We opened an Airbnb!
One of my dreams came true...... We are official Airbnb hosts! I can't even believe I am sharing this news with you, but it feels SO good!!!
When we moved into this home, the entire basement was a full apartment which was used as In-Law quarters previously. When we walked through this place I was already twirling the idea of an Airbnb as temporary use. After some prayer and lots of conversations we moved forward and went to the township to start the process. Long story short, it ended up being quite a stressful process due to some permitting issues with the previous owner, as we learned did not get everything permitted.
After getting connected with the right people and getting permits fixed, we had a building inspection and a township meeting which went smoothly and got approved!
In November, immediately after the Airbnb got approved, we got right to work! Previously the space was coated in off-white walls, old cream outlets, worn gold knobs, oak cabinets, multiple different floor types, a red brick fireplace, "boob" lights everywhere and the list goes on.... This thing needed a major upgrade!!!
First thing was first, before replacing the flooring, it was time to paint!!! We used the same paint as we did in our whole upper part of our home "extra white" by Serwin-Williams! It's a very clean, crisp and bright color. We used this color for ceilings, walls, doors and trim in different finishes. Then we placed laminate flooring down, "Golden Rustic Oak" by Pergo from Home Depot, which is also what we used through the rest of our house. We love the look, cause while it's laminate, it is shaped in individual panels with tapered edges, giving it the aesthetic of real boards.
Main Bedroom:
Before
This space literally had nothing to it... It was super bland. Everything was white, boob lights, old gold hardware, linoleum, and yellow outlets. It all had to go!!!!!! But at least that made it easy as a blank-slate from which to start!
After
I absolutely love how this space turned out!!! It's bright, airy, and cozy!
After some paint and new laminate flooring, we switched out the outlets and hardware throughout the room, replaced the lighting, and placed our whole bedroom suit (that was originally our master bedroom) into this space. It's extra exciting because we have been able to upgrade the furniture upstairs now for ourselves! I found the beautiful rattan chair from Facebook marketplace for a great deal! It definately completed the space, plus everyone needs a comfy spot to put their shoes on right? ;)
The gorgeous and super thick rug I had found as an online deal through a wholesaler, score! Literally all the décor in this room I also found thrifting! Seriously, you can find some amazing stuff for amazing deals thrifting, I urge you to go! Some of you will probably ask, where did you go thrifting to find the cute and pretty décor? Great question! A new thrift store has come to the area and now has a few locations, Fashion Cents! Seriously I am addicted to this store. Ask me if you're looking for some location advice depending on what your needs are!
Living Room:
Before
The biggest focal point of this room is the fire place, and it just reminded me of the 80's, or something, but not very cozy or appealing to look at!
After
Holy Cow, this room is smokin'!!!!!!!!! Seriously, it had turned out even better than what I had imagined! It totally met the goals of wanting this room to be super cozy and relaxing! In this space we had also brought down this furniture from our living room upstairs. I could not believe how easy it was to white wash the fire place! I simply used a white flat paint and used a sponge to apply, lastly I used a wet rag to "wash" to my liking.
This room had really gotten a major face-lift!!!
After the painting and flooring were completed I whitewashed the fireplace! That in of itself made a HUGE difference!!! To complete the fireplace, sanded down the mantel and I then painted the trim piece around the insert. Super easy little tasks that totally transformed that wall!
We are so thankful that we were gifted some items for our Airbnb, it was greatly appreciated at Christmas time! Alot of the items found in the living room were found thrifting, or from shopping around at local small stores! Some of my favorite local shops that have a vast variety of vendors with amazing talent are Artisan Mill in Lititz, PA and Prussian Street Arcade in Manheim, PA and Lancaster, PA. Highly recommend!!! The beautiful rug (which is one of my favs in the collection) we found on Amazon. We actually have another one upstairs as well through this collection and the colors and pattern are beautiful!
The TV stand we found for a great price at Walmart, as well as the SMART TV! Surrounding the TV I found these beautiful wall hangings which are actually placemats, but hey, why not be creative! Like I had mentioned above, I'm all about small shop shopping, I found them at Welsh Mountain Candle Company as well as the fern prints we have too!
Breakfast nook/Kitchen:
Before
I can't even believe this is the same kitchen! We ran into some snags, but it was totally worth it! We tore out the countertop, replaced with a new one, added some shiplap for the backsplash, a new sink, sanded and painted the cabinets, replaced hardware and boob light, added a new microwave (and unfortunately we had to remove the oven due to permitting issues), sanded and painted the refrigerator to better match the new shiny microwave and wollaaaa!!!
After
Well the kitchen wasn't as easy and go quick as I thought it would... We lightly sanded and painted the cabinets in "natural cream" by BM, put the new hardware on and next day I just wasn't loving it! Hubby and I chatted about it and said "let's give it one more day and see how we feel." All that to say I still didn't love it, it just was too bland with the surrounding white walls. So of course I was thinking what colors do we have here at home that would work..... And again accessible beige by SW wins again!! Seriously it is a beautiful and perfect beige/greige color, I continue to use it over and over again.
For the countertop, we had originally bought a laminate sheet to cover the existing one with so we didn't have to go and get a whole new countertop. Fast forward we cut it to size, placed it down and it just didn't lay as nice as we hoped nor did the seams match perfectly and we didn't have a good way to be able to do that without going out and getting more expensive tools than we already had on hand. We hopped on Lowe's website and checked to see what a basic dark countertop would cost, surprisingly we found this countertop for super affordable which we didn't expect.
The last snafu we ran into was the backsplash, we originally purchased peel and stick tile backsplash, put it up and it just didn't look how we expected it too. The tile looked great, but "bright white" definately did not look like a bright white, depending on the lighting it actually had a lot of pink hues to it. We decided to go with shiplap!!! It was super easy to put up and we painted it in Extra White by SW the same as the rest of the space. A really pretty bright white! Ah it made a big difference and completed the space!
The table and chairs I found for a steal on FB marketplace! The whole set was $250! I looked up the table and chairs online, The table was from Pottery barn and was estimated $400, the chairs were from World market and were about $250-$300 per chair....... Rounding up we saved about $1250 that's a HUGE win!!!
Hangout Room:
Before
In review of this space, we are thinking that previously the owner moved his mother to this room (from the main room) later in her years so that way she was closer to the bathroom. We removed the ceiling fan, changed the location of the fire alarm, removed some nails, did some wall patching first, and removed stickers from the window (grrrr).
After
This space was probably one of the easiest ones to redo, and it turned out to be a bright, cozy and practical room! We found this futon sofa for seating and sleeping if need be, we brought the rattan cabinet down from upstairs, and the storage basket has been begging for use! All the décor we already had, so that made it easy to place as soon as the furniture was arranged!
Before we even started on this space we immediately removed the ceiling fan, it was so low that we kept hitting our heads, lol. We replaced with a simple but "pricey looking" flush mount light. We kept it consistent and replaced all the lights with this one. This light is also really nice because you can actually change the "temperature" of the lighting whether you want something more cool or warm.
Bathroom/Laundry:
Before
Because this room seriously got an overhaul it deserves more attention for the before and after! This thing was so outdated and desperately was seeking attention.
After
This room turned out in Perfection!!!!!! I cannot express that enough!
The doors got taken down, spray painted in 2 coats in Black by Rustoleum. Meanwhile, we removed the vanity out of the room, I took the doors and hardware off the cabinet, lightly sanded and painted in Retreat by SW! I spray painted the knobs gold also by Rustoleum, this color we have actually used numerous times, it's a perfect champagne gold. We purchased a simple white marble vanity countertop through Lowe's and the black faucet on Amazon.
The elegant arched mirror , vanity light, and bathroom hardware set/towel hook set were purchased on Amazon. The vanity sits on top of probably my favorite part of the whole bathroom, the tile!! This was the first thing I had picked out to redo this bathroom, it's just so fun and bold!
The rest of the décor I primarily got from Target and Marshalls!
Patio:
Before
I think alongside of the bathroom, this came 2nd in line as far as how much work was put into it for completing the Airbnb! We tore down an old wooden arch, pressure washed the exterior wall and patio then painted it, added an under decking roof, replaced some lights, and fixated the landscaping.
After
This is now a cozy space to spend time outside in the middle of nature. You can sit in our comfy wicker furniture surrounded by big trees, lots of birds and wildlife, which is now full of flowers blooming everywhere. We have added a grill for grilling/cooking needs and have recently added a gas fire pit with some Adirondack chairs as well.
We found the wicker patio set on FB marketplace for $50, it's well used but the overall appearance is nice, and they still have some life to them. We really excited to find it to instantly fill the space on the patio!
Here is the under decking roof we added, this is to prevent any rainfall coming through the deck cracks and onto our guests during their stay.
I know anytime we go to book an Airbnb, I am pretty particular when it comes to the outside of the place. I am looking for a cozy firepit and/or patio area because when I want some R&R that also means spending lots of time outside, and that's also what I wanted to give our guests too!
We found the gas fire pit( here is one very similar for reference) off FB marketplace for $100, which is a steal (basically used 2 times from previous owner), and then we purchased these adirondack chairs from ACE hardware for $30 each, which we thought was a great deal! Considering our research we couldn't find anything for less than $100 a chair, we saved big time on the "fire pit area"
I LOVE how our outdoor area for our guests resulted, I think it is super cozy and a space for people to sit back and enjoy the nature surrounding them. We both keep telling each other "we could totally stay down here and enjoy ourselves, we are kinda jealous how this turned out compared to what we currently have." But we also are in the middle of a yard/patio project (so stay tuned!)
Wow that was the longest blog yet, so hopefully y'all were able to stay in tune. I didn't want to cut you short with all the details, because it was all too good not to! I am writing this 3.5 months after we have opened the Airbnb and it's been keeping us on our toes! We have been busy non stop and have met some really cool people so far, we look forward to meeting more!
Thanks for reading friends! If you are looking to stay in the area please reach out, We'd love to meet and host you!
Posted: 02/24/2023