New Orleans

Name: Erica A. Jacobs and cat Luci Location: Uptown — New Orleans, Louisiana Size: 1,000 square feet Years lived in: 1 year, renting Erica Jacobs runs a nature-based, holistic home design company called Between Red & Violet, where she offers services ranging from space planning to landscaping. She defines holistic home design as an “intuitive and perceptual process rooted in physiology, sociology, and psychology designed to enhance well-being.

Name: Ellen Macomber, Kevin Fannon, and their son Donald Location: Central City — New Orleans, Louisiana Size: 2,400 square feet Years lived in: 3 years, owned Ellen Macomber had given up on the idea of becoming a homeowner in New Orleans. The mixed-media artist, born in New Orleans and raised in a small Cajun town in South Louisiana, was discouraged by a housing market that had skyrocketed after Hurricane Katrina. “I figured we’d just rent forever,” she said.

Name: Megan Workman & Sam Peake, Delia the dog, and Eliot the cat Location: Central City; New Orleans, Louisiana Size: 1,439 square feet Years lived in: 2 years; Owned Real estate agent Megan Workman was searching for a house for a client two years ago, when something unexpected happened. When she entered the side door of a small Central City Victorian and stepped into a bright, beautiful hallway, she thought, “I must make this hallway mine.

Name: Margaret Sche and Gabe Belgara Location: Uptown — New Orleans, Louisiana Size: 1,300 square feet Years lived in: 1 year; Rented Theirs is a Texas love story. Margaret can thank her mom for insisting she join her for some live country music and two-steppin’ on that fated Friday night when she met Gabe at Blanco’s. The beloved Houston dance hall—now closed—was one of Gabe’s favorite honky-tonks, and sparks flew when the two met.

Name: Olesya Ianovitch Location: Bywater; New Orleans, Louisiana Size: 785 square feet Years lived in: 1 year; Rented You Are Beautiful. These are the words boldly painted in white on the side of a century-old industrial converted rice mill in New Orleans’ Bywater neighborhood. The upbeat message, rumored to be the work of Banksy, mirrors Olesya Ivanovich’s approach to life.

Name: Todd and Kate Novak Location: French Quarter — New Orleans, Louisiana Size: 675 square feet Years lived in: 2 years; Owned New Orleans is known as a city that loves color, and Kate and Todd Novak embraced that notion with a touch of “understated” bordello in their French Quarter getaway. Though they call Marin County, California, home, Kate and Todd’s love of New Orleans stems from their time at Tulane University.

Name: Ida Floreak and partner, cats Chuck and Bruce, and Harry the dog Location: Uptown — New Orleans, LA Size: 2,000 square feet Years lived in: 4 years; Rented Ida’s sunny house in Uptown New Orleans has a lot of great features: a mix of vintage and new furnishings, plenty of art and plants, DIY projects, and happy pets.

Name: Bradley Sabin and his dogs, Cooper and Romeo Location: Mid-City — New Orleans, Louisiana Size: 720 square feet Years lived in: 8 years; Owned Artist Bradley Sabin may live alone, but he is always in the company of friends. His 720-square-foot shotgun home, located in Mid-City New Orleans, is filled with artwork. “The art is very personal,” he explains. “I’m surrounded by things people I know made, so I feel like I’m with my friends.

Name: Lauren Wells and Breeze Braunschweig Location: St. Roch — New Orleans, Louisiana Size: 1,600 square feet Years lived in: 6 months; Owned Lauren and Breeze are the kind of friends who only need each another to have a good time. On a Saturday afternoon in late November, the women, sitting together on a church pew in Breeze’s living room, are laughing so hard over inside jokes that Lauren has her hand over her mouth because she just can’t stop laughing.

Name: Seth Rodewald-Bates & Elisabeth Davies Location: Carrollton — New Orleans, Louisiana Size: 750 square feet Years lived in: 1.5 years; Owned Tucked into a long, narrow lot in the Carrollton neighborhood of New Orleans, not far from where the mighty Mississippi bends, is a sight you don’t expect to see among the shotguns, cottages, and bungalows: two giant steel boxes primed in Rust-Oleum orange-brown and stenciled with white numbers once used to identify cargo.

Name: Shena Troia & George Peake Location: Marigny; New Orleans, Louisiana Size: 2,200 square feet Years lived in: 1 year; Owned Just three years ago, Shena and George’s New Orleans home was the embodiment of urban blight. The house, built in 1850 as guest quarters for the Masonic Lodge next door, was on the city’s list of neglected properties slated for demolition. Graffiti covered the exterior walls, weeds were growing out of the roof, and all but two sets of doors were missing.

Name: Miranda Lake Location: Uptown — New Orleans, Louisiana Size: 2,400 square feet including the studio Years lived in: 15 years; owned Stepping onto the grounds of Miranda Lake’s New Orleans home feels like being transported into the whimsical world she depicts in her artwork.

The couple’s vast collection of folk art covers the interior walls like a modern day version of the storied Parisian salons. “We like to pile it on thick,” Emily says with a laugh.

Name: Tiffany Napper Location: Uptown; New Orleans, Louisiana Size: 1,400 square feet Years lived in: 5 years; Owned When Tiffany Napper was house hunting in New Orleans five years ago, she couldn’t get her mind off the first place she saw. The little white shotgun, located near the Mississippi River, was previously owned by a 93-year-old woman who had been born in the house and lived there until she died. It had drop ceilings, faux wood paneling, and dirty wall-to-wall carpeting.

Name: Sarah Smith & Jeremy Ballard Location: Carrollton; New Orleans, Louisiana Size: 1,000 square feet Years lived in: 7 years; Rented When Sarah and Jeremy met in Savannah, Georgia, they bonded over a shared love of collecting vintage toys, oddball objects and natural specimens. She was studying painting at Savannah College of Art and Design and he was a glassblower working at a new studio in town. Their dates consisted of hunting for treasures in thrift stores and junk shops.

Location: Irish Channel, New Orleans, Louisiana Size: 2,200 square feet Years lived in: 9 years; owned Valorie Hart is fearless when it comes to style. Her bright pink pixie coif, bold wardrobe and oversized eyeglasses, reminiscent of fashion icon Iris Apfel, make clear that this decorator, interior designer and stylist loves to have fun and make a splash.

Name: Emily Rosenzweig & Andrew Hunter Location: Uptown, New Orleans, Louisiana Size: 2,000 square feet Years lived in: 9 months; owned All it took was one weekend for Emily to fall in love. It happened during a girls’ getaway to New Orleans with her best friend last January. When she returned to her home in rural upstate New York, she handed a New Orleans real estate magazine to her husband and said, “Andrew, it is incredible. It is an old-house-lover’s paradise.