The Cottage at Pujo Street

There is nothing that cannot be redeemed, according to Trena Soileau. She believes this is true for people and dwellings. Case in point: the 1905 cottage she renovated.

Rita LeBleu captured this spirit in an article Rita authored for the local newspaper, The Lake Charles American Press, in March 2020, titled Sweet Restoration.

Given the choice of building a new house in any of the area’s newest upscale subdivisions or fixing up a house in the Lake Charles Charpentier District, Trena will always choose the historic structure, according to her husband, Rudie.

“She just has a restorative spirit,” he said.

Work began on the one-bedroom cottage in April 2018. Her intention was to create a space where people feel at peace as soon as they walk through the door. She was obsessed with the idea of saving anything that could be saved and using it.

“A historic house demands a certain feel, so I tried to preserve every single thing I could,” she said, bringing in a cache of miscellany from bygone eras: square-head nails pulled from salvaged lumber, glass door knobs, antique door knob plates, a thick slab of blue-green broken glass and two intact bottles – one bottled in Lake Charles and one bottled in Galveston -- exposed during foundation work. She kept a piece of wall as an example of how waterline openings were chiseled in, rather than drilled back in the day. Dist-O-Maps, circular rotating charts published for each state in the 1960s, were handy for finding the driving distance between major cities before the advent of GPS and mobile devices.

On one of the walls, someone had written the words “Head Nurse,” causing the Soileaus to wonder if that area of the cottage had been used as a doctor’s office.

Trena used the native long leaf pine barn siding, pulled from the exterior of the structure, to cover the air conditioner run and create a range vent hood. Damaged sills were used to create floating shelves that now support an interesting assortment of memories and dishes: pottery from Candice Alexander before shebecame a popular local artist; dishes from her daughter who moved abroad; and a pottery dish left behind by friends; and a few things from Trena’s own collection.

The existing bargeboard that covered interior walls was brought back to life with a fresh coat of white paint. It doesn’t cover up what it was. It brightens it. Peeling away the old, dirty, indoor/outdoor carpet revealed a solid wood floor pocked by powder dust beetles in the oldest portion of the structure. With a little polish and attention, the scars make the floor more interesting as well as attractive.

Trena hung one of her salvaged antique doors on a portion of the bathroom wall facing the antique tub she had refinished. She cut a wide antique solid wood cypress door in half and used it on two sides of the kitchen island. Another salvaged door is used for a pocket door -- the perfect solution to streamlining space. Trena noted her appreciation of these one-of-a-kind doors, crafted for openings of all sizes rather than mass-produced, standardized doors.

“I couldn’t get rid of them,” she said. “I wanted to use everything I could.”

The washer and dryer nook is accessed through a salvaged door that has been distressed with light, bluish green paint and other colors. Trena found inspiration from Pinterest and a detailed, talented craftsperson in Blaire Derouen, Flippin’ Fabulous, to execute the look. The same treatment was used on the old bathroom mirror that now hangs in the hall. After her daughter Isabella showed Trena a photo of a retro fridge in the same color, Trena rearranged the kitchen layout opposite the washer/dryer door to make Isabella’s find a focal point.

Jen Inman, Inman Architecture, helped Trena decide on the new cottage layout. Trena found a fabulous contractor in Jeff Bell, Jeff Bell Construction.

She used what she had, buying nothing new with the exception of the sleeper sofa, purchased so that the cottage could accommodate children and grandchildren.

“My husband and I were talking about who we would put out here and who we would put up in the house the next time everyone came over, joking a little about whether one would argue with the other for the privilege of staying out here. My husband said, the heck with that. This place is perfect. We’ll sleep out here and put all of them in the house.”