Moving Into Duplex to Renovate then Rent It - Taxes?

[Randall Beltran]

My wife & I just bought a duplex, and would like to renovate it for rental purposes. 
We think it'll be easiest to renovate ourselves while we live there, in one of the sides.

But this changes the tax rules (the 14-day rule, which tops out your deductions at the amount of rent collected for the year).
Since all the expenses are for rental purposes, is there any good strategy here to still be able to claim those deductions?