August home tour

Perhaps because I grew up in California's San Fernando Valley, where homes older than 1950 are rare, I'm enthralled with the bounty of old homes from the 1880s and beyond in New Orleans. The failure of the levees in 2005 destroyed many of those homes, but plenty remain. Some are loved and cared for. Some neglected. Some abandoned. I fantasize about buying one of these some day, if only for the pleasure of choosing paint colors. And because you can buy a house in New Orleans for around $150,000, the prospect for home ownership is better than where I come from.

This house, crying out for color, is in the Mid-City section of New Orleans. Some areas of Mid-City are what I would call rough, and some are what real estate agents call "coming around." Some have come around.

Here's a "double shotgun" in Mid-City that's getting some color. These are called shotgun houses because they are deep and narrow, generally with one room after another, and theoretically if you fired off a gun at the front door the bullet would go all the way through the house without hitting any walls. I'm loving the old, carved doors on this house, and the Victorian trim. So far, I can see six different colors on this house: gray, dark blue, light blue, maroon, white and yellow (in the sunburst around the attic window).

This double shotgun, also in Mid-City, has three colors — green, cream and maroon — and looks very festive. If this was my house, I'd be tempted to paint the rectangular trim pieces on the corners various colors.

Here's the kind of Mid-City fixer-upper I would find hard to get involved with. You have to know your limits. There might be great historical treasures inside this house, but I'd have a hard time getting past the sidewalk.

Enough of the past, though. Over in the Lower Ninth Ward, prototypes are being built to show the types of homes that can withstand future flooding. In the foreground is a stack of BluWood, which is wood that has been treated to prevent damage from fungus, rot and termites. The house on the left looks to me like it was built new on the spot where an older home washed away when the nearby levee failed. The house on the right is being built by Make It Right, the foundation Brad Pitt is involved with. This house is on pillars and will one day have solar panels. It looks nothing like the traditional New Orleans homes I love. But it will withstand hurricanes and nature better.

Here's another Make It Right home. You kind of wish these new and improved homes could have just a little more of the charm New Orleans is known and loved for. The other Make It Right homes have a contemporary vibe to them, which seems out of place here. I'll keep an eye on these prototype homes for you, and we'll see if some charm gets added in by the time they're finished.