Office Cottage

by 4over1 | Oct 2, 2013 | design, old north durham

Office Cottage

Last fall, I was contacted by a lovely couple in Old North Durham with a 1920s bungalow. He needed to get his office out of the enclosed porch at the back of their home and to someplace with a little more elbow room, and while they were at it, maybe a guest house would make sense. And maybe some storage too? So the Office Cottage began. We worked with the details on the main house, including the crossed gables and nine-over-one windows, and then added a few interior bits of fun like a high ceiling and bungalow-style colonnade for storage. Off the back, with the entrance well-hidden, is a large shed space for all their gardening, biking, and outside storage needs.

Before

A blank slate of a backyard

After

A sweet little cottage (you can spot the gate in both photos, for reference)

The whole process was a new challenge for 4/1, in that it is the first free-standing, all-together new structure that I’ve designed. That said, given the reference point of the existing house to jump from, it was a pleasure to solve the puzzles. The homeowners still need to wrap up painting on the inside before it’ll be ready for its closeup, but until then here’s a little peek into the interior:

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Office Address: 1235 Berkeley Ave, Durham, NC, 27701
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 355, Durham NC, 27702

Cleveland Street, You’re Up!

by 4over1 | Apr 23, 2013 | cleveland-holloway, design

Cleveland Street, You’re Up!

I just measured a new project this week, one that I can’t wait to get started on: a giant, lovely house on Cleveland Street that has been a boarding house for who knows how long. It’s remarkable in many ways, including its age, size, and siting. But what really has me all wound up is the original architectural detail that has survived with so little damage all these years. The folks who were living here were not taking particularly good care of themselves or their things, and yet they did not hurt the tile, the mantles, the crazy staircase… you get the feeling that the house did its best to take care of them, and they the house.

The new owners have been clearing out garbage and doing some light demolition since I was last there, and have reported some pocket doors still tucked into walls and crazy hidden closets – so I’m sure there will be other discoveries. But until then:

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Office Address: 1235 Berkeley Ave, Durham, NC, 27701
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 355, Durham NC, 27702

Fall Projects

by 4over1 | Nov 28, 2012 | design, fieldwork, home sweet home, old north durham

Fall Projects

Autumn has been crazy for one specific reason here at 4/1 – we’ve moved! More specifically, we packed up our sweet, tiny bungalow and schlepped across the neighborhood to a slightly roomier rental house. The bungalow is getting brushed up and sold to a new couple and their two kids, while we’re looking for something bigger and better ourselves. In the meantime, we have ended up in a house with an actual office, that is a major step up from the dining room table that used to be where everything happened. And of course it’s put the Fall into a tailspin, because, well, boxes.

Despite the moving chaos, work is still chugging along! A good chunk of September, October, and November were spent helping HMW Preservation with a major survey of the Hillsborough historic district. It’s always lovely to get out in the field and see different types of architecture, and the borough has some of the oldest stuff in the Piedmont. They have also cornered the market on ‘quaint,’ complete with decrepit barns, boxwoods galore, and even a brick, octagonal ice house from the 1860s nestled into the woods behind the elementary school. Who knew?

Most of 4/1’s major projects from the summer are getting finishing touches right now and are not yet ready for their close-ups, but a wrap up of the screened porch addition on Monmouth is coming soon. A major rear kitchen/master suite remodel in Trinity Park is so close the owners are cooking already. And I’m waiting with bated breath to see the finished work over in the Mrs. Laura Duke Estate over on Roxboro – a big, colonial revival glory of a house where we did our level best to update with the lightest hand possible. Finally, I’ve been watching the progress on the Bright House on Holloway as they paint the exterior and get through the mountain of projects they’ve decided to do themselves on the interior – all the while having a third child – via their blog. Lord love ’em!

Lastly, I will be linking to all the preservation award winner write-ups as they show up in the Herald-Sun via my twitter feed, but a quick list of winners where 4/1 provided either design or preservation consulting:

813 Burch, Pyne Preservation Award
508 Ottawa, Neighborhood Conservation Award
2513 West Club, Pyne Preservation Award
614 North Queen, Neighborhood Conservation Award

Chicken Approved!

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Office Address: 1235 Berkeley Ave, Durham, NC, 27701
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 355, Durham NC, 27702

The (Still) Teeny-Tiny Bathroom

by 4over1 | Aug 29, 2012 | design, northgate park

The (Still) Teeny-Tiny Bathroom

Last fall, 4/1 was hired to help re-imagine the smallest master bathroom in the world. Part of a 1960s addition onto a minimal traditional, post-WWII house in Northgate Park, this bathroom is so small there is no room to swing a cat. Or take a picture, as I discovered. At 5’6″ by 6’6″, this is only a touch larger than your average powder room.

We set to work, and quickly decided that the enclosed shower just had to go. Turning the whole space into a wet room allowed it to be as open as 35 square feet can possibly be.

It made sense anyway, as the homeowner came to the first meeting with a single item in mind: a lovely, modern rain-style shower head. With a focal point like that, we didn’t want anything to get in its way – so a simple vanity, neutral tile, and modern fixtures followed. The other piece of bling, an electric towel warmer, solved the ‘where to put the towel rod’ question with a some extra style.

The room is still tiny, but without a shower enclosure, the whole thing feels open and much larger. We switched the door from a miniature 24″ slab to a 30″ pocket door too, so it no longer feels like squeezing into a shoebox.

Every project ends up with some scope creep, and in this case we started in on the master bedroom. A built-in stole some space from the next bedroom’s closet, but added a spot for a television and linens. New closet doors, lighting, paint, and flooring brought the room out of the 1960s and kept the bathroom from feeling lonely. The homeowner loves her space, and is already planning how we’re going to gradually re-do the whole house, one room at a time.

Bathroom Before

Smaller than you can ever imagine

Bathroom After

The same angle as above – note the skylight in both pictures.

Master Suite

New closet doors and a new built-in make the rest of the master suite more up-to-date and functional. The upper cabinet on the built-in hides a flat-screen tv.

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Office Address: 1235 Berkeley Ave, Durham, NC, 27701
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 355, Durham NC, 27702

Un-Lazy Summer Days

by 4over1 | Jul 31, 2012 | chapel hill, design, old north durham, trinity park

Un-Lazy Summer Days

It’s been way too long since the blog was updated, as projects have been flying thick and fast. There are a pile of photos just added to the Porfolio section, and in the meantime a few photos of what’s in process right now will whet your appetite for what’s coming soon.

This lovely little bungalow in Old North Durham is getting a giant new screened porch – to double as a sleeping porch, homebrew platform, dining space and office. Construction is currently underway, and I’m enjoying working out some of the trim details that will carry the double front porch posts around to the back. We’ve also picked out a glorious dark slate blue color for the siding – which won’t come around to the front of the house for some time – with tangerine accents that will make that front door pop out of the shadows.

Over in Chapel Hill, a couple thoroughly in love with their home’s Modern style and architectural pedigree found 4/1 to update the three bathrooms. The current baths are finished with a mix of original cabinetry and 1980’s ‘improvements,’ that are showing their age.

We’ve been working to find exactly the right blend of current finishes and fixtures that will compliment the original design intentions, look Modern (yes, capital-M modern), and timeless all at the same time. Down to the home stretch of picking out the exhaust fans and light switches, this should head to construction soon.

Back in Trinity Park, a growing family started working with 4/1 back in January to expand their bungalow – one of a group of matching homes built for management at the tobacco factories 100 years ago. The house has been through some very curious and frankly ingenious renovations over the years, but we’re aiming to start with a clean slate of the original bones of the house, and then go up in the back. This will result in a ‘camel back‘ form, actually traditional in New Orleans but definitely unusual in Durham. It’s what the house and the family need, and keeping it in scale and character has proved challenging. I think we’ve just hit upon a solution that works really well, and construction drawings are in process now.

In the same neighborhood, this modest little house is going to keep it trim, clean exterior. But it was the home of a hoarder, and the interior needs some major attention. The new owners requested a kitchen and bath design that will update the house and make it really functional for their family of four – and the builders are at it at this instant. This one will make for great before-and-after photos, as the kitchen was really, well, there are no words.

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Office Address: 1235 Berkeley Ave, Durham, NC, 27701
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 355, Durham NC, 27702

Opening Up the Ranch

by 4over1 | Apr 10, 2012 | design

Opening Up the Ranch

My favorite part is the view: you can now see through the house from the kitchen to the foyer, diagonally across the dining and living spaces

The Chapel Hill News just printed a nice piece by Sally Keeny about one of my renovations that wrapped up over the winter. Of course the online version has only one tiny photo included – so it gives me the push to finally write it up here, as I’ve been intending for weeks now.

Not all of my projects fall under the ‘preservation’ heading, and sometimes the house in question isn’t quite 100 years old yet. Bill & Trish Hussey have been family friends since I was knee-high to a toadstool, so it felt especially significant to take on their master suite addition as 4/1’s first project. Their brick, 1950s ranch had some nods to modernism in the living and dining rooms, but one foot back a few decades. It worked fine as they raised their family, but with the kids mostly out on their own, they started to imagine updates that would suit their needs now and better prepare the house for a future family too.

The private, dark kitchen was entirely cut off from the public spaces and the cramped entryway was invisible from the driveway. The main goals were to add a master suite on the first floor, create a gracious foyer, and allow the dining room to actually hold the Husseys’ many friends. Starting with that brief, we ended up moving the laundry, refinishing the kitchen, updating some of the systems, adding a massive front porch, and giving a whole new axis to the house.

Once the space planning was done, I knew Trish could take the finishes and run with it – she’s always had a clear idea of how she wants things to look. Never particularly partial to the ranch-ness of the house, Trish took it towards a more contemporary style throughout. I’ll be happy to reuse some of her great ideas in a future project – like the wood inlay around the foyer floor. It’s the perfect transition between the original, distinctive parquet flooring in the main house and the new wing.

It’s a real pleasure to see the house done, and even more to see the house in action. Over the holidays they threw their annual party, and the new elbow room worked beautifully throughout the evening. It feels a little like the house has always been this way – exactly what I was aiming for.