After Charlotte and Robert Henry got married, they decided to move from Dallas to New Orleans (where Charlotte is originally from) in order to settle down and have a family. “We were renting our previous home and were working with Margaret Stewart to start our house search,” Charlotte said. “We just so happened to lock in a good mortgage rate a few weeks before we found the house, and right before COVID hit. We had our offer accepted on March 9, 2020, and, although some circumstances changed, we were determined to not let COVID impact us getting this house. Shortly after, we found out we were expecting a baby. Now we have two girls, Merritt and Libby.”
The Henrys first met with Chris Kornman at Entablature to handle the remodel. “We have heard horror stories of some contractors, and we could tell [Kornman] and his team were very professional, organized and set realistic expectations for us,” Charlotte said. “We loved the fact that they used an app to record selections, have streamlined communication and sharing of plans. They were always responsive and attentive whenever we (as new homeowners and construction newbies) had a million questions for them.”
Next, the team at Entablature referred the Henrys to Leslie Raymond, vice president and principal, and Dan Akerley, senior project manager, at Albert Architecture. “This being our first (and very big) construction project, we really leaned on them to give us direction on style and design,” Charlotte said. “They paid attention to some of the most minute details we would have never thought of (knob placements, positioning of outlet covers, trim placement and more).”
First and foremost, the new homeowners wanted a home that they could gut and make completely their own. “Our house is one of three identical houses on our street that are double shotguns, and the last to be renovated,” Charlotte said. “We converted the house to be a single-family home. We knew we wanted our primary living space to be in the back of the house, so we worked with [Raymond and Akerley] on how to accomplish that flow without feeling too choppy. We also wanted to maximize storage, so we added closets in the master bathroom, front room and hall, plus double closets in one of the bedrooms.”
Additionally, the Henrys knew they wanted to preserve the historic elements of the house. As such, they salvaged two windows that were in bathrooms and relocated them to the new laundry room and Jack-and-Jill bath. “We were also able to remove the second door (from the double shotgun) and created a replica of the other front windows to seamlessly integrate into the front of the house,” Charlotte said. “We saved the front windows original to the house.”
“Charlotte and Robert gave us the freedom to determine where certain rooms were located,” Raymond said. “One of their main goals was to preserve as much of the historic character as possible. So we kept that in mind even in organizing the room layout. We maintained a lot of the existing structural walls and placed openings within them instead of moving walls.”
The remodeled home now satisfies the needs of the Henry family in a number of ways. “We love having the kitchen and living space together,” Charlotte said. “Now that we have two kids, we spend all of our time in that big main room. We love that we can open our back door and play outside, while one of us is in the kitchen cooking or at the desk working.”
The kitchen now features a large island with plenty of storage, and it also gives Charlotte and Robert space to cook and work. “We do a lot of cooking, and we were able to completely customize it to our needs, down to the height of the kitchen hood to make sure Robert didn’t hit his head while cooking,” Charlotte said. “Albert Architecture suggested using two slabs on the counter and backsplash of the kitchen to make a statement. We selected a quartzite called Dakar White. We used Shiloh Cabinets in a color called Mindful Gray.”
The Henrys also worked with Anne Villere (of Anne Villere Designs) to help select paint colors, wallpaper, drapery and rugs. “Since the houses in our area are close together, we knew we needed to have drapery right when we moved in – especially with our bedroom being at the front of the house with a wall full of windows,” Charlotte said.
The overall color palette is calm and traditional, but with pops of color in relaxing hues – like greens and blues – throughout the house. “We usually stick with neutrals to be safe, but, thankfully, working with a designer helped us be a little more bold in our design decisions,” Charlotte said. “We were able to add fun elements like wallpaper and playful color trims to mix up the otherwise basic off-white walls. [Villere] did a great job of tying the colors of the home together and ensuring everything flowed well into each room.”
The homeowners also later worked with Carrie Knapp (of Carrie Knapp Interiors) to convert the guest room into a nursery for their newborn. “She did a great job utilizing the design aspects we already had in the room and house to create a fun nursery for our new baby.”
As for future plans, when the Henrys originally met with Kornman about the remodel, they had mentioned the possibility of camelbacking the house as they started a family. “Although he wisely suggested we do that with this renovation, at the time it was just two of us and we thought that would be excessive,” Charlotte said. “Little did we know we would have two kids in two years (and a dog and a cat), so we will need more square footage sooner rather than later.”
