fixtures and custom made cabinets to work with the new kitchen plan. The new kitchen features a dishwasher, a microwave/ hood vent, a trash pullout, and a under counter washer/ dryer combination. A cooktop and an under counter refrigerator completed the new kitchen giving it the versatility to handle almost any guest’s culinary needs. The wall cabinets were designed with glass front doors using LED lighting to illuminate the interior and under counter. The kitchen was topped off with custom granite countertops by Everbright Countertops of New Orleans. (http://www.everbrightgranite.com).

The new powder room was achieved by converting an underutilized laundry room off the stair landing. This corrected the inconvenient original design where the only bathroom was the master bath. Once the owners realized they had a completely private master bathroom, they decided to redesign it!  After completely gutting the existing bath Hal Collums Construction installed a new walk-in shower, a custom vanity, stone countertops and a  frameless glass shower enclosure.   To enlarge the confined space the ceiling was raised and the walls were mirrored.

 The renovation included new exotic slate flooring to replace a dated pergo floor on the first floor, new carpet on the second floor, all wall surfaces upgraded to a level 5 finish and new paint throughout. The renovation took 3 months from start to finish. Now the clients are thrilled with their French Quarter hideaway and guests find it to be a perfectly appointed home away from home.

Before the remodeling...looking a little shabby

But this New Orleans renovation included a facelift

Inside, we started from new, bare wood

Then we created a lovely view from the bath

And we ended with a beautiful space to live in