We did it, friends! Moving day went off without a hitch (besides some rude rain storms) and we had pizza and wine to celebrate. We managed to get pretty much everything unpacked and in place in the first few days. Now it’s been just under two weeks since our move, and we’ve made ourselves feel so at home that it really feels like so much longer. We’ve learned which floor boards creak, what rooms are the creepiest to walk into at night (back of the house for sure), and the exact cozy spot in each room that Fox is claiming as his own.

As any young couple with no regard for financial norms would do, our first home purchase is actually a huge project. The front half of the home has been maintained and updated pretty well, while the back half is in major need of work. It’s basically a party in the front, fixer-upper in the back situation. We had a few folks ask for a tour of the new spot and so we did a walk-through video tour and then a second a video tour of the bonus guest suite, which was not included in the original walk through. But for our fellow home design friends who love historic homes and layouts, today we’re diving into floor plans and architectural style.

The Floor Plan

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The home was originally a double shotgun (duplex) that was long ago converted into a single home, and then later a small rental unit was carved out of the back corner. Shotgun homes are like, a New Orleans architectural staple. They are long and usually narrow, running front to back with each room coming right after the one before it, usually with no useless stuff like, say, hallways or closets. A double shotgun is a duplex in the same style, with two units that mirror each other like the barrel of a shotgun, and a single dividing wall straight down the center. The kitchens would have been in the very rear of the house, and a semi-finished back shed would be beyond that, which then would lead out to the back yard. Since we weren’t there (lol) and haven’t been able to locate much of the property history yet, that’s all just based on conjecture, from what we know to have been common for the style at the time.

When this home was converted, the center wall that originally divided the two units was taken down in some sections, and doors framed for access between the sides in other places, to make it one large home. At some point the semi-finished back sheds were fully finished and incorporated into the main living space, and somewhere down the line the kitchen for what would become the larger unit was moved closer to the front of the house to make it more suitable for a family.

And hello, we’re now the family. Us plus Fox.

A few notes on the floor plans! We aren’t entirely sure if the “camel back” (the two upstairs bedrooms) were built originally with the house or added on at a later date. We’d assumed they’d been added on as an expansion but after doing some research it turns out that many homes in the area were built this way in the late 19th century. As for the “current” floor plan—you’ll see a lot of randomness in how its labelled, including like three living rooms in the main house. The truth is there appears to have been quite a bit of unused space. The back right rear of the home seems naturally cut off from the flow of the entire front part of the house, which is actually one of the main reasons we want to convert it into a very sweet main bedroom suite (labelled in “our plans”). There’s so much space there and having it tucked away from the rest of the home sounds extremely appealing, and private for when we (can) entertain guests.

The Renovation Plans

Our renovation plans won’t be changing all that much structurally. The house has already been altered and changed so many ways over the years to make it more accommodating to modern living, so our goals are really just to fill in the gaps where things don’t make sense, do a few major repairs that have been put off, and then restore it to it’s glory in places that have been updated with lackluster finishes.

Below is a look at some of the bigger project areas of the home :)

The Main Bedroom Suite

This is first up on our list to do, and one of the things we’re most excited about. The home currently lacks a bedroom with an en suite bathroom, so we’ll be sectioning off the entire right-side rear of the home to create just that. We’ll erect a wall to portion off this area (where the stairs handrail currently is) into a bedroom with a large (and honestly kinda glam) bathroom, walk in closet, mudroom and exit to the backyard. This would mean the stairwell would be outside of the future bedroom, giving it access to the rest of the house without anyone having to go into our bedroom. Given how the space works, the bedroom will only be about 11.5’, which is a little on the small side as far as main bedrooms in homes this size go, but given that it is allowing us to turn this previously under-utilized space into a large main bedroom suite—without disrupting much else in the home—it’s worth it to us.

The Office & Living Room

The front two rooms of the house will be the study and living room. The rooms sit side-by-side at the front of the house, each with an entrance from the front porch and floor to ceiling windows, so there’s plenty of natural light. There’s currently a doorway connecting the rooms with French doors on one side of the fireplace, but we’re planning to add a second set of French doors on the other-side of the fireplace to give it a more connected parlor feel. The office will be receiving a bold over-the-top navy monochrome facelift, while the living room will be a pale and flirty blush. At least that’s what we’re thinking right now!

The Kitchen

We have both wanted a green kitchen since before we were born. Or at least since roughy 2017. We love the idea of doing something moody in the kitchen—which feels appropriate for the style and age of the home—and think a deep green color could be stunning. The current kitchen actually is a pretty new renovation, but we’re not loving the cabinetry, laminate countertops, or peninsula… so… a lot. Layout wise it actually works pretty well, but we think there’s room to make something a bit more glorious. We’re planning to remove the peninsula and extend the island to make the dining area feel more like an extension of the kitchen, not sectioned off via peninsula. Since the dining area, bar shelving, and kitchen are all quite literally one large room as it is, we want to lean into this further with a cohesive color scheme and structural flow that bring all elements of the room together. If we do it right, it’s going to be amazing.

The Guest Suite

This part of the home mirrors the future main bedroom suite and is completely identical to it, except that there’s a small kitchen. This was sectioned off into a small apartment sometime in the last 20-30 years with plywood, nails, and caulking. It’s got a living area, bathroom, one bedroom (upstairs), and a kitchen… and it’s all in need of some major TLC. After some minor demo work on our part, this suite has access from both the inside of the main home and the exterior rear of the home (as opposed to just the exterior rear), to make renovating it easier. We plan for it to always have access to the main home via a double-lock door like in a hotel suite, so it could be used as a small apartment for anyone staying with us for any long amount of time, kind of life a mother-in-law suite—but we could also easily access it when no one is staying in it. While the main home will have a design plan that blends modern and traditional pieces to fit with the historic feel of the home, we’re kind of viewing this guest suite as our chance to encapsulate more of our poppy bright midcentury modern style.

The Backyard

We’ve always wanted a backyard oasis equipped for entertaining and now that we have the space for all that, not diving in right away is going to be hard. But, the reality is that it’s like the least important part of this project so we’ll need to chill our excitement over the completed visions for it for now. I say this full well knowing you might see us ignore our own timeline because we’re impatient as all hell. The current plan is to do some raised bed gardens with gravel and outdoor dining area, a small deck, and eventually a hot tub. Yes we want to be hot tub people. The space has a huge oak tree overhead from our neighbor’s yard, which means there is dappled light all day but only a few pockets of direct sunlight, so we’ll need to be really intentional about what we’re planting in the raised beds and/or do some trimming to make sure everything receives adequate light.

We’re so excited to dive into this work and have our first contractor’s meeting this week! If you want to keep up with the play-by-play, we’ll be posting all about it to our Instagram and TikTok @probablythis :)

xoxo Beau & Matt

Our New Orleans Home Renovation Plans ( Before Photos & Floor Plans!)