Continue the journey of our Modern Beach House with Coastal Bohemian flair with me as I revisit our Vacation Rental property after its first full season. What worked, what didn’t, what changes we made, and upgrades we did for next season!
The top 5 biggest surprises we found after 1 year of rentals:
- The white couch survived!! We knew the oatmeal colored feather down couch was a risk putting in a beach house, anticipating wet swim suit bottoms, puppy’s, and the occasion cocktail spill we crossed our fingers and said a prayer, And low and behold, it looked FINE at the end of the season. We had upholstery cleaners come do a cleaning on it and the upholstered dining chairs and it all looked like brand spanking new again. WIN!
- Many items, including furniture was quite re-arranged. I felt like I was on a wild goose hunt looking for the broom, vacuum, counting blankets, and even some chairs had to be hunted down throughout the 6 bedrooms and put back into their original place.
- Have extra wine keys and bottle openers.. like 10 extra.. We started out the year with half a dozen of each and all were missing. My logical thinking is that these are things that often get lugged out to the beach with the cooler, and well.. get lost. Extra Roku remotes and batteries too!
- Jute rugs are now on my No-Go List. Two of the 3 super cute (and giant) natural woven jute rugs I placed in the home were frayed beyond repair. While its trendy and gives a wonderful bohemian vibe to the place, its just not practical for high traffic areas. Lesson Learned!
- Other than a few kitchen utensils, no furniture items were broken or needed replacing!! Granted all of it was new, but still, I expected to have to replace some things.. Even the throw pillows were still in great shape. It just goes to show how important it is to go for well made – quality furnishings that can stand up to a long summer season of back to back rentals. The best part – because we didn’t need to spend anything on replacements we were able to splurge on some great upgrades for the house!
Changes & Upgrades
Replaced Jute rug in Main Living area with a Washable rug
Added a floor lamp to the corner of the living room for “Papa’s reading corner”
After comments from certain family members I realized I needed to layer in more lighting to the room. During the day this room has an abundance of natural light, however, once the sun goes down there are limited options for lighting – namely, the recessed lighting, the chandelier, and the kitchen pendants. So yeah, a floor lamp was warranted for the one dark corner.. which also happens to be my dad’s favorite spot to sit and read. But my kiddos call him Papa, so its Papa’s corner now.. GG likes it there too.
Added Polywood dining set to top-level deck
After some feedback from guests, we realized that the relaxed seating on the top level deck just wasn’t cutting it. Guests love to dine al fresco on vacation and especially when your close enough to taste the salty sea air. So we invested in a large polywood table with bench seating as the star of the deck. We decided to support a local outdoor furniture shop in Duck, NC with this large purchase, but I have linked a similar setup above so you can get the look. Polywood has many options that can build your perfect outdoor dining look.
The conversation set was relocated from the top deck to the second level deck, which actually works better since it is a poly wicker and glass table. Prolonged exposure to the elements would have had this set retiring within a couple seasons. But protected by the completely covered second level deck, I expect it to last much longer. And now there’s a great place for guests to enjoy the view of the reserve and the action at the pool area.
Added DIY Canvas Art to the Bunk Room
The Bunk room needed some love. With all the bunks stacked in the far side of the room, it really needed some interest on the bare walls. I also really wanted a practical way to cover up the electrical panels so they could still be accessed as needed. So my sweet and handy mama who is phenomenal wood worker (did you see the transformation of the dining table? All her!) took on the task to build out frames that we could wrap with scenes of sea creatures for a bit of whimsy for the teen room. The room looks so much better now!
Added Coastal Accent Pieces to the Game Room
So this room definitely needed some style, and it sadly was just at the bottom of my list during the massive renovation and I didn’t get to styling her right. So this year I brought in faux orchids for the bar top tables, sea grass, topiaries and decorative cutting boards for the bar shelves, and added a Tiki Toss game to the Media wall balancing out the dart board.
Added side tables and a bench to Pool Deck & Places to hang wet towels
The pool area needed more function. With all the loungers and chairs we added, we left out the necessary side tables to go in between. So bright polywood teal tables were added, as well as a long bench next to the spa as a place to sit or mostly to throw down towels when you get in the spa. I love how the color brightens up the area and adds more beach vibes.
We also built and added towel racks around the pool area so that there were proper places available to dry wet towels after a dip in the pool. Also took advantage of color here to bring in more of the teal accent color. And the boat cleats bring in more of the coastal theme.
And that’s a wrap on the 2023 off-season upgrades! We are so looking forward to another jam packed summer season of hosting amazing guests and getting more feedback. Next off-season is going to be a doozy of an update as we are planning a whole new pool area upgrade complete with fire pit and outdoor kitchen.
If you’re interested in staying at The Princess Tide or our other rentals, check out our Vacation Rental Website RoamingPineapple.com. We’d sure love to have you!
One question I get asked ALL THE TIME as we embarked on this journey is if I manage my own rental properties, and the answer is NOPE. Here’s the thing, I want my guests to have an AMAZING experience, so I leave the property management to the professionals. It is so important to me that guests can reach someone anytime of day to answer questions and resolve issues, so they can get back to enjoying what is most important – their vacation! I interviewed DOZENS of property management companies to ensure the perfect fit for my guests and service is up to my high standards. If you are interested in investing in vacation rentals, unless you are already a hospitality professional or have hours and hours to spare running a full time property management business, I highly recommend bringing an Property Management company onto your team, you will not regret it.
