The home of Atlanta Braves outfielder Jeff Francoeur and his wife Catie McCoy Francoeur is a lot like their two-month-old marriage — new and casual.

"You'll have to do a before and after!" says Catie, 23, as she cheerfully welcomes visitors into their modest 4-bedroom, 3 1/2 bath home in Duluth.

Jason Getz / Staff (ENLARGE)

The kitchen of Jeff and Catie's new home is modest compared to the homes of more seasoned baseball players. For now, that's exactly what they want it to be.

Jason Getz / Staff (ENLARGE)

Newlyweds Jeff and Catie Francoeur in their new 4-bedroom home in Duluth.

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A few steps into the foyer (and one of the first sights) is a stack of wedding gifts still in their boxes.

Clearly, their style is nowhere close to that, say, of Andruw and Nicole Jones, whose Sugarloaf palace is a few miles away.

The Francoeurs, who have known each other since third grade, picked a small, unassuming gated subdivision where the husbands get together for poker and kids ride their bikes without fear.

They compare themselves not to his professional peers as much as their high school friends and her college pals — almost all of whom rent.

"This was our first house, and we wanted to figure things out for ourselves," Catie says. "We wanted to learn what we like or not. We can make mistakes. I'm 23. We don't need a whole lot right now. We have a 4-bedroom house, and we're pretty humble like that."

"Right now, I'm happy with where we are," says Jeff, who just turned 24.

They bought the house in early 2007, liking it for its location about 20 minutes from the Lilburn homes where they were raised and their alma mater, Parkview High School.

They bought the last house for sale in the neighborhood. It's only nine months old.

Used to a lot of room in right field, Francoeur liked that the home's small back yard overlooks an old ranch.

"I just really didn't want my back yard against someone else's," he says.

Like any couple, they suffered the new homeowner's reality check — that making a place their own takes a lot longer than planned.

Catie gave herself a couple of weeks after the Nov. 3 wedding to get the house in perfect shape.

That goal was quickly scrapped by a busy holiday season and a January that included the weddings of teammates Brian McCann and Kelly Johnson.

To make over this major-league bachelor crib, she turned to the warm colors and clean lines of Pottery Barn. She had the bathroom faux-painted in deep golden brown. The kitchen is taupe; the dining room charcoal.

The rich, glowing colors are part of a plan to create a nest away from the long season, travel and constant demands of Major League Baseball life.

"My home is one that I want to be open, where people come over because it feels so welcoming," Catie says. "For Jeff, and for me in this first year as a wife, our time at home needs to be our time at home, a place of refuge where we can cozy up on the couch and watch TV."

His favorite installation: a 62-inch flatscreen, high-def TV, a bonus for signing with sporting goods manufacturer Mizuno.

They got other assists, too.

While they honeymooned in Mexico, her parents delivered their wedding gift: a four-poster, king-sized bed.

"It's got one of those Westin Heavenly mattresses," Catie says. "It's hard to get out of in the morning."

The pillowcases are monogrammed "J F C," and their bath has a prominent plaque that says "Amazing Grace."

The lettering theme carries to other parts of the house. An antidote to baseball's numbers, the alphabet rules this home.

"I am just a word person," says Catie, a University of Georgia graduate in English education who is on leave from teaching at Mill Creek High School. She plans to get a master's degree.

"I could just 'quote' my whole house," she says in front of the stacked stone fireplace in the den.

Above the mantel is a handmade shadowbox by Sugarboo Designs that asks in bold lettering on its wooden frame: "What are you doing the rest of your life? North and South and East and West of your life. I have only one request of your life. That you spend it all with me."

What is missing is much baseball decor, beyond the folk art birdhouse that says Braves in red and blue, and the metal wine holder shaped like a batter.

"I don't want baseball to define us," Catie says.

That evidence is kept upstairs, in Jeff's "man room," which includes a walk-in closet for his piles of sports memorabilia.

His most personal items are humorous and sentimental.

A framed montage shows scenes from his first major league ejection, in San Diego's Petco Park.

Another sheepish trophy is the first base he stole; he's had only nine in three seasons.

"On the heels of [speedster] Rickey Henderson," Braves pitcher John Smoltz teased with a Sharpie on the white canvas bag. "The base ties you with [Braves catcher Brian] McCann."

A large shadow box shows off photos and scorecards from Jeff's bittersweet golf trip to the Oregon coast with close male relatives and friends in October 2006. They called their golf rounds the "Mel and Connie Open Championship," celebrating the lives of his grandfathers who had passed away a few months before.

"I'll show you my favorite thing," Jeff says, pulling out a jersey signed by Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.

"I just love Derek Jeter. He is awesome. In the [2006] World Baseball Classic, there were a lot of big time athletes, and he was willing to lend a hand."

He files through the other hanging jerseys, passing Alex Rodriguez, stopping at Roger Clemens ("That's a tough one to talk about now, but he was always nice to me.) And Barry Bonds ("No matter what, he's one of the best of all time").

While the Francoeurs say they're happy where they are, they are already thinking about what their next home will have.

A basement is high on Jeff's radar, because he aspires to copy his professional peers.

"I want a big sports room," he says, to show off a collection that also includes an autographed helmet from reknown quarterback Brett Favre and footballs from coaches Urban Meyer, Bill Belichick and Bill Parcells.

Further in the future, Jeff says, "I'd like to build a house. It would give me a project to do."

Right now, though, those wedding gifts and the rest of their stuff needs to be unpacked.

Do you have a tip or a nomination for Private Quarters? Email writer Chris Reinolds (creinolds@ajc.com) or call her at 770-326-8958.