If you haven’t heard the news: we’ve gone all in on the beach house life — and by “all in” I mean we bought a duplex. Yes, a duplex. It’s in Cape Charles, the same charming Chesapeake Bay-side town where our pink house sits, and it’s only two doors down. The price was right (we negotiated $30K off), the location is excellent (near the park, shops, and a few blocks from the beach), and we didn’t want to wait until inventory tightened and prices climbed beyond our reach. We paid $220K total, which breaks down to $110K per side — cheaper than the pink house.
If you listened to our podcast recently you already heard more about why we pulled the trigger, how we’re making it work financially (including how we paid off our Richmond mortgage), and how it took us a few weeks to see the duplex’s potential. There’s more in the episode, but below you’ll find plenty of photos, two video tours, and our initial renovation thoughts.
The Basics
The duplex is a historic fixer-upper on the same street as our pink house, separated by just one neighboring home. Location was a huge factor — this street puts you within easy walking distance of everything we love about Cape Charles. We hadn’t planned to start another big project this quickly, but limited inventory and the right price made it hard to pass up.
Beyond the excitement, the duplex makes practical sense for us:
- Vacation rental income: We don’t plan to live in this property, so each side can operate as a dedicated rental, which is ideal when we stay at the pink house but still want revenue coming in.
- Accommodates larger groups: The pink house has three bedrooms (four with the bunk room). We hope to create six bedrooms across the duplex, so groups who need more space can rent both sides. It’s also handy for extended family or friends when they visit.
- Renovation efficiencies: Some major updates — roof, siding, foundation work, landscaping — can be handled once for both sides, which saves time and money compared to renovating two separate houses at different times.
Having already worked with contractors in town while renovating the pink house makes this project feel more manageable than our first big rehab.
The Before Tour
The duplex is split down the middle with mirror-image layouts. The two sides are very different in condition and character. Both had long-term tenants who moved out before the sale, so the homes show their rental history. Below are video tours of the left and right sides along with photos for those who can’t watch the clips right away.
The Left Side
Both sides open into a stairwell; we hope to open the wall into the living room to bring natural light into the stairs and make the entry feel less cramped. From the front door you step into a decently sized living room with floors that should refinish nicely once we remove the worn coverings. There’s a ceiling bubble and water damage in one area and a large hole above the paneling that will need attention.
Past the living room is a dining area with a narrow galley kitchen squeezed into what feels like a former porch. The current layout, fridge placement, and trim color won’t be staying — the kitchen is one of the main areas we want to reconfigure to make the downstairs more usable.
Right now the first idea was to add a downstairs bedroom, but we’re leaning toward keeping bedrooms upstairs and creating a larger, open-plan kitchen, living, dining, bathroom, and laundry area on the main level. Upstairs currently has two large bedrooms and one full bathroom off a small landing, and those rooms are surprisingly generous in size — so we’re confident we can reconfigure the space to possibly add a third bedroom or a second bathroom.
The upstairs rooms show layers of updates over the years — painted paneling, foam ceiling tiles glued over original ceilings, wallpaper remnants — so we’re prepared to peel everything back and see what’s underneath. The bathroom is large and oddly shaped, which gives us the opportunity to split or reconfigure it into more practical layouts.
The Right Side
The right side mirrors the left but is in slightly better condition. It shares a ceiling leak along an exterior wall and has a fridge awkwardly parked in the dining room. Upstairs the floors are covered with an old sticky adhesive from removed vinyl tiles that makes walking through sections of the second floor unpleasant. The back bedroom has carpet and a moody wall color; we noticed possible rot or moisture behind ceiling and wall coverings but also discovered a brick chimney tucked into a corner that could be a nice original feature once revealed.
This side’s bathroom includes a clawfoot tub in surprisingly good shape. Both bathrooms are generously sized and oddly laid out, which gives us flexibility to redesign them so the space is used more efficiently and in keeping with the home’s character.
To close the tour, here’s the view down the stairs toward the front door. We’re picturing opening the stairwell into the living room to make a brighter, more inviting entry. Our contractor thinks that’s doable, so we’re eager to start once we wrap a few outstanding tasks at the pink house.
The Plan
We’re in the dreaming and planning phase for this renovation. We don’t plan to start major demolition immediately — we need to finish up the last details at the pink house first — but we’re already sketching floor plans and prioritizing major systems. The duplex is at least 100 years old, possibly older, and it needs extensive updates: new plumbing and electrical, a new HVAC system, roof and siding, and general structural and cosmetic work.
We’ll work with the same contractor from the pink house, who’s already helping brainstorm possible floor plans. Our main goals are to maximize the floorplan for rental and guest use and to make the front elevation more attractive while preserving or restoring authentic features where possible. For example, the duplex has diamond windows that are currently covered with plywood inside to create closet space — those will absolutely be uncovered.
We’ll share more photos, videos, and planning updates as the project progresses. Thanks to everyone who cheered us on — your enthusiasm makes the chaos more fun. When we’re deep into tiling double the bathrooms and kitchens, feel free to remind us how crazy this was — we’ll be the ones smiling through the grout haze.