What we have in common with Restoration Hardware

Here at Central City Millworks we pride ourselves on our quality and beautiful design work.  But we didn’t realize that our designes sensibilities extended even into the mill shop.  That is untill we saw the cover of the latest Restoration Hardware catalogue! 

 

The Restoration Hardware Furniture Factory Cart Coffee Table is the latest home accent piece introduced into the Restoration Hardware collection and they are each handmade, one-of-a-kind originals.

Here is what we use in the mill shop to transport our lumber and supplies around…

Looks good right?  We can definetly attest that the Furniture Factory Cart is an aptly named piece of furniture.  We just didn’t know that the carts were worth as much as the finished products created from the raw materials we haul around on them!

Central City Millworks in the Dome

So the Home and Garden is in full effect in the New Orleans Superdome right now and of course we are there making contacts and letting the Greater New Orleans area in on a great option for any woodworking needs.

Although it isn’t always easy to get away from home base at these conventions, I had a chance to walk around and take in the scenery. And one thing that seemed overwhelmingly popular at this years show was the idea of going green, and being environmentally friendly.

Its nice to see an emphasis on doing the little things to help. And its nice to be able to say that we at Central City Millworks have been trying to do right by mother nature since our genesis. (That is a hard word to use without seeming biblical or like a Phil Collins fan) We have always been big believers in salvaging wood to create our heart pine flooring (which has been a hit so far). In fact a large percentage of our wood comes from reuse and recycling.

So I guess I’m patting out backs a little bit, but whats the point of being involved in a buisness if you can’t be proud of it?

Home and Garden Show

The New Orleans Home and Garden show is starting up again which always is an exciting and somewhat stressful time for us at Central City Millworks.

Its always a fun experience to get to come out and see the crafts on display, and to mingle with other people from around the city with similar interests, but we at Cetral City Millworks always have an added pressure of coming up with a project that will showcase our capabilities as craftsmen.

I would love to spoil the fun and tell everyone what we have come up with for this years show, but then I would be afraid that people wouldn’t be as eager to come over and visit. So hopefully we will see you there.

St. Bernard Parish’s New Chambers open, Central City Millworks helped

For three years now the St. Bernard Council members have been meeting in a trailer. The reason, of course, is that Hurricane Katrina ravished the parish building that had served them so well in the past. But today, July 15th 2008, there were many smiles as the council members walked into a newly renovated parish building in Chalmette.

The celebration ceremony that kicked off today would not have been possible without a little help from Central City Millworks. CCM provided all the millworking necessary to get the parish building to its new, and improved state. Whether it be cabinetry, flooring, brackets, or shutters CCM will continue to serve the greater New Orleans area’s millwork needs to make this city better than ever.

Central City Millworks- New Orleans Might need more LSU signs

If the LSU Tigers keeping playing baseball the way they did in the second half of the series against the Anteaters, we at Central City Millworks may have to fire up our CNC router and design team for another championship LSU team.

Back in January when Louisiana State University became the first team to win the BCS Championship twice, we at Central City Millworks made some custom signs to commiserate the win over Ohio State. Since LSU has some of the greatest football fans in the country it was no surprise to receive orders after the National Championship game. But it wouldn’t be surprising to see the baseball fans match the football fans fervor. Even if the Tigers fall short in Omaha, which seems unlikely, maybe a nice commemorative sign in honor of Alex Box Stadium would still be in order.

Geaux Tigers. Give them hell in Omaha.

New Orleans Gingerbread

The latest issue of Louisiana Homes & Gardens magazine (April 2008) has an article entitled “Gingerbread; Bracket Style.”  The article looks at brackets on New Orleans houses and explains the diffrent architectural styles that these unique adornments represent. 

“Victorian style“ is what fancifully decorated New Orleans shotguns are most commonly called but Victorian includes several styles, including “Queen Anne” and “Eastlake.”  and sometimes these bracketed houses are simply know as “Bracket style” or “New Orleans millwork style.” 

Many people in New Orleans take great pride in restoring their homes to origianl conditions, but it is often difficult to find a matching set of brackets.  And it is sometimes impossible to find an exact match to an existing bracket.  Here at Central City Millworks we have been recreating many diffrent New Orleans brackets at affordable prices.  Now New Orleanians have the opportunity to recreate the original charm of their home.

Click on this link to see the full article.  gingerbread-bracket-style

Louisiana Home & Garden Show

This weekend is the Louisiana Home and Garden Show at the Superdome and Central City Millworks is please to announce that we will be in attendance, displaying some of our finest work.  Come see us at Booth 672 to see some of our bracket designs, shutters, railing & balusters and much more.  While there you can look at our full portfolio to see all of the gorgeous cabinetry, stairs, doors windows and other woodwork that we produce.  We will also be featuring out antique heart pine flooring.  Reclaimed heart pine is a better alternative to white or carribean pine because it is more durable, more fitting with New Orleans architecture, and “green” because it is all reclaimed material, not newly milled.

So if you are interested in New Orleans millworks, come by Booth 672 to meet Central City Millworks.

Office Space

 Recently, we at Central City Millworks were posed with a chalenge to create a built-in desk that would have up to seven work stations in a pretty small room.  The space is 15′ by 14′ and there are doors, windows and a chimney to work around.  We were, of course, up to the challenge. 

We started off by designing the desktop in Corel draw.  With that program we are able to transfer the work to be cut on our CNC router.  This is what we came up with – Plan View.  One of the ways we found to work around all of the uneveness in the walls was to build a splash on the back of the desk and install 2″ off the wall.  This creates a place for all of the cords for power and phone lines. 

We also used eCabinets to design wall shelves. 

The pieces were all cut in the space of two days and the installation took three.  All in all the project was quick and easy and the best part is – the client was thrilled with the outcome.

 If you want to find out more please call us at 504-899-1345. 

We are specialists in New Orleans Millwork.

Green Project “SALVATIONS”

The talented folks at Central City Millworks have entered the Green Project’s SALVATIONS contest.   Lately, my co-workers have been fiercely competitive and secretly working on their projects to be donated to the Green Project on February 7, 2008.   Their entries will be displayed on the 3rd floor of Canal Place.  The spirited rivalry from the creative and gifted carpenters of Central City Millworks will most definitely yield amazing results.  Come and see what Leah and Sam have come up with… the competition is on!  All proceeds go to the Green Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creatively promoting and encouraging environmental sustainability in New Orleans.  For all of your woodwork needs, please contact us at Central City Millworks.

Louisiana’s SPCA Rescue Ranch

Go Green! … and do not forget to recycle!  Central City Millworks donates all of its sawdust generated from our reclaimed flooring to the Louisiana SPCA’s Rescue Ranch.  Loads of this valuable commodity skip the landfill for a better use at the Rescue Ranch.  The Rescue Ranch saves horses from neglect and manutrition.  These bony equines deserve the absolute best shavings from spanish cedar, oak and cypress floors, to help get back on their hooves.