Hidden Asset

THE HEART HAS ITS REASONS, as they say, so best not to overthink another home buyer’s surprising infatuation. In Teresa Dau and Amanda McMillan’s case, it started with a certain neighborhood in Decatur, Georgia—steps from schools, public transit, the library, the playground, and old-timey Decatur Square—and culminated in a rash gamble on a carved-up bungalow that had idled on the market for months.

Let’s just say they had the imagination to envision it looking like the smart little award-winning house-tour favorite you see here.

Vivid imaginations—and sheer will. Rival house hunters had backed off after getting a close look at the crumbling plaster and aging infrastructure of the ad hoc duplex with