Shop quiz! with Green Pirogue Architectural Antiques & Design
About two months ago, Kyle Burns set out on his mission to help turn houses into homes. With previous experience in residential construction, he could tell something had been missing in the industry: personality.
He now has a storefront open in Baton Rouge that showcases antiques and the impact they bring to a home. His business, Green Pirogue Architectural Antiques, imports items such as doors, tiles, mirrors and corbels from Europe. It’s all part of his commitment to restoring the timelessness that many homes have slowly lost.
Keep scrolling for Burn’s Q&A on how the business began and where it’s heading.
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Tell us about your business and how it began.
The whole goal and challenge of building homes is how to make the house feel like a home and add pieces to bring character, so that’s where the idea for this business came from. Providing a place where a designer can take a client to pick out quality items is what we’re here to do. We want to bridge the gap between antiques and modern homes.
What inspired you to get into antiques and design?
I grew up in a home remodeled by Al Jones, and that’s where my appreciation for this stuff started. The way they use reclaimed materials and incorporate them in unexpected ways is impressive. Evoking emotion is a big thing, and that’s what these lived-in pieces do.
There are very few places that you can go to find things like this. There’s a need for this stuff to be put back into homes, and I think people are craving it. Baton Rouge has a lot of tract homes, and owners are looking for some more character. They are willing to go bolder than people were in the past 10-15 years.
What has been one of the biggest challenges?
If you already have your home built and you come here, you might fall in love with a door, and it’s the wrong size. So if you’re able to come and pick out a door or tiles when you’re still in the planning phase of your project, you can really build a room around it.
We’re trying to solve that problem by having a place you can go and see your options in person and fall in love with them before you start the process. A lot of people will wax them to keep the original colors or put a clear coat on the door. But if you’re going to do that, you want to make sure the colors and everything else in the room mesh. You want to build the room around the antique.
What value do you think antiques hold in terms of architectural design? 
I think they hold a lot of value, especially in Louisiana. The architecture here is based on European, more specifically French, styles, so honoring that is important. Antiques add a different dimension to your space. The texture of the products and the old reclaimed wood is a conversation starter. If you can build a home and incorporate just a couple of items, it’s enough.
If it’s done right, the home won’t feel like it was just built. It will feel like it’s 100 years old, and the walls can talk. All of these products have lived multiple lives already, so they do add a sense of soul to your home. That’s the value we’re trying to push. Being able to work with architects and designers who see this vision and want to pursue that goal is by far the best part. The products sell themselves.
Keep up with Green Pirogue by following the shop on Instagram.
