La Belle Maison | The Schaumburg Family
At nearly 40 years old, the Schaumburg home in Covington has some stories to tell, some history that has seeped into its bones and settled in, a patina that covers it the way copper turns an amazing shade of teal as it ages. But the bright white exterior of the three-story colonial belies its age, so well has it been updated and maintained, so intentionally has it been tended to. With manicured lawns on a property that is plentiful with azaleas, camelias, and mature oaks, this home is a true Louisiana gem, hidden from the street and tucked away like a treasure.
For owners Justin and Erin Schaumburg, the house was meant to be, found not so much by serendipity but by divine intervention. “I believe in God more than I believe in anything in the whole world, and I knew He spoke to my heart when I saw this home, and I heard Him tell me, ‘This is where you’re going to raise your kids,’” says Erin, owner of Eros Home Clothing and Outdoor Furniture, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
At the time, Erin was pregnant with their fifth child—a boy, like all their others—and had just renovated and sold their previous home. The house sold in 24 hours, leaving them casting about for a new place to live. “I’d actually put in a full price offer on a house because I was pretty much desperate. I was about to give birth, and they’d given us 30 days to move out. So I put in a full-price offer on a house in the front of the neighborhood, and they accepted it,” Erin recalls. “I really hadn’t looked at this house, because it was too big; and my husband and I both felt like it was too much house for us. So the next day, the people whose house we’d made the offer on called to cancel on us and told us they’d decided they didn’t want to sell. We had nowhere to live, so I decided to come look at this house. I walked in, and I was by myself with the Realtor. I didn’t even make it to the kitchen before I started to cry. I knew. I just knew. It was the most breathtaking, cozy, authentically Louisiana home. Wainscoting on every wall, cypress-clad rooms, brick floors, a real stone masonry fireplace. I felt like I was in a charming hotel. I told the realtor not to tell my husband how much I loved it, because I wanted him to love it as much as I did. The last thing I wanted to do was to buy a house that he didn’t like. When he finally came to see it, he walked into the kitchen and the keeping room, and he said, ‘I think this is it.’ We both fell in love with it and bought the house the next day.”
