Best Moving Company in Charleston

For years, Julie and Rowan Taylor dreamed of what it would be like to live in Charleston, S.C.

“We first came in 2005 — long weekend, no kids,” said Mr. Taylor, 54, the managing partner of a private equity firm. “And fell in love.”

After that, they often visited the city from their home in New Canaan, Conn., and their admiration for its handsomely weathered buildings, towering palms and expansive oaks — as well as its thumping urban heart — only grew.

But Mr. Taylor worked for a company based in New York City, and the couple had three daughters who had their own friends and routines, so a move didn’t seem realistic.

As the years passed, their daughters moved out and Mr. Taylor founded his own firm, so the idea began to feel less far-fetched. They had welcomed a fourth daughter to their family in the interim — Pippa, now 10 — but a relocation still seemed manageable. So in 2016, on a flight down to Charleston, Mr. Taylor decided to run a real estate search on his iPad.

“He leaned over on the airplane and said, ‘Look at this house,’” said Ms. Taylor, 54. “I said, ‘We’ve never been inside one of these. You want to go look?’”

He did. And after touring a few houses, Mr. Taylor upped the ante. “He said, ‘Which one do you like best?’” Ms. Taylor said. “He called my bluff.”

They picked a house, made an offer and began envisioning life in their new home — until the deal fell apart. But by then, it was too late to turn back.

They looked at more houses while consulting with Eddie Fava, of the Charleston firm E E Fava Architects. Ms. Taylor was game for buying a house that needed some cosmetic updates, although after living through a full-blown renovation in Connecticut, she set a guiding principle for their search: “I didn’t want a project,” she said.

But that was before Mr. Taylor fell for a stately Federal house from 1788 in the South of Broad neighborhood. The house was 8,130 square feet, with expansive rooms and its own walled garden. But it needed a thorough restoration and updating, which they wanted to avoid. Still, Mr. Taylor couldn’t get the house out of his head, so he asked Mr. Fava to take a look.

Mr. Fava came back with a glowing report: “I said, ‘It’s everything you don’t want to do, but it will be everything you want, without a doubt.’ I said, ‘It’s the big project. It’s going to be way more than you thought, but you’re going to be as happy as can be when it’s done.’”

The Taylors swallowed hard and bought the house for $5.35 million in January 2017. Then they moved into a rental down the street and began the long process of reviving the house with Mr. Fava, Betsy Berry, an interior designer, and Sheila Wertimer, a landscape architect and a partner of Wertimer & Cline.

Although the project involved a gut renovation, the design team was intent on retaining the house’s character while dragging it into the 21st century with contemporary systems and spaces, including rooms for watching TV and working from home.

“I believe you can have the best of both worlds in these types of homes, if they’re thoughtfully put together,” Mr. Fava said. “It doesn’t have to be a museum house.”

They removed and retained the original doors, molding and paneling, so they could be copied as needed and put back. They patched the existing floors with matching pieces of antique heart pine and restored the staircases.

Mr. Fava also made significant architectural changes, including removing the floors from a connected former carriage house to create a new double-height family room on the ground level, with a large dressing room connected to the primary suite above it.

Ms. Berry was just as intent on mixing new with old. “This was my dream project, because the history of the house is just so amazing,” she said. “What I love to do is respect and honor that age, but also bring in a new feeling of youth, and modern touches, to give it more life and spirit.”

In the entrance hall and in a sun porch, she had the pine floors painted with a decorative pattern and then sanded and scuffed to evoke a sense of age. In the dining room, which is furnished with a mix of antiques and custom contemporary pieces, she covered the walls with a custom hand-painted scenic wallpaper from Gracie and hung a Branching Bubble chandelier by Lindsey Adelman from the ceiling.

In the living room, where she suspended a 1950s Fontana Arte chandelier from the center of an ornate ceiling medallion, she proposed lacquering the walls and was surprised when Ms. Taylor urged her to use a daring raspberry hue.

“I had originally showed her a safer color, but she was like, ‘No, I want color. I want it to be bold,’” Ms. Berry said. “It was scary for me, but that room turned out beautifully.”

After two years of design and construction, and more than $4 million, the project the Taylors hadn’t wanted to take on was finally complete. Just before the family moved in, near the end of December 2019, “We moved everything into their closets, made the beds and decorated for Christmas,” Ms. Berry said. “We had all the fires going and Christmas music playing.”

She added: “We walked them through the house with all their daughters, and then we went up to the salon. And Julie and I just cried and hugged.”

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COLUMBIA, S.C. – Cannonborough Beverage Company, a craft soda company, today announced plans to expand operations in Charleston County. The project will create 22 new jobs.

Founded in 2012, Cannonborough Beverage Company produces craft sodas and mixers made from whole ingredients including fruits, herbs and spices.

Located at 1750 Signal Point Road in Charleston, Cannonborough Beverage Company’s expansion will increase the company’s capacity and production capabilities. The company also plans to add a commissary kitchen.

The expansion of the company’s production facility is currently in progress. Individuals interested in joining the Cannonborough Beverage Company team should visit the company’s contact page.

QUOTES

"We are very proud to announce this exciting milestone for the company. Not only will this new production facility allow us to expand our operations to keep up with growing demand, it will allocate newly renovated food production space for other food businesses and is an opportunity to give back to a community that has been so supportive of Cannonborough Sodas. The generosity of Charleston area businesses to share their space, knowledge and experience with us over the last nine years has made a big impact on the company. To be able to pay that forward to the next generation of food entrepreneurs in Charleston is something we're very excited about." -Cannonborough Beverage Company Co-Founders Mick Matricciano and Matt Fendley

"Today we congratulate a homegrown business – Cannonborough Beverage Company – on their success in the Palmetto State. We look forward to watching them continue to grow in Charleston County for years to come.”-Gov. Henry McMaster

“South Carolina continues to attract investments from companies of all types, and today’s announcement by Cannonborough Beverage Company is proof of that. Team South Carolina celebrates their growth, and we look forward to their continued success.” -Secretary of Commerce Harry M. Lightsey III

“We’re pleased to see a local company not only expanding, but planning to source more agricultural products from South Carolina farmers. This is a great example of the teamwork that makes agribusiness our state’s No. 1 industry.” -Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers

“Our community has a passion for homegrown products, and we are excited to see what the future has in store for the growing craft soda market. Congratulations to Cannonborough Beverage Company on their expansion and establishing permanent roots in our community.” -Charleston County Council Chairman Teddie Pryor

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD)- Seven designers from across the Southeast have installed vignettes in the historic Aiken-Rhett House in Downtown Charleston.

The displays are part of a larger event called ‘Illumination Charleston,‘ which is described as “a weekend of inspired design, Southern culture, and holiday décor in Charleston, SC.” sponsored by Southern Living in partnership with the Historic Charleston Foundation.

Over the past several months, designers have been preparing their vignette designs which are inspired by the history and culture of Charleston.

A vignette is a grouping of objects, usually comprised of homewares pieces, but might also feature flowers and other natural elements, art, craft objects, and other mementos. Each designer was designated a room in the Aiken-Rhett House in which to create their vignette.

Tami Ramsay and Krista Nye Nicholas of Cloth & Kind said their Parlor vignette was designed in homage to Dorcas Richardson, one of the enslaved women who spent much of her life serving the Aiken-Rhett family.

The sign outside the Cloth & Kind display reads in part:

‘From the few historical records available, Dorcas embodied all of the characteristics of a woman we admire- nurturing, resilient, and compassionate. Dorcas was not ultimately defined by her enslavement. Her legacy is that of a multifaceted, admirable, intelligent woman– a daughter, a friend, a leader, an entrepreneurial business owner, and a humanitarian.’

Nicholas said the spirit of Dorcas Richardson was at the forefront of their minds and described it as “a current that ran through us as we were designing.”

For Ramsay and Nicholas, highlighting the Aiken-Rhett House’s involvement in a “dark period of history” was of particular importance.

“It felt very important to us to recognize and acknowledge the history of this house,” Ramsey said. “We felt it incumbent upon ourselves to research about the house, the people who lived here, and especially the enslaved people.”

The designers said they picked pieces that drew upon the culture and iconic imagery of the Lowcountry, including palmetto trees and traditional woven floor matting.

“We’ve been working with this Charleston theme of having references to palms and palmettos and so some of the shapes that are on the lampshade, in addition to the piece over the mantle, really reference some of that,” Ramsay said. “The colors very much reflect the coast, the ocean, and the beach.”

Other designers who installed vignettes include Tammy Connor, Jane Scott Hodges, Jenny Keenan, Amanda Lindroth, Canaan Marshall, and Jason Reeves.

The displays can be viewed Friday and Saturday at the Aiken-Rhett House. Tickets can be purchased on the ‘Illumination Charleston’ website.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Throughout the pandemic, hundreds of traveling nurses are still making stops in Charleston to help in local hospitals.

A local recruiting agency said the number of traveling nurses across the state has nearly doubled since the pandemic started.

Roper St. Francis said it has 150 traveling nurses on staff. MUSC said 126 of its nurses are traveling.

“There’s been a big push for med-surg and PCU, which is a step down from ICU and ICU nurses,” said Valarie Yarborough, recruiting manager at ATC Healthcare.

ATC Healthcare in Charleston is an agency that oversees traveling nurse assignments and contracts. The agency said it’s not just contracts for nurses on the rise. They said it’s also a push for more pay.

“When we do have those spikes and hospitals are really panicking and trying to get people in, you’re looking at the lowest rates at $95 an hour, to $160,” said Yarborough.

Sheena Austin has been a traveling nurse for 3.5 years, working in places like Pennsylvania, Texas and South Carolina.

“They do give you all of the requirements for your assignments. They tell you where you’re going, and they tell you what the pay packets will include for you,” Austin said.

Austin said while working in South Carolina before the pandemic, she was bringing in between $1,500 and $3,500 dollars a week.

“Now, local contracts have gone up because of the need. Right about now, I’m seeing about $3,500 to $5,000,” said Austin.

ATC Healthcare said the call for traveling nurses has pushed some hospitals to do auto-offers. The agency said that includes hiring nurses solely based off qualifications and experience.

“That started to happen a lot during COVID because there were so many needs, just to get rid of that interview process,” said Yarborough.

The agency said it expects the need for traveling nurses to stay around, even after the pandemic ends.

“Some places have maybe one regular staff nurse. There’s been a lot of traveling nurse staff in the hospitals,” Austin said.

According to ATC Healthcare, during the peak of COVID, the agency contracted nearly 325 nurses across South Carolina in only a couple of months.

Copyright 2021 WCSC. All rights reserved.

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - Replacing a few lightbulbs might not seem like a big deal, but when your enterprise has more than 100 buildings, thousands of rooms and lighting for parking lots and athletic facilities, the costs can add up.

However, swapping out old lightbulbs for more energy efficient ones is all part of a targeted efforted by the Charleston County School District to reduce its overall energy consumption.

Associate of Facilities Management Ron Kramps says the program saves the taxpayer about $5 million a year.

“We spend about $13 million a year on our utility bill, just to power all the computers in the classrooms and the lights and all that stuff that’s going on in the classroom,” Kramps said. “Whatever I can save in the energy program can go back to education programs in the school.”

Lightbulbs are the low hanging fruit according to Kramps, which he says pay for themselves in about two years. The big-ticket energy savers are projects that upgrade heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems and fix up older buildings.

“We’ll do roofing and window and door replacements that tighten up the facility. So we’re getting a little bit better controlled infiltration or less uncontrolled infiltration of air coming through openings, window and doors,” Kramps said. “I’ve spent about $60 million just over the last five years on HVAC projects.”

Next year, Kramps says the facilities department has about 100 projects in the works. While every project they do will have an energy efficiency component, he says half of them are being done exclusively to reduce the energy bill.

“You’re trying to do a few different things,” Kramps said. “You’re trying to save natural resources at the big picture perspective, burning less coal or natural gas, or what have you to create energy. But really, we’re trying to save dollars and in the school district.”

The efforts are paying off. Throughout the 2021 school year, energy usage per square foot has decreased 4.2%, despite the increased usage of air purifiers to combat COVID.

In the last 21 years, the district’s square footage has increased by 74% while energy usage has only increased by 15%. The practical upshot of which is a total decrease of about 37% of energy used per square foot.

“Certainly, the newer schools are going to perform the best in terms of energy consumption. But you know, you go to a place like Morningside Middle School, which is an older school, we did a lighting project there just a few years ago,” Kramps said. “Generally speaking, the older schools need a little bit more attention than the newer schools, but my capital maintenance program is very much needs based.”

Part of the program is an incentive program that rewards schools for encouraging teachers and students to reduce energy consumption by turning off lights and unplugging devices that aren’t being used.

Kramps says they’ll give out about $350,000 to schools with programs that enhance education around energy conservation. Kramps says they inspect schools seven times a year to see if devices are unplugged, blinds are pulled and lights are off.

Copyright 2021 WCSC. All rights reserved.