OK, so I totally made up the word “beige-ing”. But it fits the design choices being made in home renovations and new construction in New Orleans right now.

Some things that I’ve noticed lately when searching for New Orleans Real Estate

Renovators and investors are not being true to the construction period in home design

Why buy a Craftsman cottage if you are just going to remove all of the things that make it a Craftsman? Why change a mid-century modern into something it was never meant to be?

People are knocking down old houses and replacing them with very large homes that encompass the entire build-able portion of the lot

AKA McMansion syndrome, some of these new homes don’t fit with the predominant neighborhood style. Others are designed to reflect more traditional New Orleans architecture, but they don’t leave any green space at all. I watched an Uptown house being dismantled, room by room, wall by wall. Surely, I thought to myself, they are undertaking a big renovation project, but keeping the fantastic original architectural details intact. Sadly, one day I drove by and the entire house….gone. Poof. There is now a totally new home sitting there, taking up the entire lot.

Gutting and remodeling to the point that the exterior no longer sets the tone for the interior

The outside of the house should set the tone for what you can expect on the interior. When a fabulous Victorian design has a contemporary interior, it’s more than a bit jarring.

Boring interior colors from house to house

Beige, tan, taupe, off white. Get a color wheel, people!

The same finishes in too many properties

With few exceptions, it’s as if everyone is using the same designer (and it appears to be Lowe’s or Home Depot) and the designer only has one playbook. And one bathroom tile that’s used in Every. Single. House. One after another, houses with boring color choices, off white or espresso cabinets, bamboo floors, same old – same old granite, cream crown molding with the obligatory off the shelf vessel sink thrown in for good measure.

Where’s the soul? Where’s the funky? Where’s the character? Where’s the personality?

Investors and home owners, please, for the love of king cake, stop producing these boring middle-American-suburbia interiors. This is not Cleveland (no offense, Clevelanders. Clevelandites. You know who you are.)

New Orleans is a city renowned for architecture. Take a moment, do a little research and show us something to knock our socks off.