This Old Cottage

After years of looking for our perfect house, our awesome real estate agent was driving through the Irish Channel neighborhood and discovered this old cottage. Not found on the MLS with a recent price reduction of $50,000, she called to set up an appointment.

Only located six blocks from our beyond words awesome apartment on Foucher, I walked into the double parlor front rooms with the center brick fire place and said, "I LOVE IT!" It was indeed the one. With eight rooms, 2100 square foot and in need of some work, the price was right and after a few shorts weeks, the house was ours.

Four and half years later, the kitchen renovation is complete, the guest bath is nearly complete, crown molding has been installed in the parlor, the fireplace mantels repaired and countless other upgrades have been made or are in the works.

We love this house. From the outside in the summer, one might think it's boarded up, as we close the shutters to keep the house cool and the electric bill low. In the winter we open the shutters to warm the house with the sun beating on the front of the house.

The double parlor and dining room allows for a fabulous space in which we entertain several times a year for 20-30 of our closest friends. The walls are decked with collected and found artwork and the bars offer a specialty libations.

Although this house didn't meet all of our wants, compromise is key to finding a house in New Orleans. Finding this one to make our home has really improved our quality of life for its location alone. We'll be sharing other reasons in future posts.

Caption: Dining photo was taken for a feature on the dining room for the Sept. 9 Times Picayune Inside Out Saturday insert.