So. It was May 24th, the second to the last day of school. I, Carolyn, work in a school computer lab. We had no plans for the summer. Rich and I were on our way to our grandson's kindergarten graduation. The above duplex, which Rich had built in 2008 was going to be vacant for the summer. (The east side, that is.) One side had sat vacant the summer of 2009, and we'd considered turning it into a vacation rental. The timing to do that was not good. My mom passed away that May, and our daughter, Maria married Shay. It was completely full the following summer, so the vacation rental plans remained on the back burner.
Back to May 24th of this year. I realized that THIS WAS THE YEAR to make the transformation from a college student rental apartment to a fully furnished vacation rental! Rich, Megan and I kicked into high gear for the next four weeks. The main floor and upper floor were ready for photos after a couple of weeks, and we immediately listed our rental on
vrbo.com, homeaway.com, and
vacationrentals.com. We got a booking just a few hours later! The whole process has been very energy, time, and money consuming. And exciting!
This is one of two bedrooms upstairs. We decided to have the same bedding in each of the four bedrooms. We actually chose our bedroom color schemes according to the bedding colors. Because we've been in the apartment business for possible a couple of decades, (tenants leave a lot of things behind that they don't want to take with them when they move) and because we moved last year from our old 2700 square foot house to the upstairs (1700 sq. feet) of Kevin and Lori's wonderful home, we had a lot of furniture in storage. Those of you who know us well and have been to our home will recognize some of the furniture in these photos.
This is one of four bathrooms.
This furniture was very recently in our own living room at home.... I must also mention that this rental has a TV in each of the four bedrooms. The one in this photo has been replaced with a 32" flat screen.
Former tenants left behind the really nice wire rack above the sink. Rich spray painted it copper. We made quite a few runs to the Deseret Industries thrift store to buy vases, picture frames, etc.
Tenants even left behind this washer and dryer. Lucky for our vacation rental renters. We've also used several of Rich's and Megan's photography to adorn the walls.
This rental is three levels. One bedroom and bathroom are on the main level. Two bedrooms and on-suite bathrooms are upstairs.
This wasn't in our original plans, but when we had so many inquiries to house more people than we were advertising, we decided to make the connecting basement available.
If you are a Chatwin relative, you may recognize my parent's bedroom dresser that I inherited in this family room.
The old apples painting on the wall was in our house in Provo's basement when we moved into the house in the late 1970's. The house was built in 1901. We don't know the age of the print. Rich says it probably isn't as old as I think it is. Anyway, this photo lets you see some of the kitchenette and the basement bedroom. We charge extra for the basement add-on.
My parent's nightstands. The matching file cabinet is going to serve as a dresser. A TV sits on top of it.
The basement bathroom is a 3/4 one, meaning, it does not have a bathtub.
This is one of the many things that we have occupied ourselves with thus far this summer. Rich is extremely handy and energetic. Megan has a good eye for decorating and has been very helpful. We have juggled her Westside Studio Dance Boot Camp with getting this place ready. Her dance lessons have been an hour away from this rental, so we are very grateful that gas prices are going down.
