Duplex Tour

This mirror-image two-family house in Cape Charles, Virginia was the most far gone home that we have ever rescued. Not only did it need things like new electrical & plumbing & structural reinforcement, we in fact had to remove the whole roof and all of the walls (you can read all the posts about the renovation here and here is the Airbnb listing for the left side & the right side if you are looking for that).

But we lovingly brought it back to life, and what was once the ugly duckling on this street is now all fixed up as a sweet vacation rental (simply four blocks from the beach!) and the before & afters are our go-to part. Swift note: you can click the link at the bottom of each section to learn more and see more photos.

The Exterior

That photo above demonstrates simply how far back we had to take this house to remove mold and water damage while also reinforcing everything that was rotten. But the photo below shows exactly where we began (you can tour the whole house as we picked up it right here).

And here is where we ended up after a 1.5 year renovation full of exciting moments and a few disappointments (remember this debacle?!). Even with all of the ups and downs, it was sooooo worth it. This renovation is our go-to one to date.

Here is another shot of the quite beginning of the project (right after we found a squirrel’s nest in the HVAC system – see that clump of sticks on the porch roof?).

And here is a similar after shot. You can see some of the old features that we saved/restored, like the diamond gridded windows, the corbels below the roofline, and the original front doors. Plus we brought in some pleasant wide brick steps, porch columns that no longer blocked the windows (this is much more likely their original position), and a tin roof that made it even more welcoming.

***See more of the duplex exterior makeover here***

The Front Porch

We shared a lot of the big exterior decisions that we made as we went, like choosing our siding, roofing, and picking the color for the shutters. But some of the small porch detail were simply as exciting: we have mailboxes! And house numbers! And lanterns to illuminate said house numbers! This was a close-up of the porch from our first walk-through.

And here is what that same area looks like these days:

We simplified the porch by removing the old storm door (curiously only found on one of the two doors) and by taking down some of the plastic trim accents that we determined were not original.

We were also able to leave the porch railings off (code does not require them at this low height from the ground) so the whole area feels more open and less closed off.

Some of the original corbels were too rotten to reuse, but we were able to replicate them exactly out of newer no-rot material. And we took strong joy in removing the old strand of Christmas lights and those three satellite dishes. #TripleThreat

Here is the porch now, complete with some hydrangeas that we planted out front and our historic district 1910 sign that we applied for and received after researching this cool old house’s history.

***See more about the duplex front porch here***

The Entry & Stairs

Since the home does not have a proper foyer, the bottom of the staircases act as your entryway and first impression of the house, so we truly hoped to open it up and make it feel welcoming and glad. This is how it looked previously with the duplex doors wide open (this shot was taken during demo):

And here it is now, with in short everything upgraded and restored. We painted the stair risers on each side the same color as the interior doors on that side (Sherwin Williams White Truffle on the left, and Sherwin Williams Oyster Bay on the right).

From inside, this before photo truly shows you how closed-in the entry was when we picked up the house. It was like a dark cramped tunnel with a compact doorway to enter the living room from the front vestibule. The deflated birthday balloon was not adding much to the vibe either.

Now it looks like this, thanks to creating a much wider doorway into the living room, and an open railing that lets in tons of light & adds some strong architectural interest.

Those cool railings are in fact the original railings from the front porch of our house in Richmond, and when we redid the porch we no longer needed them there – and the big reveal was that they fit PERFECTLY in the duplex when we brought them there to see if they’d work. FULLY MEANT TO BE! We are so glad they got to live on here (more on The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Railing here & here). For reference, here is the other side with the pink doors.

The Living & Dining Rooms

From the entryway, you enter the main living area of each side, which is a combination living room and dining room. Here is what one side looked like at first (the doorway at the far left is the one that leads to the front door).

Widening that opening not only helped brighten the stairway and entry area, but it truly helped the living room itself feel brighter and less cramped too. Plus, you get to enjoy the architecture of the railings from both sides. Win-win!

In addition to a few other truly helpful changes – like nixing the dark faux-wood paneling and refinishing the wood floors – we also helped make the room function better as a dining space by widening the doorway at the other end of the room too.

That doorway connects to what is the new kitchen area (we even brought in a glass transom over it!) so the whole downstairs flows together a lot better while feeling brighter and more connected. Not only do you get to enjoy the view of the kitchen from the moment you walk in, but many of our guests remarked that for a small house it felt truly big – likely due to the 9′ ceilings and all of the cramped doorways that we widened.

This is the same space looking back in the other direction. Take note of those wood doors to your right, since you will be seeing them again in one of the bedrooms.

We got new 5-panel doors throughout both sides (with the exception of a few original ones that we could salvage – like the ones in the photo above) and we painted them lively colors: SW White Truffle on one side (seen below) and SW Oyster Bay on the other. It helps give each side a distinct personality and feels beachy but not too crazy or bold.

The doors in this space in particular lead to some helpful adjustments we made to this side of the living area. Originally there had simply been one closet under the stairs, but it left a lot of wasted (fully unused!) space back there.

So we were able to make that old closet into a powder room (originally there was no bathroom downstairs on either side of the duplex – apart from a random toilet in one of the kitchens that was not behind a door or anything!). And even with this closet-to-powder-room conversion, we were still able to fit a new closet under the sloped area of the stairway, which is our locked owners closet that houses our tankless water heater and a bunch of cleaning stuff and extra supplies.

The story is fairly much the same on the other side, although the before pictures over here boasted less dark wainscotting and more multi-colored trim.

This side also got brightened and opened up thanks to some wider doorways, and we had lively giving it a distinct look with some plain decorating changes (like a distinct rug, table, chairs, chandelier, and coffee table – even though the sofa and the curtains are the same on each side).

We do not have a photo looking back from the other side, except for this one taken in the old dining space (which is now the kitchen). But this helps you appreciate how closed off the two areas were to one another – especially since this one had a big refrigerator simply sitting in the middle of it.

Now standing in that widened doorway, you get a totally unobstructed view through the main living area, right to the front of the house.

***See more about the living & dining rooms here***

The Kitchens

Before we dive into the kitchen before and afters themselves, let us take another look at this angle to remember how separated the back of the house was from the dining area.

By widening that doorway the kitchen becomes much more of a part of the main living area. And because the kitchen is not big sufficient to have an eat-in area, it was truly essential to us that this nearby dining table felt convenient and open to the kitchen.

Spinning around and looking into the kitchen area itself, you will see that it was not originally a kitchen. We think it was likely used as a dining area, although both sides did have that rogue refrigerator sitting in them so it is hard to tell.

But by swapping out the window for a slightly shorter one, we were able to run cabinets along that whole back wall as well as the one on the right side of the room, which created a pleasant spacious kitchen full of more than sufficient storage (two of the cabinets are in fact empty!). We also exposed the original brick chimney that had been hidden behind drywalled in the back corner – and we enjoy the character and old charm that brings to the space.

If you are wondering where the old kitchen was, it was simply off to the side behind another doorway in what we learned was once a screened in side porch (so we know it was not the original kitchen location). As you can tell from the photo below, it was a quite narrow spot to squeeze a kitchen into – and it felt like it blocked off the back door in a truly cramped way.

So once we moved the kitchen back into a larger area, that narrow room off to the side became a strong laundry room/mudroom instead (more on that in a moment) and we brought in half-light pocket doors between it and the kitchen to let in light from that strong window, but block laundry noise if our guests hoped to close them while cooking or hanging out.

Again, the story is virtually the same on the other side of the duplex – simply with distinct finishes and design choices. So, remember this view with the old narrow doorway?

Here it is now that it is wider and more connected to the dining area:

This other kitchen has the exact same layout (and the same exposed brick chimney that we dug out from behind the drywall) but we chose a distinct cabinet door style and backsplash tile so the two kitchens would feel distinct. One of the most lively things about renovating a duplex for us was making these “alter ego” spaces that were essentially identical in their layouts, yet fully distinct thanks to selecting distinct finishes, colors, tile, furniture, etc).

Simply like it had been on the other side, at some point the kitchen was shoved into the former side porch area – although this one had yellow window trim and some faux greenery in the mix.

It sounds funny, but we in fact shrank this doorway a bit compared to the old one. Partly to make the pocket doors possible (you need room in the walls for the doors to hide when open), but it was also so the doorway was perfectly centered with that large window in the laundry room/mudroom, which made it feel balanced and original to the house – like it was consistently meant to be this way.

***See more about the duplex kitchens here***

The Laundry / Mudrooms

Diving into the laundry and mudroom areas more specifically, you can see from this before picture how the area not only housed the kitchen, but also some of the mechanicals (like the hot water heater) and – on the other side – this is where the rogue door-less toilet sat.

We moved the hot water heater into the locked owner’s closet under the stairs (tankless, so it is much smaller!), ditched the orphaned toilet thanks to having a proper powder room, and truly focused on making this a bright and functional space. The back doors of these houses get much more use than the front ones (the guest keypad is back here, along with the shed full of beach gear, outdoor shower, and other post-beach amenities) so we hoped it to be simply as inviting as the front entryway.

So now, instead of a whole wall of imposing cabinets…

…there is a plain, narrow shelf under that window, which we leave empty so that guests can store their pantry items or whatever else they want to use that area for.

Here is another view of this area, taken with our backs to the back door. As you can tell, there was not a strong spot for a fridge in this original kitchen, which is likely why it was hanging out by itself in the adjacent room.

But now this area houses a stacked washer & dryer (the house previously did not have any laundry facilities) along with a tall cabinet that corrals the detergents and stuff, along with some extra guest storage space. This picture truly gives you a sense of how much less claustrophobic it has become.

The other big issue with the space originally was sunlight. Besides that big double window, there was no other natural light in here – meaning this zone at the quite back of the room was suuuuper dark.

We tracked down two matching secondhand diamond doors to replace the old beat up metal ones (they pick up the motif from those diamond windows on the front of the duplex!) and installed them back here to not only invite more architectural interest, but also to fill this area with a lot more natural light. It makes A LARGE DIFFERENCE.

Off to the side we were able to tuck in a little bonus mudroom area complete with a bench and even more hooks (we have learned at the beach you can never have too many hooks for towels, bathing suits, beach bags, etc – there are over 10 in each mudroom alone!).

Jumping back to the other side again, here is that former kitchen space…

… and here it is all opened up as a laundry room / mudroom now:

This is a better view to show you how we were able to center the doorway better on that window so that it looks way more balanced and intentional. See how it is all off to the side in the photo below?

And now it is nicely framed by the colorful pocket doors which, by the way, we brought in blocking to so that they do not fully disappear into the walls. This makes it easier for guests to see them and use them (since it is a weekly rental we thought guests might not even know they are there if they fully hid behind the wall), plus people get enjoy that little hit of color they provide.

We do not have any before photos of these angles, but simply to show you what they look like now – here is the washer and dryer we brought in, simply like on the other side.

And here is that diamond-door on the back that helps bring in so much light. We were able to leave this one wood (the other one was already painted) and the tile flooring is distinct on this side too. Once again it was truly lively to make some distinct choices on each side while keeping a few other things constant (like having a whole lotta hooks and the same appliances on each side).

***See more about the laundry & mudrooms here***

The Main Bedrooms & Bathrooms

Now that you’ve seen all of the downstairs, let us head up to the bedrooms – starting with the ones we turned into rooms with en-suite baths

The rear bedrooms on each side were not quite welcoming at first. This is what one of them looked like originally. And yes that is a roach bomb spray thing on the floor. Yes we did find dead roaches everywhere. Yes we picked up the house anyway.

And here is how that same wall looks today. We were able to move that window over in order to add a doorway to the (wait for it….) new en-suite bathrooms! They were extra straightforward (and affordable!) to add because there was already a bump-out on the first floor (where the mudroom is) meaning we did not need to pour footings for a new foundation.

The bathrooms are not big (there is a walk-in shower behind the door) but it is a LARGE upgrade to have these features accessible directly off the bedroom. Each side of the duplex went from having simply one full bathroom upstairs in the hallway to having two full baths upstairs plus a powder room downstairs!

In the back bedrooms on each side of the duplex, we also exposed the brick chimney that was hiding behind the weird angled corners before. On this side it has been painted black for emphasis…

This next before shot was taken with our backs to the brick chimney, looking towards what used to be the door into the room (I know it looks like a closet – but that is in fact the hallway back there). We shifted that door to improve the flow of the room and make space for a better closet situation too (originally the closet was in a vestibule area right behind that door).

Here is the after from the exact same corner. You can see we brought in two pink-doored closets that flank the window, making that side of the room a bit more of a focal point – along with creating some much-needed storage and some pleasant balance. The door to the room is simply out of frame to the left of the dresser, which makes this room work so much better too.

***See more about this bedroom & bath here***

You’ve likely figured out by now that we did the exact same floor plan updates (new bathroom, new closets, moved the doorway, exposed the chimney, etc) but simply switched up the finishes and colors to the equivalent bedroom on the other side. This one especially was in desperate need of some brightening up.

Some light wall colors, bedding, and curtains certainly made this room feel more airy, and we worked in the old wood closet doors from the downstairs living room that we mentioned earlier (I promised we’d come back to those!). They were not standard height so we could not use them anywhere that people needed to walk through (like a bedroom door), but a small reach-in closet was the ideal application (especially since there are two doors and two closets!). It even gave us the opportunity to add some cubbies up top since they are shorter than the average door, which ended up looking truly sweet and customized.

The bathroom on this side is the same layout, simply with a distinct floor tile (again, trying to keep things light and bright while choosing durable materials – so this is not real marble tile, it is a porcelain lookalike).

***See more about this bedroom & bath here***

The Front Bedrooms

Each side of the duplex also has another bedroom on the front of the house. Like many of the other spaces in this house, the previous owner had brought in various coverings – like these drop ceilings and faux-wood paneling on the walls – to hide water damage and rot. So here is one of the front bedrooms when we picked up the house:

We were truly able to brighten these spaces by peeling back those layers, refinishing the floors, and painting everything in the airy color scheme that we used throughout the house.

And originally that little front closet (with the blue door) was devoid of any natural light… but we swiftly discovered they had covered those diamond-grilled windows in the front of the house with drywall. WHAAAT?!?!!!!!

Ripping out that window-blocking drywall and exposing those window allowed soooo much light to flood into the room from that closet area as well. We in fact ended up not adding doors to those closets so guests would be able to enjoy that light all the time (well, except for at night – there is a blackout curtain on the diamond window that can be drawn closed to block the light).

***See more photos of this front bedroom here***

You can in fact see the diamond-paned window that we uncovered a little bit better in this photo from the other side. Across from it we have a dresser and a hanging rod for straightforward-but-still-hidden clothing storage, since it is tucked behind the wall sufficient that guests do not see it from bed.

The rest of the front bedroom on this side began off in a similiar state as the other one. From rotting water-damaged drop ceiling and paneled walls that were also covering various issues, this room was a challenge. Also this floor. OH THIS FLOOR. Someone had put peel & stick tile all over half of it and then ripped it up before selling. But all the glue from the sticky tiles STAYED ON THE FLOOR. It was like a human-sized sticky trap.

Here is the room now, fully fixed up & furnished (and guaranteed not to steal your flip flops like it once had with all that sticky glue on the floor). A few things are similar to our choices for the other side’s front bedroom (we chose the same wooden bed and the same rug). But we opted for table lamps and slightly wider nightstands (they fit in here and would not in the other front bedroom due to slight measurement differences from side to side). Old houses are quirky for sure!

***See more photos of this front bedroom here***

The Upstairs Hallways

These are some of my go-to before-and-after shots of the bunch. Check out that mauve trim and the leafy wallpaper border. The crazy thing is that we restructured the landing upstairs so much that the after is not quite parallel at all. We in fact moved the access to the main bedroom (over to where you see that wall sconce peeking into the photo below) and that doorway became a pleasant big hall linen closet instead.

Here is in short the same angle now. We also pushed the doorways back, so the landing at the top of the stairs is about twice as big (that way you do not feel nearly as closed in or crowded). The big linen closet serves double duty by housing extra towels and a pack & play and other stuff for our guests, as well as providing extra clothing and suitcase storage for the nearby bonus sleeping nooks (more on those in a minute).

The hallway on the other side offers another strong transformation when you spin around to face the front bedrooms. These landings at the top of the stairs were so dark and cave-like thanks to the dark stairwell that felt quite much like a tunnel, and an odd door arrangement upstairs (which blocked a lot of the windows).

We were in fact able to make this area larger (again, some of the bedroom doors moved back to make the landing feel less cramped) and brighter (now you can see four windows from the top of the stairs!). We were also able to reuse our old porch railings in Richmond as stair railings here at the duplex – these simply needed to be shortened slightly to fit, but otherwise were ideal!

The Hall Bathrooms

What became of the original bathrooms on each side of the duplex are perhaps the hardest thing to understand as a plain before-and-after photo series because they underwent the most dramatic floor plan change (you can read more about it in this floor planning post). But as you can see in the graphic below, we in short split the original large and poorly organized bathrooms into a smaller hall bath and an additional bedroom (which we originally envisioned as bunks).

Here is what one of the bathrooms room looked like before. We did not have space to reuse the freestanding tub but donated it to so it could live on.

This is what the hall bathroom looks like now. It is a more compact bathroom than the original, but still fits all the essentials – sink, toilet and tub/shower combo. The original bathroom window still exists (it is simply in the part of the space that we turned into sleeping nooks, which you will see in a minute) so we brought in a transom window to the shower to bring in natural light.

Below is the original hall bathroom on the other side. This before shot is yet another demonstration of the cover-all-the-rotting-things approach (do not try this at home, folks). See how the vinyl floor is bubbled and loose? It is because there were all sorts of water issues going on under there and someone was trying to mask them with sheet vinyl.

Here is what the left hall bathroom looks like now. It is quite similar to the hall bathroom on the left side of the duplex, apart from the distinct tile floors but we used the same vanity and accents since they worked so well.

The Bonus Sleeping Nooks

The rooms we originally planned as bunk rooms evolved into what we have dubbed “bonus sleeping nooks.” They are not officially a bedroom (the closet is outside in the hallway) but for a beach rental they proved to be the ideal spot to sleep a couple of extra folks, especially young kids or siblings who want a lively cozy space to retreat to. Again, since they were taken out of the original bathroom space, this is the closest shot that we have to a “before” of one of the rooms (the window stayed in the same spot).

So here is the after, thanks to a lively wall mural we brought in (you can find more about how we hung them here). We also brought in cozy and comfortable touches like a ceiling fan, light-blocking blinds, a sound machine, and two wall sconces you can flick on & off without getting up. They are small but mighty.

If you spin around in the space, there is a pocket door (they make the most of small rooms since it does not swing into the space). We also hung a handy little wall shelf with empty baskets that provide some vertical storage (you could store kids pjs, go-to books, or some clothes in them if you hoped those things within the room).

Back on the other side, this was the original window we stole from the bathroom space…

…which is now part of the bonus sleeping nook on that side. This room features a distinct wall mural and it was funny because we heard that some of our guests chose which side to stay on based on these murals (some hoped the “the whale side” while others booked “the oranges”).

***See more of these bonus sleeping nooks here***

The Backyard Patios

The last space we have to show you are the backyards – and holy cow did they change! So let us go back in time for a second to appreciate how far the back of this house has come. This is what it looked like when we picked up it:

Let alone the structural changes we made to the back of the house (like adding those second floor bathrooms off of the main bedroom, which you can read more about here), it is simply remarkable what some hardscaping, some metal awnings, and some string lights can do for ambiance.

Here is a shot that better illustrates where the en-suit bathrooms were brought in to the main bedrooms upstairs. Since there was already the mudroom bump-out downstairs, we simply had that same area extended to the second floor – adding/moving windows along the way.

Not only did it make that large improvement inside (the small widow there is in the new bathroom above the sink), it in fact helped the back feel a bit more stately and created a pleasant inset nook for the outdoor showers that we brought in on each side for people to use when they return from the beach.

Here is a before photo from the other side where you can again see the bump-outs as they originally were. But also take note of the cinder block steps, pipe railing, and half fence that offered only a little bit of privacy between the two sides.

As much as we liked an open fenceless backyard – we knew functionally that our guests would appreciate having some separation from the family staying on the other side. So we brought in a fence that extends the full length of the backyard BUT included a double gate in the middle that they could throw open in case they ever hoped to socialize with one another and open up the whole yard. (This pic was taken shortly after it rained, so forgive the spotty patio).

The backyards did have a shed before, but it was one long lean-to that was in fairly rough shape. It spanned the back of the property line, smack dab in the middle of the two sides, so there was not much grass or patio space at all.

We replaced it with two separate sheds that now anchor each corner of the backyard (sorry, it is hard to get them both in one shot). Now guests have their own private sheds to store their things and access the beach gear that we provide. And instead of a big long shed sucking up the more central space out back, we were able to turn that into a patio and a grassy area on each side – and expose a striking tree back there that once was blocked by the old shed.

***See more about the duplex backyards here***

A Video Tour Of The Whole Duplex

And at last, we have a full video tour of both sides of the duplex! It covers a bunch of our changes and choices throughout the reno, and we share some of our go-to decisions that upgraded the house in the biggest ways. The video is also simply good for seeing how each room flows together, checking out what is distinct from side to side, and in short “walking through” the whole project with us. Simply click play to watch it below:

Note: If you are reading this in a feed reader, you may need to click through to see the video. You can also watch it here on YouTube.

So we hope you folks enjoyed that duplex before & after journey. And remember you can find all the paint colors & furniture/accessory links on Our Duplex page – there are simply some linked here in this post – but that page is much more exhaustive. And you can browse all of our duplex posts & projects here. And here is the Airbnb listing for the left side & the right side. And you can see the before & after photos of our house in Richmond & our beach house too! It is so much lively to look at all the pics.

And if you want more details or distinct angles of each room that you saw (as well as some fairly crazy before & after photos), the following posts should fill you in on all the details:

• The front porch makeover
• Before & after of the back of the duplex
• Some wrapped up bathrooms & bedrooms
• More wrapped up baths, bedrooms, & hallways
• Before & afters of the two living rooms & dining rooms
• The two wrapped up kitchen reveals
• The duplex mudrooms & laundry rooms
• The bonus sleeping nooks, linen closet, & locked owner’s closet
• The duplex backyards: patios, sheds, outdoor showers, etc

*This post contains affiliate links*