locho55

December 28, 2020December 28, 2020

A Basement Renovation Turned Airbnb: Before and After Pictures

This little project has been quite the adventure. Here are the complete before and after side-by-sides. For those who have followed our journey as it happened, this is a tidy little recap. For those HGTV junkies who are just joining… this should scratch the itch. Nothing like skipping to the end of the episode for the before/after shots 😉

This is the vantage point when you first enter the Airbnb. A nice soft bed to welcome you.

December 28, 2020

We did it! Check out our Airbnb Posting

We posted our space in August and have already hosted over 100 guests! We also managed to achieve the coveted Superhost status! Check out our airbnb posting here. Stay posted for more insight into our hosting and airbnb experience.

March 2, 2020March 2, 2020

Euclid Street Airbnb Weeks &*#@%: We see the light!

We are closing in! Here is the status: We are in the finishing touches, I single handedly cleared a Wayfair warehouse, and I think I am ready to move in! Everything is coming together and almost dead on with the budget and we hope to be live in a few weeks!

Sliding door is up and rolling! There was barely enough room to fit the hardware, but the compact use of space makes the adjoining space much more functional.

January 31, 2020January 31, 2020

Euclid Street Airbnb Reno Weeks 12-16… ish?

We have busy over here in Airbnb land. Here is what has happened in the past month:

We got a floor guy! We also returned our solid bamboo flooring for engineered click bamboo flooring (at his request). The price was very comparable and Yuri assured me the floating floor will do better in a Pennsylvania climate. Kasey and I have been checking things off the list that are nice to do when you have a floor that you do not have to be careful with. I splurged and got myself an orbital sander for refinishing floating shelves and the kitchen table I made (Kasey argued that it only invites more projects); I sanded and shellacked the kitchen shelves which are looking great. We also hung shelves, mirrors, towel hooks in the bathroom, updated a few electrical switches, hung a door to the basement, painted some left over things like door frames and added a new key button entry to the back door.

Before the floor could go down, it had to be leveled. We had a bit of a panic when the leveler started to seep under the wall and fill the utility room behind the tile wall. Yuri got it all fixed and I was very glad we let a professional take over. By the way, I also used shellac for the first time on these shelves and it was a glorious experience. I have used oils…while beautiful, they take days and days to dry and polyurethanes… which are fine but do create a plastic layer. It takes 15 minutes for this beetle excretion based coat to dry. Shellac… the solution for the impatient DIYers. FYI, it isn’t resistant to alcohol

January 15, 2020January 16, 2020

Reducing Your Thai-Take-Out Addiction

We have all been there. Long day. Longer week. The absolute last thing you want to do when you finally make it through the door is figure out dinner. This is where my husband and I always give in. Take out. Our local Thai place has fantastic curry and its conveniently within walking distance. While wonderful to indulge in occasionally, we were finding the ease of getting this delicious meal was starting to become a bad habit. When we took a closer look at our finances, we realized just how much we were spending a month on our Thai Curry! In a search for ways to save, let’s tackle reducing our take out.