How We Renovated an Airbnb Cottage – Part Two

Welcome back to my Airbnb makeover series!! I hope you enjoyed Part One, a tour of the exterior, front porch and living room on Tuesday. Come along and let me show you how we renovated an Airbnb cottage – part two.

Today, I want to show you the master (king) bedroom, queen bedroom and a bathroom between the 2 rooms.

master bedroom – before

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As I mentioned in my previous post, this home had original hardwood floors in the living room and dining room. However, the bedrooms had carpet, and bathrooms had dark vinyl flooring. We pulled all of the flooring up and replaced with light color wood laminate flooring everywhere except the 2 rooms with original hardwoods.

All of the home had a dingy tan color walls, and I repainted all the walls with a bright white. I chose Sherwin Williams Snowbound, but used Behr paint from Home Depot and had the color mixed there.

master bedroom – after

For the master bedroom, my mom gifted me the headboard, but it was a dark wood and looked a bit dated, so I painted it white and distressed it a little.

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She also gifted a linen waterfall bedspread and a linen euro sham the same color as the spread. These pieces were from a bedding line (Amity Home) that I used to sell at my shop. I happened to have 1 of the euro shams in the same color left over after I closed the shop. And I bought a 3rd linen euro pillow at Homegoods .

The three shams were placed against the headboard, then a french grainsack pillow layered in front.

I had a french grainsack I purchased at an antique store a long time ago and never used it. I ordered a body pillow on Amazon, and a sweet friend sewed the body pillow to make it a bit shorter to fit the grainsack.

It’s my favorite pillow in the house!

Lastly, I added a pillow from my own house that says “Nest” and a woven throw, also left from the Amity Home bedding I carried at the store.

I love the combination of textures between the bedding and pillows.

This home has mini blinds, which I don’t like. However, they are fairly new and in great shape so we couldn’t really replace them all, since this is a rental.

So, I decided to try to camoflauge the blinds with window treatments in each room.


I had 6 window valances, that I used to sell at my shop. I had saved 6 of them for myself, but never ended up using them.

The colors worked perfectly for the master bedroom, but they weren’t quite as wide as the window. I was determined to make them work, so I purchased small “L” shaped hooks from Hobby Lobby. The hooks were nailed on each corner of the window, and since these valances had ties, I was able to make the ties reach over and tie to the hook.

I love the look of them in this space!

I found the Loloi rug on Facebook Marketplace for $50. It is an 8×10 and was still in the package.

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The side tables were thrifted at different times. They don’t match, but are both french provincial style, and I painted them the same color white, so they work great together.

The vintage shutters behind the nightstands I found at a tent sale on a trip to Round Top, Texas. They are perfectly aged and chippy!

I love the unique statement they make hanging behind the nightstands, and the best part is they were $8 each!

Both of the lamps were thrifted. One of them is a ginger jar base with a burlap shade. The other was a dark color base that I bought for $4.98. I painted with a french style painting look and added a thrifted lamp shade.

The rustic bench I found at Canton Trade Days for $45 and think it works perfectly at the foot of the bed.

The TV we bought at an estate sale for $50. And I found the dresser we use as a TV stand at a local thrift store. It was a dated wood tone, so I painted it gray, distressed and added dark wax.

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I paid $100 for this piece, which is probably the most I paid for any thrifted piece in the house.

Lastly, I hung a vintage hat rack and topped it off with 3 thrifted hats. I just love the textures and colors!

bathroom hallway

The hallway that connects the master and queen bedroom got new flooring, and a fresh coat of white paint.

I wanted a little bit of decor, but there isn’t much wall space. I pulled 4 wooden vintage pant hangers out of my stash at home, and added a piece of old sheet music.

It added a bit of character and didn’t cost me a thing.

hall bathroom – before

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hall bathroom – after

The bathroom also got new flooring and a fresh coat of paint. The cabinets were already freshly painted white, but I changed out the dated hardware to a black finish hardware.

I ordered black metal shelf brackets and my husband cut pieces of wood (that we found during the renovation) to create shelves on the wall over the toilet.

This allows me to store essentials that traveling guests might need and extra tissue.

I made the window treatment out of 2 panels with a printed french design on them. Honestly, I’ve had them so long I don’t even remember where I bought them. They were in a fabric stash at my house and they worked perfectly here. The black print worked nicely with the black shelf brackets and black hardware.

I hung the window treatment from a tension rod and white curtain ring clips. And yep, you guessed it, I already had those too.

For just a little extra touch, I tied pieces of twill tape around each curtain ring clip.

The shutter was part of a pair I found at Canton Trade Days. I separated the pair and had my husband cut this one to fit the height of the window. It is such a cool piece that still has the old hardware on it.

I added a divided seagrass basket, purchased at Walmart, to the back of the toilet to hold a room spray and tissues.

The mirror already had this white frame around it, and I added a woven tray and small lamp to the vanity. I love having a lamp in every room. It is a nice welcoming feel to have lamp light on when guests arrive.

I added a divided seagrass basket to the back of the toilet to hold a room spray and tissues.

The mirror already had this white frame around it, and I added a woven tray and small lamp to the vanity.

I love having a lamp in every room. It is a nice cozy and welcoming feel to have lamp light on when guests arrive.

The shower curtain is a pair of damask window panels I found at a thrift store for $6. And the rugs were an amazon purchase.

The space heater on the wall is obviously there to stay unless we rip all the tile out and start over. Luckily, the tile was white so there was no need to do that. The heater was a bit rusty and dingy looking, so I just spray painted it white, to brighten it up a bit.

I actually, ended up liking the vintage feel it gives this space.

queen bedroom – before

The queen bedroom was involved in part of the construction we had to do. The layout of this part of the house was a bit awkward. To get into the back bedroom, you had to walk through the middle bedroom (from the kitchen). This wasn’t going to work well as a rental because of privacy.

So, my husband built a hallway from the kitchen to separate the spaces. However, it took some space out of the middle (queen) bedroom and made it an odd shape. You can see in the previous pic (from the tape on the floor) where the newly added wall would be.

Luckily, it was a huge room and we could afford the space in here.

queen bedroom – after

This room also got new flooring and fresh white paint.

The huge (9’x12′) jute rug with fringe trim was a FB Marketplace find for $40.

I bought the cane headboard on Facebook Marketplace for $20. It was already a light color, but had a sheen to it, so I sanded it down just enough to take the shine off.

I found an awesome linen bedskirt at a thrift store for $5 and bought this beautiful toile bedset at IKEA for $80. It included a comforter, sheets, and 2 shams. And I added a gauzy throw, also from IKEA, to the foot of the bed.

I found 2 buffalo check euro shams at a garage sale for $5 each that matched this set perfectly! And I picked up 2 throw pillows at At Home Stores to finish off the bedding.

The night stands are actually little side tables. I bought both of them at an antique shop for about $45 each. I had to use an open type table because the air vent is right behind one of them.

A floral painting I had in my barn sale inventory was hung behind each side table and the lamps were a thrifted find for $5 each.

They were a dark color and I painted them white. I also found the pair of shades at a thrift store, for $5 each.

I didn’t want to clutter the walls with a lot of “things”, but instead wanted larger statement pieces. A friend sold the vintage gate to me for a steal and I think it made the perfect wall decor here.

I found the luggage stand at a garage sale, and painted it white and replaced the straps with webbing.

I hung a vintage wall rack on the opposite wall, and added a thrifted basket, a bundle of dried lavender, and a thrifted hat.

master bedroom sitting area

Since this room is so large, we were able to having a sitting area. The perfect place for a guest to sit and read or just a place to sit and put on shoes.

Again, I wanted large statement pieces on the walls, so the trellis made from tobacco sticks was a perfect piece. I topped it off with a dried boxwood wreath that I made several years ago.

The chair was a free Facebook Marketplace find, and the wonderfully chippy side table was a Canton Trade Days purchase for $40. Another thrifted lamp and shade finish off this space.

And lastly, I hung a floor length mirror in this room. I bought the mirror at Ross Stores for $45. It was a dark bronze color, so I painted it with white chalk paint and distressed it just a little.

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I hope you’re enjoying the Airbnb Cottage Makeover tours! Please comment at the bottom if you have any questions. I love to hear from you!

blessings,
michele

If you enjoyed this post, and missed the “How We Renovated An Airbnb Cottage – Part One”, you can see that here.

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Some of the photos were taken by my sweet friends at Farmhouse Living. YouTube video of the entire cottage coming to their channel!!

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