Decorating Tips For Holiday Rentals
Posted By Houston Decorator on July 17, 2010
If you are going to use your holiday home for paying guests too, there are a few dos and don’ts that will help to make life easier. Do make the house child friendly. Do paint the house throughout with WASHABLE PAINT, it will stay fresh and last longer. Use a cool color palette but stay away from pink as you may have a booking for four or five which could turn out to be fishermen or golfers. Go to the Flea Market, a Garage or estate sale to look for the odd ornament to make the house more like home and don’t forget to look for plates too, they are versatile and not expensive. A spread of five in a diamond pattern with one in the middle would be just the thing to liven up a large plain wall or dot them here and there for a splash of color. Anything which isn’t wipe clean must be machine washable. Don’t have real plants and don’t have curtains that go down to and pool on the floor except in the Master Bedroom; keep them to just below the window sills. Don’t have rugs underneath the breakfast nook table or the coffee table; yes, it will look nice but where there are children there are bound to be spills and the occasional accident, and last but not least remember that you can never please all of the people all of the time.
Use a neutral or cool color scheme such as blues and grays with a splash of color here and there or blues and turquoise, or for a sunny house, blues with a little green and yellow. There are at least two paint sites on the web that can help you with this where you can try out color on walls in an actual room. This is very useful indeed. Why not be a little more adventurous? Still keeping the neutral theme you could use wicker or rattan furniture with their beautiful tropical or beach fabrics. This will set the whole theme for the room without any more thought on your part.
Make a statement in the entry way, try to give it that ‘wow’ factor by using a deepest color and see that the lighting is good, leave a “welcome” card and do leave a bottle of something nice in the ‘fridge for your paying guests to enjoy.
The family room will probably be the room most used, see that you have enough seating and if it is a sunny room paint it a shade of yellow, use the plate pattern, a deep green silk hanging plant and perhaps a modern wall clock with bright cushion covers on the settees and chairs. As an alternative, paint three walls a pale color, put a deeper color on the last wall and have the cushions match it. If your taste is for the dramatic, paint the walls white and paper the last wall with a stunning black and white paper, if it has a touch of color all the better, use this for the cushions. The main reason for this is that all you have to change is one wall and the cushions for a whole different look.
If the kitchen and breakfast nook are part of the family room, paint them both in a lighter shade and all you need is a table set with a wipe able table top and fit all the windows with venetian blinds in white. They are not expensive but very functional and they always look good.
The Master Bedroom is probably where the person who is paying will sleep so make it as opulent as you can, buy bedding in a pretty blue or turquoise, add floaty full length drapes and white venetian blinds and decorate it in a matching delicate tone. Carry the theme on into the bathroom. You have no way of knowing whether your guests will be families with children or parties of adults so don’t make the mistake of making a Scooby Doo or a Disney Princess room, it can make adults feel foolish. Blues and turquoises are universal colors, keep your bedrooms neutral but nice and add toning bedding, a mirror and some inexpensive artwork for the walls and the rooms will welcome anyone irrespective of age or sex. Don’t forget to add a bedside lamp, most people hate getting out of bed to turn out the light.
Are the bathrooms small and do they have showers over the bath? There is only need for one bath now a days, most people take a shower so remove the baths other than in the Master Bathroom and have a decent sized cubical made, this would be appreciated by everyone from teenagers to old people. Paint them in pale colors to make them look bigger, paint any dark wood white; add a bright bathroom rug and towels to match.
The last touch is to make sure you have somewhere secure to store your personal belongings, the ornaments, beautiful throws, pictures and pillows which make the place seem like home when finally, you get to enjoy it.
Creating a memorable stay for renters, rattan furniture is light, durable and attractive to look at, comfortable and easily to maintain year after year even with the heavy use. Along with comfortable cushions, fabric colors can be changed to the current trends to always keep your holiday rental fresh.
Comments
Leave a Reply