Lisa Heindel, New Orleans West Bank Real Estate

I live in a house that was originally built in the 1950s. Over the years, the original owners added on (and added on and added on) as their family outgrew the existing space. Lucky for me, by the time they were ready to sell the house, it clocked in at well over 2,500 square feet of living area.

Not so lucky for me, they weren’t as concerned with energy efficiency during their expansion spree.

When we originally bought the house, we knew it would need work. It was definitely what a Realtor would call a “handy man special”, a “fixer upper” or a “diamond in the rough”. But we were captivated by two huge living spaces, a larger than average lot size and a location with family and friends all in the same block.

So, we bought it and embarked on our own spree – this time of updating and renovating. We updated electrical systems, painted, changed floors, painted, renovated bathrooms, painted, changed out a broken air conditioner, painted, replaced the roof and painted some more. After several months of work, we were finally able to move into our home and begin to really make it our own.

After we occupied the house, we were disappointed to find that running 2 air conditioners and cooling a large single story house in the New Orleans heat was a little harder on the budget than we planned for. Even with the addition of insulation, we were being hit with summer time electric bills that were running over $400-$500 per month. But then winter came and the bills settled back down to normal. As summer approached each year, we kept saying that we needed to change out all of the old windows in the house. Like so many other projects that cost more than a couple of hundred dollars, it kept getting pushed to the back burner.

This year, we decided that there would be no more procrastination. As we were painting and replacing flooring in one of the bedrooms, I decided to get a price on having the windows replaced at the same time.

I called my favorite contractor and he sent the window guy out to measure and prepare a quote. Thankfully, it wasn’t as expensive as I was afraid it would be, so we bit the bullet and ordered the windows.

After waiting for a couple of weeks for delivery, the day finally came when the sounds of construction filled my house and those old, crank out, casement monstrosities were removed to make way for double insulated, low E, energy credit at tax time windows.

Within a couple of days, all of the windows were installed and caulked, windowsills and casings were retro-fitted and the appearance of the front of our house took a giant leap into the 21st century. We had just paid an enormous electric bill, so we couldn’t wait to see what the next billing cycle would bring.

Finally, that Entergy envelope arrived in the mail. What we usually viewed with dread, we were excited to see…hoping for any reduction in our bill, but assuming that the recent hot, hot weather would mean another sky high bill. The envelope please…I ripped into the bill…scanning the date to be sure that it was for the time since the windows had been installed…looking for that heart stopping number that meant another big deduction from the checking account…

To find that our bill had been cut by more than 50%!! Yep – and that’s for a month when we had record heat and no rain. I can only imagine how small they will be during the winter months when we use very little electricity beyond our appliances.

If you are looking for an easy way to reduce your monthly utility expenses and make your home more energy efficient, changing your windows is definitely an improvement that will pay for itself over time.

Related Reading:

• Rebates and Tax Credits for Windows, Doors, and Skylights
• Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency
• Tax Credit FAQs

This article originally published at West Bank Living

Are you considering buying or selling a home and need some help getting ready? The West Bank Living Team provides local, professional real estate services to home buyers and sellers on the West Bank of New Orleans and military personnel relocating to and from NAS JRB New Orleans. It would be our pleasure to assist you with all of your real estate needs.

June 2009 New Orleans West Bank Home Sales

The June home sales reports are now online at West Bank Living. How did your neighborhood do?

Algiers 70131
Algiers 70114
Algiers Point
English Turn

Belle Chasse

City of Gretna 70053
Gretna and Terrytown 70056

Harvey

Marrero

Westwego, Avondale and Bridge City

If you need more details on listings and sales in your West Bank neighborhood, sign up for a free Market Snapshot. Up to the minute reports will be delivered to your email address with no obligation and no sales calls.

Do you have questions about the New Orleans West Bank real estate market? Are you considering buying or selling a home? The West Bank Living Team provides local, professional real estate services to home buyers and sellers on the West Bank of New Orleans and military personnel relocating to and from NAS JRB New Orleans. It would be our pleasure to assist you with all of your real estate needs.

One of the things I adore about the West Bank is that the people who live here love to eat as much as I do. They will invite you to dinner, a BBQ or a boil at the drop of a hat. Some of our friends are excellent cooks who should be making a living at it.

Since I really don’t like to cook, we are usually looking for a place to eat each weekend. Sometimes it’s an old standby, but last weekend we visited the new Monroe Street Cafe that Ernie and Joanne Elfer opened a few weeks ago in Gretna.

Serving breakfast, lunch (with a rotating menu of daily specials) and dinner they are a welcome addition to the West Bank restaurant scene with family members working alongside each other in the kitchen and the dining room.

We were greeted by Rosey, the Elfer’s daughter, as we entered and made to feel as if we were special guests from the moment we arrived.

The colors and decorations are warm and welcoming, from the comfortable upholstered dining chairs right down to the fresh flowers that were on every table. Huge old mirrors have been framed on the walls of the dining area and give a sense of spaciousness to a room that could feel small but definitely does not.

We’ve known Ernie for years and had the chance to eat his delicious food before the cafe was even a thought, so I knew it would be good. The buzz is all about the muffaletta pizzas, but since we had a bit of a late night I was ready for breakfast or brunch. Lucky me, there is a Sunday brunch from 6 am to 2 pm each week.

For only $13.99, the brunch includes a juice cocktail, fresh fruit, shrimp remoulade, eggs Benedict, sausage, ham and cheese Elfair, the most amazing roasted garlic grits, biscuits, pecan delight (a mini warm pecan pie with whipped cream) and coffee or tea. I couldn’t even finish all of the food on my plate, so the pecan delight was saved for a treat later on…

If you’re not in the mood for brunch, you can also build your own breakfast, dig into a 3 egg omelet, have a pizza topped with scrambled eggs, ham and sausage, or choose from a wide selection of homemade pastries that are baked fresh every day.

Rounding out the menu are the soup of the day and a great selection of sandwiches and salads. Prices are reasonable, with almost every menu item under $8.

Hubby is a little bit of very picky eater, but he didn’t leave a single bite on his plate. Fortunately, I was able to grab a picture before he dug into the huge spaghetti plate topped with homemade meatballs.

Chef Ernie takes great pride in greeting everyone that visits and stepped out to see how we enjoyed our meal. He took us on a tour of the back dining room that is not open to the public yet, but will be known as The Chief’s Room when it is complete.

Ernie was Chief Choctaw 2007 and plans to decorate the room with his costume and other memorabilia from his reign and has invited other past Chiefs to display any of their items as well. Hmmm…that may be just the right place for the next Krewe of Choctaw board of directors meeting to be held.

Our next visit will be for one of the made to order pizzas. Ernie says that his pizza is designed for those that love it as much as he does – a hand tossed dough basted with blends of garlic, olive oil, herbs and spices and your choice of sauce (red, olio, alfredo, BBQ or creole) is served with plenty of toppings and cheese.

If you are looking for a new, inexpensive West Bank place to eat, I definitely recommend that you check out Monroe St. Cafe. Delicious food, great service and another wonderful way to stay local.

Monroe St. Cafe is located at 1038 Monroe Street (the corner of Monroe and Anson) in Gretna LA and is open 6 am – 9 pm Monday through Thursday, 6 am – 10 pm Friday and Saturday and 6 am – 2 pm on Sundays. Take out orders are available by calling 361-7300. Tell him West Bank Living sent you!

This article was originally published at West Bank Living

Sometimes a split second decision can turn into a pleasant surprise, and that’s what happened today.  I’ve been working in my garden for the last few days and was down to the finishing touches.  There were some spots left that were just crying for something special to be planted in them, so after a lazy morning, the hubby and I set out to Bridge City, intent on going to a large local nursery that has lots of garden ornaments and native plants.  We were disappointed to find them closed.

But as we drove down River Road, we saw a sign for Nine Mile Point Nursery and figured we would stop in and just take a quick look around.  The small sign at the road leading in said that their hours were “When the gate is open”. 

Well, the gate was wide open, so we swung in and began creeping down a winding dirt and gravel road that cut through the trees.  Had it not been for more signs that let us know we were on the right path, we wouldn’t have believed that there was anything more to see than sun dappled trees.

At the end of the road, we came into a clearing with 4 greenhouses, a pickup truck and a single man weeding out potted palms.  I didn’t expect much when we got out of the car, but it would have been rude to just turn around and leave without taking a look at what they had to offer.  So, we climbed out and were greeted by the owner of the nursery, Brad Naberschnig, who told us that he specializes in gingers and exotic palms.

I initially was a little disappointed, thinking that I wouldn’t find anything that I really liked.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Those 4 greenhouses were filled with some of the most beautiful tropical plants I’ve ever seen, including types that I had never laid eyes on before. 

As we began to wander through and ask questions about the variety of plants, Brad fell into step with us, guiding us through the different species, explaining how to propagate pineapple plants and giving us the names and care instructions for each one we considered purchasing.

The beautiful blooms were just breathtaking and so different from anything you’ll ever find at one of those do it yourself stores where they don’t know how to care for the plants, much less explain them to a customer.

Some of the specimens were even a little scary looking!  This big one below, that I cannot remember the name of, had a trunk covered in little spiky thorns, designed to protect it in the wild from animals that think it’s a good lunch in it’s native habitat.

What I originally thought was just vegetation on the property turned out to have a purpose with a closer look.  Brad, who is a licensed horticulturalist and landscape contractor, grows his own banana trees, palm trees and other large tropical plants on the grounds, using them in his landscaping business.

The more we walked and talked, the more I oohed and aahed over it all.  Imagine my surprise when I asked how long the nursery had been there and the answer was the late 1800s!

It turns out that the nursery sits on the grounds of the Magnolia Lane Plantation, which has been owned by the Naberschnig family since 1867.  Brad’s great-grandfather, Frances Quinette, purchased the plantation and shortly afterwards established the first plant nursery in Jefferson Parish.  During this same time, he introduced the first St. Augustine sod, strawberries and citrus plants to Louisiana.  Brad told me that the old timers at the Strawberry Festival in Pontchatoula scoff at the strawberry claim, but that’s the story that has been handed down for generations.  The plantation was completely self-sufficient, with the first school in Jefferson Parish, it’s own church and even a small grocery store. 

Remnants of original buildings still stand on the plantation grounds today.

Frances Quinette’s nursery was the supplier of the oak trees that now line St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans.  They were dug up from the grounds of the plantation, hauled by mule to the river and then shipped on barges to the East Bank.  There still exists a 350 year old oak tree on the property that became known as The Hanging Tree during the Civil War.  In the course of the war, the plantation was taken over by troops from the North, but luckily escaped from being burned like so many others were.

Continuing to walk and talk, Brad brought us up to the grounds of the house and allowed us to look around and experience a little of the history that he gets to live every day.  Although the roof was replaced after Katrina and air conditioning has been added, the majority of the interior is original.

The plantation has been the set of many movies, most recently The Bad Lieutenant starring Nicholas Cage, along with a string of horror movies that sought to take advantage of the mystique that comes from a southern home surrounded by trees dripping with Spanish moss.  

Although Brad’s grandmother used to allow tours of the home, today it is a private residence, where the family still sleeps in mosquito netted beds in rooms with walls made from mud moss and deer hair.  The view of their acres of land comes through one of the 880 original hand blown glass window panes that remain in the house.

The bottle tree is said to ward away evil spirits

The original kitchen building still houses the fireplace and many of the items used by cooks in the late 1800s.   With a dust covered wood floor and one single window, I can only imagine how hot it must have been to prepare meals in this little room.

As we made our way back towards the nursery, we passed what I thought was a well, but it turned out to be the original plantation refrigerator – a deep, underground storage space that kept foods cool.  Someone (someone small, I would think) was lowered into the room to store and retrieve food as needed.

We continued our walk through a clearing behind the house and got a peek into one of the best hiding places on the grounds…a clearing inside the walls of a bamboo stand  that has soared towards the clouds for at least 3 generations.  When the wind is blowing, the clack clack sounds of bamboo ring out across the property.

Finally making our way back to our car, we decided on our two favorite plants and loaded them into the back of the car, with a promise for a return visit when we are ready to add to the landscape.

Who would have thought that a simple sign on the road would have led us to an afternoon filled with Louisiana history?   Thank you, Brad, for a delightful visit and tour and for sharing your family’s history with us.

Taking the road less traveled certainly has benefits.

Nine Mile Point Nursery Farm is located at 2141 River Road in Nine Mile Point.  Usually open after 4pm in the evenings and all day on the weekends, you can call ahead (504-436-4915) to be sure.

Magnolia Lane Plantation is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is closed to the public.

The April 2009 home sale market reports and real estate trends for the West Bank of New Orleans are now available at West Bank Living:

Algiers 70131

Algiers 70114

Algiers Point

English Turn

City of Gretna 70053

Terrytown and Gretna 70056

Belle Chasse LA 70037

Harvey LA 70058

Marrero LA 70072

Westwego, Avondale and Bridge City LA 70094

Are you considering buying or selling a home on the West Bank of New Orleans? The West Bank Living Team provides local, professional real estate services to buyers, sellers and military personnel relocating to and from NAS JRB New Orleans. It would be our pleasure to assist you with all of your real estate needs.