Art Deco Kitchen

Kitchen makeover gives 200-year-old house in Treme new life

But her 2009 purchase also came with an impossibly cramped kitchen on the ground floor of a modern addition.

"The previous owner was interested in antiques and collecting -- not cooking," Conner said. "He hung an immense art deco chandelier from the kitchen's 9-foot ceiling and used a stove so small that he had to cook his Thanksgiving turkey in two parts."

Conner, a passionate home cook, had renovated kitchens in three previous houses, but was stymied by the tight, 12-by-18-foot confines of the new space she had acquired.

Fortunately she found help: boyfriend Ed Campbell is a contractor with a knack for adapting historic materials; and kitchen designer Melissa Howell pitched in with ideas honed through her work at Southport Custom Cabinetry in Harahan.

The trio came up with a plan that made use of existing material from the house, including antiques left by the previous owner.

"I didn't need the 18 sugaring kettles that my predecessor kept in the courtyard, but Ed and I used just about everything else -- and we also haunted local salvage places looking for old pine and cypress that we could harvest," Conner said.

SHAPE SHIFTING: Campbell and Conner rearranged the green marble counter tops of the existing kitchen, using those beveled, 3-inch-thick slabs to frame a deep, farmhouse sink and a five-burner La Cornue stove.

Cabinet fronts came from a variety of old cypress pieces, and Campbell built custom boxes on which to hang them. He also built the sturdy pot rack that keeps Conner's prized collection of cast-iron French cookware in easy reach.

Tucking a discreet pantry into a corner was an idea suggested by kitchen designer Howell. Hidden behind a cypress door, the walk-in space is wired so that Conner can use her coffee maker and microwave without cluttering the counters -- a trick that helps to make a small kitchen feel bigger.

Replacing an existing French door with a bay window also added an illusion of space without adding to the room's existing footprint.

Conner often eats in the kitchen, so a top-quality vented stove hood was essential to reduce heat and cooking odors.

She also wanted a table tall enough for food prep, but comfortable enough for an intimate dinner party. She found it in the Bywater shop of Shaun Wilkerson, a furniture maker who uses salvaged lumber and antique elements.

TREASURES ON HAND: Other finds were right on the property. In an upstairs room, Campbell and Conner discovered a standing case from the Ursulines Convent and realized that it would fit one wall of the kitchen as a china display.

The Soup Kitchen – Art Deco Napier « Havingaball 2011

They were grim days after the 1931 Hawke’s Bay Earthquake – but the community rallied and the hard times were thrust aside and together the locals  kept their spirits high. This wholesome lunchtime hot meal will be accompanied by jazz music, a community sing-a-long, and several games from the depression era. Dress in deco, dress down depression-style, or just come in your regular clothes, no matter how you look you will be swept away by the fun and community spirit that you will encounter.

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