If you’re new around here, welcome! I’m Kylee and I am an interior designer and property manager specializing in vacation rental properties. I’m putting a bit of a spin on the One Room Challenge this fall by making over not just one room, but my entire house as we convert it from our full-time home into a vacation rental property. Follow along here and on Instagram as we transform one room each week from October 8th through November 12th!
Click here to check out my Spring 2020 One Room Challenge space.
Round 2
This will be my second time participating in the ORC, and I have to admit I’m a little nervous knowing the scope of work ahead of me. Not only will we be designing and furnishing a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom home in a very short amount of time, but also finishing alllll of the other details that go into setting up a vacation rental home. Then there’s the fact that I’m currently 24 weeks pregnant – we found out we were expecting our second child during the ORC this past Spring!
Transforming this house is going to take a lot of time and effort. That being said, setting up uniquely curated Airbnb/vacation rental properties is a big part of what I do as a co-founder of Haustay, so I’m also coming into the game confident and ready to get to work!
We moved out of Rockaway and into our new house on October 2nd, so my challenge actually started last week. And every day that the house isn’t up and running as a rental is a missed income opportunity, so we’re working to get this project finished as quickly as possible without sacrificing quality. No rushed jobs here, but time is of the essence! To keep with the schedule of the other ORC participants, I’ll be revealing one room per week.
Designing vacation rentals requires a sort of mental shift from your typical interior design. Furnishings need to be aesthetically pleasing and comfy-cozy but also durable. You need to hit that sweet spot with decor – too much and it feels cluttered, too little and it feels cold and unwelcoming. It should feel clean and organized, but not stuffy. It should feel homey, but not too lived-in. And, at the end of the day, this is a business so sticking to a budget is critical.
We have 5 major areas to convert during the ORC, and whadda-ya-know, we have 5 more weeks to go! We’ll be tackling the rooms in this order:
WEEK 2 – The Kitchen
We’ll need to clear everything out of the cabinets, clean the insides, and re-stock/organize with all the necessities. We’ll also be painting the side door to match the front door.
WEEK 3 – The Living Room
Again we’ll be clearing out all of our things and purchasing a new couch, tv, console table and rug. A DIY wall art piece will replace the current propagation wall.
WEEK 4 – Bedroom 1 aka Our Bedroom
One of the biggest projects will be clearing out the bedrooms, including removing the closet systems we built. You’ll see why we’re removing them in Week 4.
WEEK 5 – The Bathroom
I’ve had visions for this bathroom since we first bought the house 3 years ago and, even though it is drastically different now, there are still a few projects left to complete before I’d call it finished. The main to-do’s are built-in shelves and installing glass doors on our curbless shower.
WEEK 6 – Bedroom 2 aka Nash’s Room aka Re-Do of My Last ORC Project
This is going to be a big one, guys, since I’m basically dis-assembling my Spring 2020 ORC project. I’m dreading this part, so I’m saving it for Week 6!
BONUS – The Patio
I’ll be finishing up the patio after the interior is complete, so probably in Week 7. The ORC is 6 weeks long, though, so think of the patio as my ORC version of “After the Final Rose”. Still debating whether or not I’ll be taking my wood-burned patio table with me to the new house or leaving it here.
What We’ve Accomplished So Far
As of today, the kitchen is officially cleared of all of our personal belongings! All of the cabinets and drawers have been emptied and wiped down. All of the new kitchen items have been ordered and most of it has already been delivered or purchased.
Coming Up Next Week
Week 2 will be all-things kitchen. We’ll start with a trip down memory lane to pre-renovation Rockaway and show some before-and-after shots of that project.
We’ll also be painting the side door (which is primed, but not painted) the same shade of warm gray as the front door.
I’ll be doing a detailed breakdown of how we stock the kitchens at curated Haustay properties, so if you’re planning to start up your own STVR soon then you’ll definitely want to check back here next week!
And, last but not least, we’ll fine tune the decor and details for this space.
See ya next week! 👋🏻
