Turning our house into an Airbnb

 Hey Guys!

So today's post is about turning our house into an Airbnb. As of last October 2021 it has been 5 years since my sister bought a house that we both lived in together. We don't really know what we will do with the house in the end but we initially had the plan to buy the house together but unfortunately at the time we closed on the house I did not have a job or any income so my name could not be listed on the mortgage. I think depending on how we do with it or where we both end up in future situations we might just refinance the house to have it both in our names and just keep it as an Airbnb. 

My sister was the first one to move out in July of 2021 as she moved to Orlando to pursue her Master's and I moved out in April of 2022 to move to North Dakota. Since no one was living there anymore and we still need to pay the mortgage, we decided to turn it into a rental property. The house is fully furnished still and we have a lot of great amenities to offer our guests. We left behind most of our own pieces of furniture and then we bought and/or made a few new pieces if something was really special to us. It has been a long journey to finally get the house listed but it is finally live on Airbnb and I wanted to share some of that info on here. The house isn't fully ready yet but we made sure to make the available date a tangible one and it will be fully ready by the time our first guests arrive! Here is the link to the house and please enjoy a little tour of the house that I said I was going to do a post on so many years ago and never did! 

Please feel free to share this post with anyone who might looking to come for North Fort Myers, Florida and rent a home on the water. I hope you enjoyed todays post!

Thanks for stopping by!

XO, Steph

Projects for Our House 2019

Hey guys,

So as I've said before, my sister and I bought a fixer upper! Our house was built 1976 and the previous owners pretty much didn't update a single thing in the entire house since it was built. I think the only thing they really updated was the fridge and I'm guessing that was because their old one broke. 

Electrical Panel

One of the things we need to work on is getting our electrical panel redone. Apparently it's no longer up to Florida building code and could potentially cause trouble for us in the future. Our washing machine and dryer are also right next to it which is another big no-no when it comes to the Florida building code. I'm hoping that if we do get it redone we'll be able to figure out which switch goes to which light/room because currently we're just hitting and missing most of the time. Whoever did the wiring in our house was not very good. It's something we really need to fix.

Pool

Our pool also needs to get fixed because it has a leak in it. It's a very small leak but we're guessing that when hurricane Irma hit last year and the ground shifted a little bit that our pool might have settled a little and created a small leak. We had a company come out and test it and thankfully we don't have a crack in our actual pool it's just in one of the vent thing's that pools have. Don't ask me what they're called because clearly I don't know! But it's something we need to get fixed because we were constantly having to refill up our pool. Thankfully when the company came out they did a temporary fix but we're not sure how long it will last before it starts leaking again.

Garage Door
We really need a new garage door. Ours has a lot of gaps in it and a lot of bugs and stuff get in and it's just time for a new one! Our current one is actually kind of neat though because the panels look like wood but they're metal. So in theory if the garage door was newer and didn't have the problems I already listed then I think it would be nice to just stain it but we need a newer up to date door. Also they make them now so they are hurricane proof and they come with like these special bars that you install whenever a hurricane is coming just to add extra protection for your garage.

New Windows
I don't think that the windows in our house have ever been replaced. Which is a really long time for windows to go without being replaced especially when they are no longer up to code either. Basically most of the things in our house are no longer up to Florida Building Code because we have these wonderful things called Hurricanes. I would really like a window for my room particularly because our windows are so old and thin that you can hear pretty much everything that goes on outside and I can always here our next door neighbors whenever they are outside on their dock or even sometimes when they are standing and talking in their driveway. It's crazy! The only downside to needing new windows for an entire house is that you could basically buy a new car for the amount you will spend on new hurricane impact windows. The other reason people recommend new windows is because they are tinted nowadays and they will supposedly reduce the amount of heat that gets into your house which can in return lower your electric bill but our electric bill is already pretty cheap so I don't think it would really have much of an effect on our bill.

New Driveway
Our driveway is currently like the normal size that can fit four cars which is fine considering only 2 of us live here but we kind of wanted to be able to host family events and other random parties throughout the year and that's kind of hard to do when your driveway only holds 4 cars and your family is huge! Eventually my goal is to redo our current driveway and then expand it by adding on a circle drive. This will hopefully allow us to fit at least 2 or 3 m ore cars depending on the size of the circle drive. We could potentially park a car in our garage but it's currently has a the trailer that we put our jetski on if we want to take it out of the water and go somewhere with it. We have to figure out where we want to put that eventually so we can actually use our garage as a garage!

As you can see most of the projects that we need to have done right now are things that we can't really do ourselves. We have to hire contractors or companies to come out and install or repair certain things. I wish we could some of it ourselves but I definitely don't want to get electrocuted nor do I know how to pour concrete for a driveway! The only other downside is that all of these projects will cost more than $1,000 each so we basically just have to wait until we can save up some money.

My first goal is to have a few different companies for each problem come out and give us a quote so we can get an idea for how much we need to start saving. I honestly think it would be so awesome if all of these things could get done by the end of the year but I don't think they will. But I will definitely be posting more about the house and updates that we've done to it. It's currently a big mess because we're working on organizing our office/guest/craft/workout room! We're also planning on having a garage sale sometime this month or next month so there is stuff everywhere! Anyways, keep checking back for more updates on the house!

Talk to you soon!

XO, Steph

Lighting Choices for the House

Hey guys,

So I'm gonna do another blog post about the house because I really like talking about the house! It actually brings me a lot of joy because interior design is something that I'm really passionate about! So if you ever need any advice about something just let me know and shoot me an email! 

Breakfast Nook Chandelier

So this is the chandelier I picked out for the breakfast nook. I think it goes well with our table and the built-ins that we plan to build. We currently have three separate spotlight lighting fixtures in there so they will need to be redone and rewired before we can add a new lighting fixture but hopefully this is something we can working over the next year.

Front Entryway Lighting

This is what I picked for our front entryway, it's not exactly what I had envisioned but it's close enough. I'm really hoping that we can remove the pole or just not use it which will ring the chandelier closer to the ceiling because we don't have very high ceiling in our house.

Front of the House Lighting

Front Porch Lighting

This is the lighting fixture I want to use for our front porch! I absolutely love how it looks like a pineapple, it's so cute!

Garage Lighting

These are the lights that will go on the front of the house on each side of the garage door! And they match the front porch light which is perfect!

Kitchen Lighting

This fixture matched the light that we currently have in the kitchen and we have a light above the sink that need a fixture!

Back Porch Lighting

So I haven't really done much planning for our back porch lighting. We have three separate spots for lighting but we're not entirely sure if our ceiling can hold new heavy lights or fans so we need to get that checked out first before we can add change anything! But my plan is to get either 1 or 2 fans with lights and then either a single lighting fixture or two lighting fixtures. We haven't really discussed much for the outdoor lighting but it definitely needs to be updated because it probably hasn't been changed since the house was built! All I know is that I want a fan and some kind of lighting fixture and I'm not sure what to do for the third spot.

Thanks for stopping by!

XO, Steph

June 2018 House Update

Hey guys,

So I want to do a more in-depth blog post on this once I am fully able to take a bunch of pictures after the house has been cleaned but as of right now and probably for the rest of the summer we are taking a break from working on the house! Ever since January of this year we have pretty much been working non-stop on the house. Every free day and weekend that we all have had off we have been cleaning, painting, or decorating the house. We've been working so hard on the house to get it ready for a like a house warming party! We ended up having a Memorial Day party and it was great! We invited friends and family and everyone had such a great time! People rode around on our jet ski and took trips up and down the canal in our kayak! It was such a great day!

Now that the party is over with we are taking a break from working on the house. I'm thinking we probably won't work on it again until summer is over. We have some trips planned for the next couple of months and I really need to focus on finding a new job at least a second part time job until I can find a new full time job! I also want to be able to spend more time with my boyfriend and my family!

Anyways back to the house, to start off with the things that are done are the living room and our library! Which I know doesn't really sound like a lot but considering they are the two main rooms in our house I think that's pretty good! Also, we did buy a fixer upper from the 70's that has not been touched since the 70's so I'm hoping you can guess how bad it really is. Basically every room needs to be updated to this century which means the whole house probably won't be completely done for at least 5 years because the kitchen and both main bathrooms need to be remodeled. I still have a blue toilet and bathtub! But we did redo the half bath that's in the office and it looks absolutely amazing so I am very proud of that!

I think we are pretty much done painting everything for now. Thankfully, because I really don't enjoy painting at all! We've painted pretty much every room inside the house except for my bathroom because it still has wallpaper on the walls that absolutely refuses to come off! So it's definitely still a work in progress! We painted the entire exterior of the house including our driveway and patio floor. The only thing left to paint outside is our garage door which of course we can't decide what color to paint that!

Also, the built-ins in the library are completely done! It took a while but my mom and sister were finally able to complete them just in time for the party! They turned out absolutely amazing and I could not be more proud of them and their hard work! They spent so many weekends working on these shelves and they took so many trips to Sam's and Home Depot to make sure they had all of the right tools and parts that they needed to build them from scratch!

However, there are definitely a few things that still need to be worked on. Some of those things include adding built-ins in the breakfast nook! We really want to add some built-ins with a bench and then we have a round table and 4 chairs that we plan on putting around it. We're not entirely sure if 4 chairs will fit around it once we get done with the built-ins and the bench but we will see. I also want to update the lighting that's in the breakfast nook because it's like four different spotlights and I want to update it to be 1 chandelier. I think it would look a lot better and update the look of the room!

Fo the dining room, I still want a small bar cart and a mirror to go over the shelving unit that we have in there! The shelving unit also kind of still needs to be worked on but that is something that we will work on over time! Other than those two things our dining room is done! It's absolutely perfect in my opinion and it turned out exactly how I pictured it! 

Another thing is that we also want to get a new countertop for our outdoor bar top counter! The one we currently have is dry-rotting and falling apart! Every time you touch it pieces fall off of it, it's pretty bad! I also want to change out the lighting outside and get a fan! We have three different spots for lighting fixtures but we need to make sure that our ceiling is strong enough to be able to hold a fan and different types of lighting fixtures. We also need a coffee table for outside which is something we will have to build. We built all of our outdoor furniture except for our table! The table we recently bought at Sam's and we absolutely love the table because it actually has a built-in leaf and it expends to fit so many people which is amazing! We also have barstools to go with out bar top but they need to be fixed, sanded, and stained! I also think that we need to get at least two more because our counter outside is actually pretty long and I think we could easily fit four barstools at it!

So as you can see we've come along way but we still have a lot of work ahead of us and I can't wait to see how the house turns out once we're completely done with it! I also am really hoping that it will majorly increase the value of the house but we will find out later once we're all done!

Anyways, keep checking back for a full post featuring before and after pictures of all the work we've done so far soon! 

Thanks for stopping by!

XO, Steph

House Update Summer 2017

Hey guys,

So far not that much has really changed at the house since my spring update. My mom and sister are currently working on the built-in bookshelves that are going up in the library! So far they are turning out great and I cannot wait for them to be finished.

My mom and I are working on outdoor furniture. Together we built a couch and two chairs. To be honest, they aren't the most comfortable pieces of furniture ever but I am super excited to be able to say that we built furniture. So far they are built and we are in the process of staining them and putting a weather protector on them. We had some major issues with the cushions and we tried out at least 3 if not more different cushions from a few different stores. We ended up settling on some from Target and some from Lowe's. Together are only going to seat 4 people. I had hoped the couch would fit 3 but we shortened the couch so it would fit on a wall in-between two of our sliding glass doors and because of that we lost a seat but then there's still some room left over on the couch. We probably should have made our own cushions but I really didn't want to do that and I also really didn't want to pay for that. 

So far my room is coming along great! I still need another nightstand and my TV needs to be mounted but other than that I don't really plan on adding any other furniture in my room. I might end up removing the bench that I made for my room and finding somewhere else in the house to put it but we'll see. If I decide to remove the bench then I do have my eyes on this lingerie chest because then it will help clear up some space in my closet. My closet is a bit a small and I probably need to go through it and remove some clothing items that I no longer wear but I struggle with getting rid of clothes. I'm so picky when I shop anyways that I feel like if something is cute I'll probably end up wearing it again. I am also finished with my gallery wall, I only need to hang 2 more items and then it should be complete!

So I have this little room outside of my bedroom and there's a small space behind the door that I plan on adding this shoe cabinet from IKEA because I absolutely need more shoe space! I have run out of room in my shoe closet and had to move my athletic shoes to the floor of my actual closet haha. I'm hoping that it will be wide enough for me to be able to also make it like a jewelry station because I literally have no room in my room for any of my jewelry stands. I actually left all of my jewelry at my parents house because I have nowhere for it to go in my house.  

That's it for now. Hopefully we'll be able to finish the built-in bookshelves before the end of the year haha and then our next big project is built-ins in our breakfast nook with a bench for our table!

XO, Steph

Furniture Ideas for the House

Hey guys,

So here are few furniture items that we are considering purchasing for the house.

So we've had our breakfast nook table for a few months now but I am having the hardest time picking out chairs to go around it. Our plan is to build a built-in bench which will hopefully hold seats for two people at the table and then I really want to find 4 smallish chairs to fit around the table so that way we can have seating for at least 6 people (even though only 2 people live there haha). So I have a few options but I honestly don't know if I'll ever be able to pick haha. 

The main wall in our library is teal so I was thinking it would be nice to tie it all together since the whole area between the breakfast nook and library is all open but then it's kind of hard to do that because I'm not sure if they're the same teal. I'm also conflicted because what if I want to change up the color scheme of the table and I have teal chairs, then this limits my color options a little. I also think that they might not really go with the table that well. I was thinking about doing maybe a dark gray or charcoal but then that might not even go with the table either.

I'm also having a hard time picking between farmhouse and industrial. The table is very farmhouse so apart of me feels like we should stick with farmhouse style chairs but then industrial chairs would help to tie in the theme of the library. 

These are the chairs that actually match the table. We didn't buy them with the table because I didn't know if I liked them enough to spend the money on them. I originally wanted completely different chairs but now I've changed my mind and I'm trying to find chairs that will match with the theme of both rooms better. But we'll see what ends up happening. 

I like these chairs for the industrial look but my issue is with the wood. The top of our table is wood and I'm just not sure if the two woods would look good together. However, my sister says that she doesn't mind mixing woods but I'm having a hard time picturing them going together. They don't really look like they would match but they would definitely match the theme of the barstools we have picked out.

These are the barstools that we picked out. We have a counter height bar area (as opposed to a bar height) and we both agreed that they would go very well with the theme of room plus we both really wanted this style, where the top can screw up or down. In the beginning we both really wanted comfy barstools with a back and a lot of cushion but I feel like these would look so much better because we'll be able to just slide them underneath the bar and it won't look like there's a whole lot going on in that area.

So far this is the coffee table that we have picked out for our steampunk themed library! It is very industrial and will hopefully go with the rest of the room very well.

So for the couch for the living room area, I really wanted 2 navy blue velvet couches but I was having a really time finding ones that I liked so I decided to change my mind and change the color and design of the couch. I am now going with a grey sectional with a pull-out couch and a chaise. I found one online that I liked but now I am having a hard time finding it again so I may have to do some more research find a different one that I like. We also have two chairs that we are still going to recover in blush pink velvet fabric and have them be conversational chairs in one of the corners of the room and then if we ever need more seating options we can just move them on over. We also added an extra chair right next to the TV and it is my black and white houndstooth chair that my mom and I recovered a few years ago. It was supposed to go in my room but unfortunately my room is too small and the chair is too large to fit haha. Currently that room has a lot going on at the moment with a lot of different colors and patterns but I think once it all comes together, everything will look absolutely beautiful!

Also, I know I haven't done too many fashion related posts in a while and mostly just because I haven't gone shopping in a while because we've been spending most of our money on our house. My sister and I are also having a hard time finding time to shoot because we don't get very many days off together and then when we do, we're usually doing chores around the house/ working on the house or going grocery shopping haha!

However, I did recently buy a few new items and I'm hoping to shoot some outfits either this week or next week. I am just waiting for some stuff to come in the mail!

P.S. Everything is from Target except for the chairs that actually go with the breakfast nook table.

XO, Steph

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House Update Spring 2017

Hey guys,

So I wanted to give you guys a little bit of info about our house and how it's coming along so far. We recently had our TV break on us so we ended up getting a new one that our parents actually bought us for Easter and then we also purchased a new TV stand to go with the new TV. I honestly had the hardest time picking out a TV stand because I found a blush pink one on Pinterest but it was just and advertisement for something else and not the TV stand. I tried searching for the stand but unfortunately I wasn't able to find it or anything like it and we honestly have so many DIY projects going on at the house that I didn't even want to attempt to add another one to the list haha. After not being able to find the pink, I have a really hard time picking a different color, I thought about doing white but then I didn't really want that because it seemed so boring and I was also worried about it showing marks if it ever got scratched or damaged somehow. So then I was doing some more research and I remembered this line of colorful furniture that Target sells. It's called the Windham collection and they have a bunch of different furniture options from desks, to bookshelves, to coffee tables and they also offer them in a bunch of different colors (unfortunately pink is not one of them). So I chose a navy blue TV stand since we decided against the navy blue velvet couch. They have two different size options for TV stands in the navy blue and after measuring and looking at prices we decided to go with the larger one because our living/family/great room is actually pretty large. Like if we wanted to couple probably fit two large couches and a couple chairs in there and still have room for some more furniture. This was my original plan but now we're going to get a large grey sleeper sectional with a chaise.

Unfortunately, we are currently experiencing a bug problem so we're actually staying at our parents house. We went out of town a couple of weekends ago to Disney for the Flower and Garden Festival and while we were out of town we decided to bug bomb our house because it's always good to do that sometimes just to make sure the house is bug free. We hadn't been receiving pest control for a little bit because we didn't really feel like paying for it and we thought we could just do it ourselves but unfortunately we thought wrong and now we're probably going to start paying for it because it is so worth it! My sister and I absolutely hate bugs so it's seriously freaking us out that we are dealing with this. The bugs that have currently taken over our house are carpenter ants and as I'm typing this our house is currently being treated for them and hopefully they will go away soon! Thankfully our parents only live like 5 minutes from us and are currently on vacation in Hawaii so we have the house all to ourselves!

I also recently hung up some more art pieces that I've had for a couple of years now but never actually put up anywhere. Thankfully they kind of go with the whole steampunk/vintage feel of our library and we had the perfect wall for them to go on!

The next projects that have on our list is to hang up some pictures in our office, hang up a DIY lighting fixture that my sister wants in the library, add some steampunk themed shelving to one of the walls in the library, and start working on building our built-ins. We also want to work on our lawn this month. We don't really have grass growing in our lawn, it's mostly just dead or random weeds. We also have this planter box in our front yard that we want to plant some hydrangeas in. We also want to plant some kind of citrus tree and then remove some bushes that are in the front and back yard. The previous owner had them surrounding the pool cage and since we live in on the water it makes it kind of hard to see the water when a bush is blocking your view. There are also some bushes taking up room in our dog run and want to be able to provide as much room as possible for our dogs to be able to run around and have fun!

XO, Steph

DIY Coffee Cup Shelf

Hey guys,

So I have another DIY for you guys! So my sister saw this on Pinterest and really wanted to build it. So technically we didn't really follow any instructions or anything like that, my mom and sister just kind of winged it haha. Also, I didn't really have anything to do with this whatsoever but my sister wanted me to include it on the blog as another DIY so here it is!

So all I know is that my mom and sister went to the home improvement store (I'm not sure which one) and purchased some 2x4's, I think? Then they drew up some plans, measured and cut the wood, and then we started to build it. This was the only part that I helped out with. I helped drill pilot holes for the nails and then hammed in the nails to put the whole thing together.

In order to secure the whole thing, we also used wood glue and nails to make sure that it was sturdy and going to last.

Then my mom and sister measure and cut all of the shelves. Next, they hammered all of them in place. I'm not sure if they used wood glue too but they might have just because it's better to be safe than sorry. 

Here is what it looked like when it was completely put together and they even put some coffee cups on it!

Here's a picture of the nails close up.

They added these to the back and that's how they hung it on the wall. They are also going to add L-brackets to the corners on the inside to make sure that it is really secure and won't fall off the wall considering almost all of our coffee cups are souvenirs from places we've been. 

So here is what it looks like hung up on the wall. We forgot to take anymore pictures of it before it was completely finished but my sister painted it white and then we hung it up on the wall. The wall that it is on is painted a light gray color so I think the two colors go together very well. Plus we hung it right above the bright blue coffee cabinet that we did back in September last year. We decided to take some of the mugs off of it though until we add the L-brackets just to be on the safe side.

XO, Steph

Review of Owning Mirrored Furniture

Hey guys,

So I wanted to do this review because several people were like are you sure you want to buy mirrored furniture? It's going to be such a hassle to clean and it's going to constantly look dirty and you are going to have to clean it all the time. All I heard were negative things from people and so I thought I would give you guys some insight incase you've ever wanted to buy mirrored furniture. 

So I went online to try and find my nightstands (or should I say nightstand because I only bought one and was planning on buying the other one later) but I wasn't able to find them anymore. So that kind of sucks. I'm hoping that they still sell them in stores but knowing my luck, they probably don't. I included a picture of the table that I use as my vanity and then a picture of a different nightstand that I might have to buy instead if they don't sell mine anymore (insert sad face emoji here)! 

I currently only have two pieces of mirrored furniture in my bedroom but I'm currently thinking of purchasing this piece as well because my room is pretty tiny and I don't really have the space for a full size dresser and then my closet is pretty much as full as it can get and I still have quite a few pieces of clothing at my parents house. I'm also using the bottom drawer of my nightstand to hold my pajamas haha. I currently have a wardrobe thing inside my closet that has drawers and thats where I store all of the stuff that doesn't really need to get hung up such as bras and underwear, swimsuits, workout stuff and other items. So I was thinking of using it to put all of that stuff in and then I could use the drawers for the rest of the stuff that is still at my parents house. However, I'm not sure how deep the drawers are I don't know if they sell this one in the Pier1 stores.

I totally I recommend mirrored furniture. I've had mine for about 2-3 months now and I've only actually deep cleaned it once in those two to three months. And I didn't even really deep clean it. I just grabbed some Windex (not sponsored) and some paper towels and cleaned

the areas that weren't covered with things. For example, on my vanity, I have all of the containers that sit on the back half of the vanity and hold my makeup. I didn't remove these and I didn't remove the lamp that sits on the vanity as well. All I did was remove everything else that I typically don't leave on the vanity anyways and then I wiped down the front half of the top and then I wiped down the drawers. I figured after like 6 months or so it might be dirty enough for me to wipe down the legs but I have a feeling even then won't need to be cleaned for a while.

So far I absolutely love having mirrored furniture. I am a little more cautious with the things that I put on it and I make sure that I always use a coaster because I don't want to leave any marks whatsoever. But if you have furniture that is made out of real wood or MDF you should always be using a coaster because sweaty cups or bottles can be leaves on any type of furniture. However, I should mention that the furniture I grew up with at my parents house had a glass protector over the wood. So all of my furniture was an espresso colored wood (or MDF I'm not really sure what it's made out of) and then a piece of frosted glass over the top. So I was pretty much used to always having to protect the glass. I would never really use a coaster though, I would always just set my bottles of water down in bed with me or I would place a glass on top of a notebook or piece of paper. 

If you have kids then I would only recommend having mirrored furniture in rooms that the kids don't really go in very often only because of how fragile it is and fragile kids can be. If they were to drop something on top of it or run into it, it could end up breaking somehow. I just don't picture mirrored furniture and kids going very well together.

XO, Steph