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!
Catch up on past weeks here:
Week 4 – The First of Two Bedrooms
I feel like I say this every week.. but this week was an absolute scramble to the finish. Shipping delays were the culprit this time. I had ordered a Zinus platform bed and the shipping date kept getting pushed back. Then, on Friday morning, the bed showed as out for delivery! Maybe we’d get to finish the first bedroom after all!
The Before
When we first purchased the house this bedroom was.. small. It still is small (about 10′ x 10′) but with new flooring, new insulated ceiling, paint, new window treatments, plus removing a door, it feels light and bright and dare I say more spacious?
We switched the Jack-and-Jill style doors to the bathroom to a single entry door from the living room. This was a big space saver for the new bathroom, which we’ll be tackling next week!
The original closet was way too small for Steven and I to share when we lived there full-time for a few years. So we tore that out during renovations and installed an Ikea PAX system on the opposite wall instead.
The PAX system took up a lot of space in the already small room, but we needed the storage. We had to push our bed into a corner, which was fine until it started getting hard to climb my pregnant self out of bed to use the bathroom several times per night. Then it was DEFINITELY time to move!
Overall, though, we didn’t mind the small bedroom. We really only used it for sleeping, plus it forced us to really purge our “stuff” and taught us to question our purchases – Do we really need this? Do we have room for this?
Closet Solutions + Hurdle #2
The photo below shows where the PAX closet system sat when we lived here. You can see we did the trim work after the closet was installed, so that would need to be added.. and we didn’t get to it this week. We got rid of the closet for two reasons:
- It took up a very large portion of the room, leaving little room for guest’s suitcases
- Short term guests really don’t need that much hanging space. With our average bookings being 3-4 nights, luggage racks and a small space to hang items is a better small-space solution.
Our plan was to install an industrial-style, ceiling-mounted closet bar in the South-West corner of the room, with a luggage rack below. We did this in the upstairs unit at The Rockaway House (see photo below) and it’s worked out well for our guests.
We gathered all of the supplies for this project – which is super easy and inexpensive to make yourself.
- 1/2″ Black Malleable Iron Floor Flange (2-pack)
- 1/2″ Black Malleable Iron FPT x FPT 90-degree Elbow (2-pack)
- 1/2″ x 18″ Black Steel Schedule 40 Cut Pipe (need 2, make sure both ends are threadable)
- 1/2″ x 24″ Black Steel Schedule 40 Cut Pipe (make sure both ends are threadable)
Assembly is a breeze, just put all the pieces together as shown below and mount them on the ceiling into a stud. Ahhh wait, that would be too easy. Turns out the closest stud in that area was 24″ off the wall. Wayyy too far (like bonk your head when you walk around the bed, too far). So now we have a fully assembled closet bar and no where to put it. Oops! Honestly not sure what we’re going to do here instead, but it’s going to have to be wall-mounted.
Furniture Purchases
Furniture purchases were minimal for this small space, just this Zinus platform bed (which we top with this mattress), and two nightstands that I ordered from Target.
Bedding Purchases
We pretty much have a formula for curating the perfect bed. For a vacation rental, it always starts with a waterproof, hypoallergenic mattress protector and pillow protectors. Not only will these items help extend the life of your mattress and pillows, but in the rare (we’ve never had them, but not unheard of) case of a bed bug infestation, it will make extermination much easier!
Our favorite sheets are something we talk about alllll the time, and we top them with a simple white quilt which is easy to launder between guests (vs a duvet cover which likely isn’t being washed between each guest at most vacation rentals). Being able to wash all of the bed components between guests has always been important to us, even before COVID-19 concerns.
Decor Purchases
One good thing about the bed shipping delay is that I also delayed my decor purchases. Once I found out the bed was actually coming this week I headed over to my favorite, local, vintage market – Kurtz Street – to gather a few items. I didn’t really know what I was looking for, but when I feel “stuck” or tired of the usual Target decor, I head here. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good Target run, but I wanted some pieces that made the room look a bit more curated and collected. That special “feel” you can only get by throwing some unique, vintage items into the mix. Know what I mean?
The first item I found was a long, cylindrical, wicker wall hanging, which I learned from a friendly patron is a Manioc or Cassava Squeezer. To me it looked like the perfect vessel for the pampas grass I had picked up at Adamo Ranch. With my new squeezer in hand, I started walking around to different stalls and before I knew it, I had taken two armfuls of wicker baskets up to the front counter. I was in the zone, guys.
Other purchases included a smart-TV, luggage rack, lamps and two throw rugs. I’m also a sucker for a simple bed made up with a stand-out lumbar pillow.
Progress + What’s Left
If you only look towards the bed, this room is pretty much done! But, if you look on the other side of the room, you’ll notice some details still need to be finished. We still need to:
- Purchase a few nightstand staples, like charging ports and a white noise machine
- Finish the trim where the old closet used to be
- Figure out a clothes-hanging solution for guests
But that’s it! Overall, I love how this room turned out. It’s bright and cheerful but still warm and inviting. Would you stay here?
Coming Up in Week 5
Next week we’ll be finishing up the bathroom! We’ll be adding a glass door to our curbless shower, and building some storage shelving next to the vanity.
You can follow along on Instagram and make sure to check out the One Room Challenge featured designers and other guest participants!
Great, thanks for sharing this article. Thanks Again. Lizette Sonny Goldenberg