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:

Our Services:

Book a Consult

hi.there@fouroverone.com (919) 339-1411
Office Address: 1235 Berkeley Ave, Durham, NC, 27701
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 355, Durham NC, 27702

New Digs

by 4over1 | Mar 4, 2013 | home sweet home, old north durham

New Digs

4/1 Design & the whole family have just relocated across town to Old North, after at least a year and a half of searching for the perfect spot. One of the major needs was a proper office space, and with a little tweaking (read: moving a door or two), we will soon have just that. Along with the door will come a great meeting space for clients, good storage, and some physical separation between business and family that is crucial for really working at home.

At the moment, however, there’s mass chaos going on, including installation of a full HVAC system. It replaces the multiple forms of heating that remain from when the house was a duplex, and will bring in air conditioning for the first time. After that, the office door will happen, then a few more projects over the course of the year to make the house really ours (paint! light fixtures! getting rid of that horrible ceiling fan!).

Going through this process for myself is of course made easier by my familiarity with the world of renovation, but just like any of my clients there is a point where I have to trust that I’ve hired the right people, given the right direction, and that all of the dust and disruption is worth the effort. It is, surely, but for the next few weeks I will need regular reminders of that fact. Part of the way I’m doing that is to snap photos of parts of the house that I already love, like the morning light coming in our bedroom window, which can serve as inspiration for what’s ahead. Because it’s going to be wonderful.

Our Services:

Book a Consult

hi.there@fouroverone.com (919) 339-1411
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!

Our Services:

Book a Consult

hi.there@fouroverone.com (919) 339-1411
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.