article: A New Orleans couple bought a ramshackle historic cottage, moved it across the city and renovated it all the while using salvaged materials and respecting the home's original floor plan. Gaby Tillero and Greg Ensslen bought the the two-story 1840s Creole home from the Central City neighborhood after a church said they wanted to demolish it and expand their parking lot. The couple moved it to the Freret neighborhood where they then spent seven months renovating. Tillero and her husband Ensslen now live in the home with their two sons, six-year-old Santiago and nine-year-old Javier, as well as Tillero's mother, Olga Tillero. Scroll down for video . Gaby Tillero and Greg Ensslen bought this 1840s Creole cottage style home in the Central City neighborhood of New Orleans almost two years ago . The couple then dismantled the home, moved it to the Freret neighborhood of the city and renovated the home while respecting the floor plan and using salvaged materials to decorate the home . To honor the home's original duplex floor plan while still creating a single-family home, Ensslen and Tillero put a massive wooden staircase between the kitchen and living room . The home is decorated with materials salvaged from other homes and salvage markets. The bookshelf on the right holding dishes was part of a house Ensslen restored in 1999 . This is what the Central City house looked like before Tillero and Ensslen bought up the house and moved it to the Freret neighborhood where it sits now . The original staircase in the home separated the building into a duplex. In the renovated home Tillero and Ensslen honored the staircase idea by putting a massive wooden staircase separating the kitchen from the living room . 'We bought the house to save the house - it was slated for demolition,' Ensslen told The Times-Picayune. 'I've always liked the Creole cottage style.' Ensslen, who's a historic renovation developer and organizer of the Freret Market and Freret Street Festival, and Tillero wanted to live outside Central City, so they bought the house before they had a lot to put it on. They ended up having to dismantle the structure and put it into storage. 'We had to dismantle it completely,' Ensslen said. 'It was a stack of lumber. We put it in a few dumpsters.' The dumpsters were stored on a secured lot near the city's Industrial Canal, where they sat for a year until the couple found a lot that fit the house's dimensions. Once they sorted how to rebuilt the cottage's floor plan and collected materials for its interior, they purchased a lot. They rebuilt and renovated the house in seven months. One of the kitchen walls is decorated with a series of hand-crank egg beaters, which Ensslen began collecting in the 1980s when he moved to New Orleans . All of the wood in the home was stripped of old paint and finished with linseed oil for a more golden touch in order to give it more character . The couple bought the home almost two years before they were able to live in it. It sat in storage for a year and then went through seven months of renovations . Once the couple found a lot that would fit the cottage's dimensions, they spent seven months renovating the home . Before the couple salvaged it, the kitchen's large island was a sewing table at an old department store. Its stove top is from the 1940s . Tillero and Ensslen's kitchen was kept simple, having the counter tops made out of poured concrete that was dyed black . For the kitchen cabinets and drawers, Ensslen used forks and spooks given to him by his parents when he moved to New Orleans . The cottage was originally a duplex, but Tillero and Ensslen decided to change the home into a single-home floor plan. They added an august floating staircase in the middle of the ground floor, to honor the split. 'What a lot of New Orleans charm is about is the millwork and doors and stuff,' Ensslen said. 'I'm glad we were able to have that.' The wooden staircase features a 20th-century iron railing that was salvaged from an old housing project in another neighborhood of New Orleans. It's anchored by beams that are camouflaged by a guest bathroom that sits between the living room and the kitchen. Antique lanterns light a tiny bathroom around the corner from the entryway and flooring of the house comes from wide pine planks that once were part of the roof, which was covered by tiles. 'Until recently, there was no plywood' for roof substructures, Ensslen said. Ensslen and Tillero bought the house after a church said they wanted to tear it down and expand its parking lot to that site . Through Ensslen's work with the Preservation Resource Center, he was able to negotiate a salvage instead of a demolition of the house . From the stairs of the two-story house, a person can see both the kitchen and the living room from above . The living room of the home features a coffee table made out of an old 'pedestrians crossing' street sign and wooden legs . Tillero and Ensslen live in the home with their two sons, six-year-old Santiago and nine-year-old Javier, as well as Tillero's mother, Olga Tillero . The home features walk-through windows that raise from the ground and lead out to the cottage's massive front porch . The chest of drawers is one of the many recycled and salvaged pieces of furniture in the family's home. Ensslen and Tillero turned to artist friends to help decorate the cottage . The doors and mantels were stripped of old paint and finished with linseed oil for a more golden touch. 'The paint usually hides imperfections in the wood, but the nicks and bumps, they add more character, Ensslen said. The windows date back to before the house was purchased, before Tillero and Ensslen were married. When they were dating, Ensslen spotted the 'square, very masculine windows' at a salvage yard. 'I'd never seen anything like that.' After purchasing them they were stolen, but he got the one-of-a-kind windows back through his contacts int he salvage market industry. Tillero and Ensslen reached out to friends for interior decorating ideas. The living room features a tall built-in cabinet that was created out of wood from an old shed. A friend of the couple built the cabinet to accommodate Tillero, Ensslen and their two sons. Salvaged shutters are used as one wall of the room that Javier and Santiago share on the second floor. They seemed to have lined the shutters with ribbons they have received . Photos of Ensslen and Tillero with their sons Javier and Santiago decorate the walls of their bedroom in vintage white frames . Ensslen and Tillero's bedroom door was recycled from the old Maison Blanche department store chain in New Orleans . The door to the couple's bedroom was recycled from an old department store. Its door handle remains the same knob as the original door, marked with the Maison Blanche emblem . Another wall of the couple's room is lined with hats. Ensslen and Tillero wanted to rebuild their home on a lot that got plenty of natural light . Ensslen received these glass panels from his father who worked in a stained glass factory in New Jersey after a they 'didn't fit the client's spec' A key rack hanging in the home appears to be made out of old hooks and wood, along with recycled washers, chain links and wire . The massive, garage-door style cabinet fits a television, wine rack and cubbie holes for Javier and Santiago. Its wood, coincidentally, matches the colonial-style blue color of the kitchen walls - a paint the couple has held on to for 14 years and used in a previous home. Comic-book-style, custom-made decals line the walls of the sons' playroom, which has low desks that the kids can use for arts and crafts. The kitchen was kept simple, with counters made of black poured concrete that contrasts the bamboo and canvas blinds. A salvaged, brass-footed island sits in the middle of the kitchen. It used to be a sewing table at an old department store. As for the cabinets, the handles are created out of bent utensils. And Ensslen says that the 1940s Tappan kitchen stove top is a highlight of of the house. Though it required a bit of rehabilitation, Ensslen claims 'it's the best stove ever'. Unused signage sits in the couple's driveway, waiting to be used for their next project. The couple plans to use it to create art to put in their home . Pots and signs line the driveway of the home. Ensslen and Tillero salvaged recycled materials from all over while renovating . The windows date back to before the house was purchased, before Tillero and Ensslen were married. When they were dating, Ensslen spotted the 'square, very masculine windows' at a salvage yard . The orange front door to the cottage stands out against the home's green, white and blue paint. Walk-through windows line the porch . The home sits in New Orleans's Freret neighborhood, where Ensslen is an organizer of the Freret Market and Freret Street Festival . The home features a foliage-covered front yard and two vintage cars sit in the driveway. Though it was originally a duplex, Ensslen and Tillero decided to turn the home into a single-family structure . Not only is the inside covered in art, but the outside features salvaged materials and art as well. A star-shaped sculpture created by Ensslen hangs on the side of the house .
highlights: Gaby Tillero and Greg Ensslen bought the home after a church claimed they wanted to demolish it and expand their lot .
  The home was dismantled and stored for a year before the couple found a lot across New Orleans that would fit the home's dimensions .
  Tillero and her husband Ensslen now live in the home with their two sons, six-year-old Santiago and nine-year-old Javier, as well as Tillero's mother, Olga Tillero .
  The couple stayed true to the cottage's floor plan, while converting it from a duplex to a single-family home .
  They used salvaged and recycled materials to decorate the interior and exterior of the home .
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