Home Sweet Rental

Never in a million years. That’s what I would have said if you told me we would buy two houses in one year. But, when the stars align… why not shoot for them?

Ever since buying our first house on 3 acres in Tennessee in December 2023, Russell and I have had our eye on real estate. We still get the daily Zillow emails about other houses for sale and click through for fun, often just confirming that we picked exactly the right home.

But, in September of 2024, my eye snagged on a cute little blue house. At the time, I was searching for homes in the area for a family member but, for some reason, this house got it’s hooks in my brain. It was a brand new build, efficient 2 bedroom and all the trimmings were so neutral and pleasing. I remember thinking it would be the perfect blank canvas for someone to come along and claim.

After a few crazy weeks of separate travels in November, Russell and I met up in Houston for 2 nights with plans to fly back to Vegas and be reunited with Otis and the RV. We went out to dinner that first night, took one look at each other and Russell said, “I want to buy that blue house and turn it into an Airbnb.” I just grinned and admitted I’d been thinking the very same thing.

Four days later, we were under contract and I began the task of furnishing the house remotely, sight unseen. It was also Black Friday week, so I was highly motivated to take advantage of all the sales and get everything shipped and on it’s way to Tennessee. We were already planning a week-long December trip to see my mom, but decided to extend to 3 weeks to ensure enough time for everything to arrive, to set it all up and be ready to photograph before heading back to Vegas and creating the rental listing. So, armed with just Zillow photos and measurements, I took Amazon and Wayfair by storm and crafted a vision to bring this house to life.

I’d heard advice to decorate an Airbnb in a theme inspired by the location, scenery or destination it’s surrounded by so, I decided to mix shades of blues, greens and browns to invoke the colors and layers of the smoky mountains in Appalachia. The living room couch was honestly the item that took the MOST searching. I must have looked at 100 different couches on Wayfair over many days before finding the perfect one at the last minute.

The watercolor mountain window curtains were an Amazon gamble that could have looked very ridiculous but wound up working great to set the scene! I sourced pillows, rugs and decor from Home Goods and World Market with a couple items popping up at Costco and even Walmart. I’m planning a gallery wall collage of my landscape photography over the couch but wasn’t able to accomplish it in the short time frame. That’s a project for Spring!

For the bedrooms, I also shopped my own storage unit for gently used apartment decor and items I’d used in photography shoots over the years. This culminated in a mauve & purple travel bedroom and a botanical greenery bedroom.

Fun fact: that framed world map is actually from a roll of wrapping paper I bought years ago. I simply cut off a full section of the world and bought a frame on Amazon.

The botanical room was inspired by the mix of forest and gardens in Tennessee- plus this little sculpture in town that I took a picture with during my 2012 trip to visit family. Of course, it never occurred to me we would choose this town as a home base 11 years later and, 364 days after that, buy a second house there. But life is curious and clever that way.

For the bathroom and kitchen, I kept things light and minimal. The deep green barstools from Amazon are my pride and joy and there’s a cute greyhound bubble bath photo hanging in the bathroom as an homage to Otis. We even scored an amazing, barely-used GE washer & dryer set at a yard sale for $200!

All said and done, we ran down to the absolute wire and I only had about 20 minutes to photograph the house literally on the way to the airport to fly back to Vegas. But, the mad dash was all worth it since we already have our first couple bookings on the calendar!

Our time in the west is wrapping up over the next couple weeks and we’ll be back in Tennessee with the RV mid-February to finish up some final details. If you or anyone you know find themselves in eastern Tennessee, we would absolutely love to host you! The house is right next to downtown, close to a lovely state park, and 1-2 hours from some beautiful waterfalls, Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg destinations and the Smoky Mountains. Here’s the Airbnb link so you can check out the full listing of all the photos and info: Our Airbnb.

We couldn’t be more excited about this new chapter and are happy to finally share it with everyone!