A Labor of Love

Arctic front update: Jan. 17, 2018
January 17, 2018
The Business of Family
January 17, 2018
Arctic front update: Jan. 17, 2018
January 17, 2018
The Business of Family
January 17, 2018

It started with restorations of houses they would sell.


Now Rod Roddy and Lisa Cinnater are offering what their experience and innate blend of artistic drive and structural ability bring to life, the potential to make anyone’s home a showpiece worthy of a magazine story.

“We enjoy this and that is our passion, and everyone loves the way we do houses,” said Lisa, when asked how she and her fiancé migrated from house-flipping to house consulting.

Déjà vu Properties, the couples’ real estate venture, now offers “The Classic House,” a consulting service. Lisa says the service was created due to popular demand, and that it’s a dream come true. The Classic House offers everything from decorating to choosing paint colors, from redesigns and all the way to full renovations!


“From the time I was a young kid I started drawing the insides of houses I saw, and I would go into a house and think the living room is going to be here, the bedroom is going to be right there,” she explains.

Rod’s life — when he’s not making music — has been all about houses as well, but more from the heavy structural side. Rod operates Alvin Ballard Roofing, which has locations in Baton Rouge and Houma. In business since 1977 with a Houma location since 2012, the company is known and trusted for its quality roof work. Rod’s company provides more than just roofing services to their customers. Their home improvement services include decks, patios, siding, painting and complete restorations of the home’s interior and exterior. 

Renovation of houses was a natural for Rod and Lisa, with his understanding of their outsides and her love of prettying up their insides. That was how their company Déjà Vu Properties got off the ground.


The consulting, Lisa explains, is the next logical step.

Rod’s music is well-known to anyone who has ever sung along with LeRoux’s “New Orleans Ladies” or any of the home-grown band’s other hits. He still plays keyboards for the Hall of Fame inductee group.

The day job, he says, is just as much a labor of love. Doing the work in partnership with Lisa makes it that much more so. The couple run both of their businesses out of one office, located at 6186 West Park Avenue, in Houma. 


“We renovate, and do the designs and decorating and setting up of the house,” Rod explains. 

“I am looking at one stop shopping for everything,” Lisa says.

The couple sees magic in the array of older homes available in the Bayou Region. Their work thus far has succeeded in preserving the integrity of a home’s traditional style, carefully mixing old and new components. Their first house together has an eclectic, country feel.


Still preserving the integrity of the home’s traditional style, the space was modernized, all while reincorporating materials such as the plaster walls and ceilings, original light fixtures and flooring. Lisa created a warm and inviting space by carefully mixing old and new components and décor to achieve an eclectic, French country feel. Soon friends were asking Lisa for her advice on their own décor, and the move to the current offerings was a natural progression.

In their spare time, the couple also restored a vintage 1957 Yellowstone camper and have been working on a wooden boat that may soon be another home-away-from home.

“I stay up at night just thinking,” Lisa says. “My mind is like, it is always on go, always thinking of the next project.”


Customers can reach the talented duo by calling Alvin Ballard Roofing at 866.766.3130 or The Classic House at 985.262.0953.

Rod Roddy and Lisa Cinnater