My Slice of Heaven

This is my first blog-off challenge and the topic of writing about my "Slice of Heaven" was easy because I am one of the lucky ones who lives in paradise. This is the view from my back terrace overlooking the inter-coastal waterway. I live on Lady's Island which is just across the river from Beaufort, South Carolina. I never tire of the view..there is something about a long view that is very relaxing. One of the best things about being on the marsh is the abundant bird population. We see Herons, Egrets,  and Wood Storks in the marsh. There is a Osprey that preens it feathers every morning in a snag that I can see from our bedroom. Hooded Mergansers arrive in December and were renamed Christmas Ducks by our girls when they were young.

We hear owls every morning and have seen a Great Horned Owl in a tall pine tree and a Screech Owl on our terrace after he collided with our sliding doors. Fortunately he was just stunned and soon flew away.

The kitchen looks out to the river on the West and into a courtyard on the East. I see a different group of birds in the courtyard. The two most exciting to spot are Painted Buntings and Pileated Woodpeckers. We keeps several birdbaths and they are usually full of Cardinals.

One day when we were out kayaking a manatee swam by us...really cool! Michael, my husband fishes behind our house. A few years ago he found a sweet spot and would leave the house asking how many fish I wanted him to bring home for dinner!

The marsh and river views are always changing and can be very dramatic. We watch rain storms approach down the river. You are probably thinking that it is difficult for me to leave my house and go to work... once again, I am lucky. Our office is on the same piece of property as our house but in a different building. The view below is from the office.

Even though I live in paradise, it is on a flat barrier island and is in a small town. So when I leave my slice of heaven I either go to the mountains or to a city. I grew up in Tennessee, so I have to get my mountain fix and enjoy those long views especially when backpacking!

We have a lush, semi-tropical landscape with huge Live Oak trees draping Spanish Moss but there is very little fall color. The marsh changes from bright green to gold and there is an occasional tree here in there sporting some color. So a trip to the mountains in the fall is a real treat.

My priorities when traveling are great architecture, great art and great food!

"I" House or Plantation Plain Style

A typical southern house was the "I" house, named because of the tall narrow profile. This house was two stories with a simple gable roof and a shed roofed one story porch in front and a shed roofed addition on the rear. Typically, there were masonry chimneys on each end of the house. This simple house was one room deep which maximized the amount of light and cross ventilation. It had high ceilings which allowed the heat to rise and provided a more comfortable environment. The one story porch allowed the second floor sleeping rooms to have ventilation on three sides. Occasionally there would be a double porch on the front. Kitchens were usually in a separate building behind the house; this kept the heat from the fireplace out of the main house and also protected the main house in the event of a kitchen fire.

There are a number of "I" houses to be found in Beaufort and the surrounding counties. The challenge with the "I" house is incorporating the necessities of modern day living, such as kitchens, bathrooms, closets and laundry rooms. We recently worked on an "I" house in Beaufort that has an important provenance.

In 1839, Robert Smalls was born a slave on this property. In the civil was he became a U.S. Army captain. He went on to serve in the SC House of Representative, SC Senate and was a United States Congressman for 5 terms. After the civil war, Robert Smalls purchased this and adjacent properties. It is believed that this circa 1855 house was moved to the property as part of the Smalls estate.

The original house was two rooms over two; it appears that a one story wing was added when the house was moved. The double front porches were removed many years ago and replaced with a small stoop. Typical of historic houses, there was only one inadequate bathroom and virtually no closets.

Robert Smalls is an important historical figure in South Carolina, so it was critical to respect the integrity of the house while providing the basic necessities in bathrooms and storage. We added a small L‐shaped second floor addition to house two new bathrooms, master bedroom closet and a small third bedroom. The addition backs up to the existing chimney and we left it exposed in the bathroom. We enclosed an existing small porch to create a breakfast room with a new porch beyond.


In restoring the double front porches, the house now looks like the typical Beaufort house that it is instead of some foreign transplant. The clients desire for a screened porch was met with a free standing enclosure that respects the scale of the historic home and encloses a courtyard on the south of the house.

Chimney Backsplash?

This is a new bathroom in the house in the previous posting. This was originally an outside wall. When we designed the addition we incorporated the backside of the chimney into the lavatory design.

Renovation Project

This is a sweet renovation and addition project in "The Point" neighborhood in Beaufort. The original front porch had been removed so we added it back with a new comfy porch swing.

Dog Trot

The dog trot is a traditional southern venacular form also known as "two pens and a passage". One room was typically used for sleeping and the other for cooking. The open center passage was the main sitting room that was cooled naturally by the Bernoulli effect. The center passage was often used as the dog kennel and thus the name dog trot.

Dog trots are found in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, and Texas. The dog trot above is from the Historic American Building Survey located in the Library of Congress, it is Thornhill Plantation , Greene County, Alabama The drawing is by Kent McWilliams, 1935 and the photo is by Alex Bush, 1935

Recently we have been experimenting with the dog trot form for contemporary houses. Our mild winters are ideal for outdoor living. The Crobsy residence is a true dog trot with the master bedroom in one "pen" and the great room and kitchen in the other "pen". The center passage serves as a large sitting room. The house is currently under construciton and whenever we are at the job site at lunch time, every working is sitting in the center passage enjoying the breeze.