Before and After: Becoming A Vacation Rental Home
When we bought the lake house in 2021, we didn't intend it to be a vacation rental home. My husband, Charles, and I have two teenage kids (and two dogs, two cats, and a tortoise named Sally) and we bought the house to have a relaxing retreat to hang with the dogs and kid since the kids would be out of the house fairly soon.
We wanted a modest home and were willing to put sweat equity into the right place, and boy, we did sweat! The house was built in the 1980s. It’s a little over 1,000 square feet with two bedrooms, one bath, and a weird room separating the living room and bedrooms. While the home did change over the years, like enclosing the porch to create the current living and dining room, the kitchen and bathroom needed finishing, and the entire interior needed a fresh coat of paint.
Again, when we set out to make changes, it was for us, and we had not yet considered making it a vacation rental home. Yet, the updates really reflect that we wanted to create an oasis because being on Lake Sinclair was so peaceful. There's even have a pair of gray herons that live in our cove, so we named the house Heron's Hideaway.
Charles and I had a ton of fun updating the house, and we’re really proud of the results. Let's take a look at some of our favorite transformations. The bulk of the updates were in the kitchen, so we will start there.
Kitchen
This kitchen felt sad because of the lack of light and dark ceilings, but as avid DIYers, Charles and I saw so much potential. The previous owners did replace the cabinets and appliances in the kitchen, which was a huge help, but the rest of the DIY updates were pretty bad. There was no lighting over the sink, and the ceiling and the baseboards were blue (why?). We decided to go with farmhouse style, and the easiest way to accomplish that look was to cover the outdated wall tile with paneling.
Here is the original listing photo before we bought the house. See the blue ceiling and baseboards?
It was hard to be in the space because it was unfinished, so we went right to work with the transformation.
First, we added a globe light above the sink and replaced the old steel sink with a lovely black farmhouse sink and the old faucet with a stylish black pull-down faucet. We also replaced the cabinet hardware with brass pull bars, which really added a designer touch. Then, we used MDF to create paneling on the walls, and stained the butcher block walnut.
We replaced the base cabinet next to the wall with a Bosche dishwasher, and painted the entire space, the ceiling, window trim, panels and all. To finish it off, I sewed together a roman shade, valance and cord cover.
Don't you love how it turned out!
Fun Surprise in the Living Room
While repainting the living and dining room, we came upon a surprise hole in the wall that we think used to be a window on the original house looking over the porch that is now the living and dining room. We were stumped with what to do with it for a while until inspiration hit me, and viola, DIY art!
Bathroom Retouch
The bathroom only needed paint and a new shower curtain to brighten the entire room. It's a small bathroom, so we took advantage of the wall space above the toilet to store towels, and now the room feels a little like a retreat! :)
We love how the updates turned out. We even created a third bedroom out of the weird middle room, and now have six very comfortable spots for everyone to sleep.
Why we decided to host a vacation rental home
As it turns out, teenagers don't want to spend too much time with their parents :) and we haven't used the property as much as we'd like. With all the hard work we put into the place, and with how great the space turned out, we decided to offer the home as a vacation home rental so others could enjoy the quiet and serenity of Lake Sinclair.
We absolutely love hosting and our guests love the space we've created. Stay at Heron's Hideaway on Lake Sinclair and experience the space yourself! Thanks for reading.