Vacation House Rules - General Discussion

[Cetacean]

7 hours ago, ByaNose said:

Not everybody likes multi families vacation and are fine with their own 2.5 kids. If you think it’s too small you can always look elsewhere that will fulfill your needs.

We grew up going to a 600 sq. foot cabin with one bedrrom, no shower, and no hot water every weekend of my childhood.  No housekeeping needed other than sweeping out the sand.  All day, every day out on the beach and in the lake. Best memories of my life.

Not everyone needs a palatial edifice for vacations to be enjoyable.

[mojito]

On 4/30/2022 at 8:08 PM, ByaNose said:

Unfortunately, the show doesn’t give any location(s) for the renovations that are done (which is so dumb) so I have no idea if the $700 a night was viable or not.

Shows filmed in Canada tend to shy away from specific locations. I can remember a program or two that were more specific about Toronto areas (I want to say the original Property Virgins) but then stopped doing it. Do they feel that being specific will turn off the American viewing audience? Are Canadians more concerned about privacy? I don't like the anonymity. 

I thought the home was fine as a rental. Do so many people vacation in large packs? I don't really care about hot tubs and wondered about getting the water for the hot tub from the lake (Scott mentioned that). I don't find that so appealing. But $715 per night seemed ridiculously high. 

I don't care for Debra's first appearance with her "inspiration item". Seems forced, especially this one with the sleeping bag. Last episode's guitar did nothing for me either. Enough with the theme. People want a nice place to stay, not a theme park.

That was an extremely good $500 investment. Kudos to gramps.

[CrazyInAlabama]

The few that people have located and posted online don't have the theme still there.   The carriage house with the horse theme?   It was back to regular furniture, and no gimmicks.   The same with other rentals.   The quilt and art one had no mention of the quilt trail, or art that was displayed, and could be bought.   

I suspect many of these 'rentals' aren't.  but are simply family vacation places that are redone for the show.    

[deirdra]

We grew up going to a rented ~700 sq. ft log cabin near Algonquin Park Ontario with two bedrooms, and no heat for 2 wks' vacation when I was a kid. It had a cast iron wood stove that Mom cooked breakfast & coffee on. We had dinner in a log lodge and Mom made sandwiches and occasionally soup for lunch.  My father's mother had a separate ~200 sq ft studio log cabin.  All day, every day out on the beach and in the lake or on walks in the forest. Even in July it could go down to ~50F at night. Our parents put us to bed in our summer pajamas and before they went to bed they put our flannel PJs on us while we were half asleep. Then woolen Hudson Bay blankets. Best memories of my life. 

Later when Mom became arthritic, we went to the Outer Banks of NC to a different rental cottage for 2 wks each summer and stayed in small cement cottages with nothing fancy, no TV. We were mostly on the beach or climbing dunes or around bonfires at night. On rainy days we enjoyed playing the random selection of games and reading books left by the owners or previous renters. Second best memories of my life. 

[izabella]

14 hours ago, Cetacean said:

We grew up going to a 600 sq. foot cabin with one bedrrom, no shower, and no hot water every weekend of my childhood.  No housekeeping needed other than sweeping out the sand.  All day, every day out on the beach and in the lake. Best memories of my life.

Not everyone needs a palatial edifice for vacations to be enjoyable.

There's a lot to be said for low maintenance cabins and cottages.  But I draw the line at rustic shower/bathroom situations! 

I thought that smaller place turned out great, and could be a romantic couples getaway.  Leave the kids at home, and drink champagne in front of the fireplace, or take a dip in the hot tub with a view, or paddle on the lake in the canoe.  Grill dinner outside, with s'mores in front of the fire. 

I really liked that it had an enclosed porch as well as the deck.  That would be a nice place to put a cozier seating and hang out at night away from mosquitoes., or when it rains.  That's also a good place for board games and puzzles.

Did Scott take out any closets in this one?  That's my biggest pet peeve with him.  He always talks about the need for storage, but is always removing closets to make bathrooms bigger without really replacing that storage somewhere else. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

Tonight's cottage "Bird Watcher's Paradise"   Family wants to rent the house until they retire.  Debra's theme is bird watching, with each bedroom or main space having a different bird species theme.   Sorry, but with a great water view, a sand beach, shallow entry, but able to dive off the deck, then I think they're missing the main features of the house.   Another very dark exterior.  

[LittleIggy]

2 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

Tonight's cottage "Bird Watcher's Paradise"   Family wants to rent the house until they retire.  Debra's theme is bird watching, with each bedroom or main space having a different bird species theme.   Sorry, but with a great water view, a sand beach, shallow entry, but able to dive off the deck, then I think they're missing the main features of the house.   Another very dark exterior.  

Again? 🙄 Didn’t watch it. Watched “Free Guy.” 👍🏻

Edited May 7, 2022 by LittleIggy

[chessiegal]

I changed the channel when Debra showed up.

[Suzysite]

I don't think I'd mind Debra so much if she did her scenes alone or with an assistant.  But her cutesy scenes with Scott are intolerable. I'd love it if those two never interacted. 

[Grrarrggh]

30 minutes ago, Suzysite said:

I don't think I'd mind Debra so much if she did her scenes alone or with an assistant.  But her cutesy scenes with Scott are intolerable. I'd love it if those two never interacted. 

But why is Debra being blamed for this? Two to tango and all that.

[Suzysite]

1 hour ago, Grrarrggh said:

But why is Debra being blamed for this? Two to tango and all that.

Nobody is blaming Debra.   It's the combo of her and Scott trying to be cutesy/flirty that's icky.

[chessiegal]

Nah, for me it's Debra. I don't like seeing her with my tv boyfriend. I'm still getting over Scott getting married, and having children. 😄

[readheaded]

On 5/7/2022 at 8:27 PM, Suzysite said:

Nobody is blaming Debra.   It's the combo of her and Scott trying to be cutesy/flirty that's icky.

Yeah, it’s as much up to Scott to shut that down as it is Debra’s. Instead, he plays it up and frankly, gives off the vibe that he’d be interested. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

Tonight's new one, "Four Season Funhouse"  is a decent size, but it's original, and the outside looks hideous.  Father and son bought the cabin, father eventually wants to retire there.   Scott talks about the summer ATV and lake sports, and winter snowmobiling too.  

 The fireplace, and the big brick arch, and with the cat statue andirons is horrible.   The floor plan is awful, Three bedrooms, main one is decent size, and all three bedrooms have closets.  Scott makes a good point about the carpet which is smelly, and could have cat allery triggers.   The carpet looks like the plushy, builder grade 70's carpet.   Kitchen will be expanded.   windows all get replaced, I would have split the big bath in two to make a small en suite.   However, often, unless you can expand the septic tank you can't add plumbing capacity.   

Fortunately, the brick arch comes down. and so does the prison bars wooden hallway.  

Unfortunately, Debra's hideous theme is black, white, gray, orange, 70's retro theme.  She's painting all of the panelling walls white, ceilings light gray, and I hate the ceiling color.  Paint the ceilings white, and brighten the entire place up. Please tell me they won't paint the outside dark again.  Yes, Debra wants an orange front door, and dark gray exterior paint.     

The Terrazo floors for the bathroom looks nice, but slippery when wet.   I don't like the black kitchen countertops, gray cabinets look good, but island needs an overhang for eating.   I would have put a peninsula, with bar seating instead of the island.    I remember Scott saying in an early episode that for short term or vacation rentals, that open shelving in the kitchen is more efficient for renters, no hunting through cabinets for dishes or glass ware.   I wish they had gone with white for the ceilings, and lighter walls.    

I like the portico, and the BBQ grill (hope they bolted the BBQ down, I've known people with vacation places that had BBQs and other items disappear).     Games indoor look cute, and useful for guests.     They put way too much outdoor furniture.   

[FormerMod-a1]

They kept calling it a lake house but never showed lake access, nor the back of the house (the side that faced the lake) - just what you see when you drive up and that one side.  The even redid what the other door entry (the "front" door on the back of the house) and never showed what it opened up to.  This little thing was driving me batty, lol. 

They kept calling it a lake house but never showed lake access, nor the back of the house (the side that faced the lake) - just what you see when you drive up and that one side.  The even redid what the other door entry (the "front" door on the back of the house) and never showed what it opened up to.  This little thing was driving me batty, lol. 

On the plus side (maybe?) I kind of wish they had kept those cat andirons - they were freaky but in a cool way.  Not sure what they could have done with them though, after converting the fireplace. 

[Grrarrggh]

Waaaaaayyyy to much grey. The interior looked depressing.

[izabella]

48 minutes ago, aquarian1 said:

They kept calling it a lake house but never showed lake access, nor the back of the house (the side that faced the lake) - just what you see when you drive up and that one side.  The even redid what the other door entry (the "front" door on the back of the house) and never showed what it opened up to.  This little thing was driving me batty, lol. 

I think all they showed of the lake was through one of the bedroom windows, at a distance with trees mostly in the way of the view.  I'm not clear on whether they actually had lake access. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

Theme for tonight is Boho Boathouse, episode title "Boathouse Delight"   Boathouse and dock part is wonderful.   Cabin upstairs has water leaks everywhere, the deck boards on the top deck needs all new boards  THey're going to use composite decking, great idea.  Water damage is really bad.   

I usually don't like wood ceiling to be painted, but it hides the water damage, and looks wonderful.  It was so funny when Scott found out the previous owners (the homeowner only bought the boathouse recently) had put a lot of stuff in a crawl space off the bedroom.  Adding the third bedroom is such a game changer for rentals, and later the retirement home for the owner.  I love that there is a bathroom on each level.   This rental works for all seasons.    

For once, I like the nautical theme for a boat house.  The after on the kitchen is spectacular.  The bedrooms are beautiful, everything looks wonderful.  

[LittleIggy]

Did they find anything interesting in the crawl space?

[Grrarrggh]

The boat house looked washed out with all that white. The old fireplace hood and the new fireplace completely clashed with each other and with the rest of the place. The only good thing they did was to put in more windows. Should have left the ceiling wood coloured or painted it blue/rust/brown etc. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

12 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Did they find anything interesting in the crawl space?

It was a blocked off corner, and there were things like a huge coffee urn, and other stuff.  It was very odd.      

[Cetacean]

The Boho Boathouse was the first one I would actually consider renting if I had the money.  I liked almost everything in that place.  I do always worry about all of the white walls, I can see those getting pretty dirty if there are a bunch of kids among the renters.

[FormerMod-a1]

The only issue I had with the Boathouse was I didn't see a place for a TV in the main living area.  I know many people don't watch TV while on vacation (or don't want to) especially at a cabin the woods or on the lake, but many do if only for when it's raining or something.  But the main living area had one wall with the window door, then the wall of windows, then the other half wall of windows, then the stairs and the fireplace with that big hood, then the hall to the bedrooms and open kitchen.  

[izabella]

I noticed the lack of space for tv, too.  People do watch tv on vacation, certainly sports, and also movies and stuff at night.  I guess they can stream to a laptop or something, but it's not the same.  If they didn't have that huge copper hood over the fireplace, they could have put one there.   The loft could have been another option for a tv, but that's not a living area, so that would be awkward for renters to do that.

[Cetacean]

I guess I never noticed because we never had a TV at our cottage and probably wouldn't have watched it if we had the capability.  Rainy days were for reading and games.  Or a trip to town for ice cream.

[CrazyInAlabama]

Tonight's amazing new house "Historic Lodge"    part 150-year-old cabin, with a long skinny addition.        They have an indoor bathroom, with a shower.  Plus, a gazebo transformed into a bathroom, with toilet, sink, and tiled shower (previous owners put this is in).   

The cabin part was hauled by horse sled across the frozen lake, and then after that the addition, deck, and gazebo/second bathroom.    The second bathroom in the gazebo has to be seen to be believed.      Plus, on top of the kitchen upper cabinets is the largest rat nest I've ever seen, which Scott says they'll save for Debra.   The look on Debra's face when Scott shows her the gazebo bathroom is hysterical.  

I really hope that Debra won't paint the logs on the original cabin. 

I don't like the outdoor fitness stuff, I think it's dangerous,      I like the cabin after, and at least they didn't paint the log walls.   I'm guessing the outdoor workout stuff will disappear before it's ever rented out.   They now have two lovely indoor bathrooms, and the gazebo/bathroom is now much nicer.  

[Irlandesa]

On 5/22/2022 at 9:24 AM, aquarian1 said:

The only issue I had with the Boathouse was I didn't see a place for a TV in the main living area.  I know many people don't watch TV while on vacation (or don't want to) especially at a cabin the woods or on the lake, but many do if only for when it's raining or something.  But the main living area had one wall with the window door, then the wall of windows, then the other half wall of windows, then the stairs and the fireplace with that big hood, then the hall to the bedrooms and open kitchen.  

I know.  Maybe in an internal room. I think watching TV would be hard in a room with all those windows. So much reflection.

But mentioning that takes me back to a time a few years ago that my family rented a cabin.  The VRBO advertised a TV but when we got there, no TV.  I am the most avid TV watcher and was probably the most calm about it.  My dad grumbled.  But my sister, who rarely watches TV, seemed like she was almost going to have a panic attack at first. 

I loved the boathouse, especially the copper hood/mantle.  The only thing i regret about the reveal is that it took place in winter. I think all those windows would be spectacular in the summer.

Tonight's place was nice too. The peezebo cracked me up.  One thing I wish this show would do is say where they are.  Supposedly their current location is a centuries old vacation spot in Canada but where.....?

[CrazyInAlabama]

I'm guessing half of the remodels are never really rented out, still family vacation properties, or rented for one season to put 'great investment/vacation rental property, with a proven record", so they put it in the sales add.      That's why you can only find some of the rental ads.    

I really liked the 150 year old cabin property after.    It really had a nice remodel, room sizes were very nice, and I can see that being either a larger family vacation place, or rented out.  

I think the painted black logs in the original cabin were the way the cabin looked when it was moved there, because they were that way on Scott's initial tour.   I don't think you could do anything but try to paint thim, and who knows what they used to darken them originally, and how well any paint would stick to them.    

Edited May 29, 2022 by CrazyInAlabama

[MsTree]

I thought the painted black logs were very dark...and ugly.

[mojito]

Historic Lodge

I'd hate to have to clean that place after it was rented out to a bunch of slobs. There was so much space, surfaces, and tchotchkes. I wouldn't want to have to inventory all the items in that place. The kitchen....you'd need to take a taxi from the stove to the fridge, it was so far away. But not a big deal.

I didn't understand the "kids' space". Only two beds and living room-type furniture from what I could see. Even if the sofa opens into a bed, it's significantly less sleeping space than before.

I'm glad Deborah didn't paint the walls. They weren't attractive, but they were authentic. This time she didn't go over the top with her design.

Another home with no apparent access to the water. I wonder what the guests would do there? Watch TV and jump through tires? Too bad they don't tell us more about the area. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I've seen a few of the afters, when people put the rental ad on here, and the houses have no theme stuff, and the staging things are gone.   I bet half of the homes on the show aren't ever rented out, just vacation or retirement homes, rented enough to get a good rental season to post in the sale ad.    

[CrazyInAlabama]

Another new episode, "Fantastic Farmhouse", and the Scott Knows Best series ended last week, so only one episode.   

100 year old farmhouse, you go through the bathroom to get to the backyard.   This property isn't waterfront.    He's a firefighter, and with his daughter, and they want to use property for an investment property.    They already have orchards, beehives, and a huge chicken coop.   They harvest the Maple sap for syrup.   He's a fire captain, and will retire in another year.   Big covered porch, lots of random furniture.   During WWII there were kids brought to Canada from Britain to work the farm, and they slept on the porch in hammocks.   Kitchen was redone in the 80's, living area is interesting, with a strange fireplace with a giant moth figure on it, in a Silence of the Lambs pattern. 3 bedrooms are good sizes, one with an en suite,  First floor has a 1/2 bath, with a door to the back yard.   Scott  wants to swap some rooms, and the upstairs baths will be bigger, and 1/2 bath will be moved so it's not the back door.   Lovely view from the tiny back patio, with a far lake view. 

The chickens are free range, and go over to say hi to Debra.   Debra looks like she wants to drive back to the city to escape the chickens.  Debra seeing the chicken house is hysterical.  The chicken house is an old travel trailer, and the laying nests are in the top kitchen cabinets on the trailer. 

How awful!   Fireplace has a crack on the back, that's had fire going up the wall behind it, there are burn marks on the wall.   It's shocking that the house didn't burn down.  There are structural issues too.,

Scott and the homeowner harvest some honey.   That was interesting, I didn't realize how much processing was involved.    I don't like the kitchen cabinet color, black. with white back splash, and white quartz counter tops.   I would have changed the cabinets to light gray.   I'm not a fan of the giant bees on the bathroom wallpaper.   I like that Scott shows the hardwired carbon monoxide, and smoke alarms.    The farmhouse looks so much nicer, and well cared for in the after the remodel tour.     I love the new kitchen location.    I like the honey and eggs on the table, with honey to take home for guests.   I think they should have had a tub shower combo in one bath, for bathing little kids. 

Edited June 11, 2022 by CrazyInAlabama

[MartyQui]

So if you rent that place are you responsible for feeding the chickens?

Also, did they put central AC in?  I saw that the portable AC unit in the main bedroom was gone.

[CrazyInAlabama]

I bet there's a caretaker, who feeds the chickens, and someone will need to gather and bottle the honey, and tend to the bees.  

[Grrarrggh]

One of the few places they've done that I'd want to stay at based on the reno instead of the location alone. 

[ByaNose]

The “farmhouse” turned out nice but it was kind of residential. The inside looked great but I guess the house is used more of as a sleeping place and then you go out on the town and discover the area. While I think the show goes way OTT with the themes on the lakes this house was the total opposite. I guess in the end it would depend what you are looking for. At least, the house itself was a complete dumpster dive from the beginning and just needed to be reconfigured and styled. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

"Austrian Oasis", built by the homeowner's father (a contractor), now his daughter and grandson want to redo the house, and update it.   The grandfather moved out, and the daughter seems very emotional, and I certainly sympathize with her.  The outside is adorable. 

The living room is huge, with beams, custom made lights, and a huge wall of brick.  I hope Debra won't paint the brick and the ceiling beams.   The kitchen is tiny, but needs a lot more room.   The dining room has a long wall of mirrors, main bedroom has mirrors too, with an ensuite that's only a 1/2 bath.  The outside deck will be rebuilt, leading to lots of flat land leading to the lake shore line. 

Scott will move the kitchen, dining room, move the existing bedrooms around with 2 baths, 1 an ensuite, and 3 bedrooms.   Redo the back deck.   Scott says it could rent for $400 a night as is, and after the remodel maybe rent for $1,000.  

Debra and Scott will make it into a modern European villa.  Her color theme is terracotta, white, and medium blue.     They're painting the brick wall white, I hate that.  I see not point in adding corbels (spelling?) to the living room ceiling beams. 

Replaced the rotting retaining wall, new stone pavers and walkway, with an outdoor fireplace that can have a rotisserie, or grills on it really looks lovely.   I like the tile choices.    However, the outside with the entry portico looks just like the front of most of the houses this season.   I don't like the brick wall in the living room painted white, but I don't like painted brick.   I like the new kitchen/dining/living being on the lake side.   Why does he almost always take out the closets?   Where are you supposed to put your clothes?    I really like the back deck, and fireplace area. 

I think the father's condition was why the daughter, and her son were so emotional through the entire process.    

Here's rules for being on the show, from hgtv canada's website:

How much does it cost to be on Scott's Vacation House Rules?

The property must be located in Ontario and you need to have a minimum of $75,000 to contribute to the renovation. You must be available 4-5 days over a period of 8-10 weeks for filming in 2021.

Edited June 19, 2022 by CrazyInAlabama

[ByaNose]

Austrian Oasis Looked great after the renovations were done. Although, I did think there was too much going on with both the dinning table and family room all in one in one room. I guess the footprint didn’t really allow a big kitchen/dinning table in its own space but it still turned out nice along with the fireplace. The bedrooms were kind of small but in theory people aren’t staying there long term and it’s just for vacation purposes. I think the best changes done were the deck and the pergola with the fireplace. The daughter was one of the more emotional people on the show and that was before the renovation even started. LOL!!! I would love to know the renovation cost for this house and all the others. They always talk about the potential rental income but never how much it cost for the renovation and how much (and, how long) it would take to pay the loans off. Granted, that would be kind of depressing to discuss but it is valuable information. Basically, I’m just nosey. They don’t call Mrs. Kravitz for nothing. LOL!!!!

[izabella]

19 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I see not point in adding corbels (spelling?) to the living room ceiling beams. 

The corbels did not belong there, and there was no point to them.  He should have just left the beams alone.  They were perfectly fine.

19 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

Why does he almost always take out the closets?   Where are you supposed to put your clothes? 

He does this all the time, and it drives me nuts.  He does it to make the bedrooms bigger so he can put a bigger bed in there to make it double occupancy.  Where those two people are supposed to put their bags, shoes for all those outdoor activities, and clothes does not seem to concern him at all.   Aside from usually tiny end tables, he doesn't even put up shelves or hooks or anything in those rooms. 

I always thought you needed a closet to consider a room a bedroom, but I guess not in Canada cottages.

[deirdra]

3 hours ago, izabella said:

I always thought you needed a closet to consider a room a bedroom, but I guess not in Canada cottages.

In cottages the key requirement is for the bedrooms to have egress windows (a realtor might list the closet-less rooms as "lofts" rather than bedrooms). Certainly Debra could find some cute deer antler or branch-like wall hooks to hang up a few clothes or wet bathing suits. There is not even any space to put your suitcase/bag/stuff other than a 1-sq ft nightstand. When I travel I don't like putting things in drawers because I don't want to risk leaving anything behind.  If there is not space in the room for a suitcase/bag I usually put it on the floor of the closet and hang up a few things. I don't mind not having a closet as long as there are hooks and space to organize my stuff. Do they expect people to just put everything on the bed when they are not sleeping in it?

Edited June 20, 2022 by deirdra

[CrazyInAlabama]

New episode, "Relaxing Retreat"  Two doctors, Caroline and Gihad (kidney and ER trauma medicine) bought a vacation place, on the lake.   It's big, but a big mess too.    4 bed 2 bath, $300 a night as is, after should be $750 a night, minimum 1 week rental.   Truly bizarre feature is strange lofts in virtually every room, all are narrow, and one I don't see how you even get up the ladder to the loft.     Then Scott and crew discover the back porch is hanging off the side of the building, and not even touching the support blocks.   They have to add a laundry room. 

Debra's theme is Zen relaxation, including yoga.   They increase the insulation, and put tongue and grove on the vaulted ceilings.   They're painting the exterior dark gray as usual.   I don't like the idea of turning one narrow loft into a yoga space.   It has a great railing, but I don't like a space you have to climb a ladder to get to, and I wouldn't like being able to see through the railing glass to the floor below.    Scott said that rental/investment properties are taxed at a lower amount from other properties, so that increases the earnings. The bunkie is an extension of the main house, with a bedroom, bath, multipurpose room, and the yoga balcony / loft above it.   Primary bedroom is more like a suite, the bunkie is a self-contained unit. 

 Place looks nice after, great kitchen, dining area, bedrooms.   Really nice makeover, and the separate self-contained bunkie is stellar.   The living wall in the dining room is all fake plants, so zero maintenance.  (they were fake succulents, they look very real, and probably won't fade since it's an interior wall). 

Edited June 25, 2022 by CrazyInAlabama

[izabella]

16 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

Truly bizarre feature is strange lofts in virtually every room, all are narrow, and one I don't see how you even get up the ladder to the loft

We see a lot of lofts on these vacation properties, but there aren't many that are easy to get to.  For a loft to really work as any kind of space, I think it needs a real staircase.  

16 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I don't like the idea of turning one narrow loft into a yoga space.  It has a great railing, but I don't like a space you have to climb a ladder to get to, and I would like being able to see through the railing glass to the floor below. 

I didn't like that either.  It didn't seem like a comfortable fit for yoga.  I don't know what I'd do with it.  Reading nook?

16 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

 The living wall in the dining room is all fake plants, so zero maintenance. 

I'm not a fan of fake plants, but I didn't get a good look at them.  Were they something natural like dried flowers?

[CrazyInAlabama]

2 hours ago, izabella said:

I'm not a fan of fake plants, but I didn't get a good look at them.  Were they something natural like dried flowers?

They're fake succulents, I think in little pots, so zero maintenance, always look good, and are very affordable.   

[ByaNose]

They really like black/gray exteriors and interiors. I don’t do the mountains so I don’t know if that’s on trend or not. Overall. The place looked great but I don’t do yoga & I doubt anyone I know would do on vacation either. I think we’d be on the deck partying day & night. LOL!!!

[deirdra]

9 hours ago, izabella said:

We see a lot of lofts on these vacation properties, but there aren't many that are easy to get to.  For a loft to really work as any kind of space, I think it needs a real staircase. 

They're hard to climb up to, but how do you get down the nearly vertical ladders - lie on your stomach on the floor and slide your feet & legs over the edge until you can feel around and find one of the rungs with your feet? Better hope you don't need to relieve yourself in the middle of the night.

That one ladder that went through a 12"x 24" slot in the loft floor was odd. It may have kept the ladder from falling down, but how do you climb over the lip since only very tiny children could fit through the slot.  Both ladders should be taller so you have something to hold on to when you step onto or off the ladder onto the loft floor.

Edited June 26, 2022 by deirdra

[mojito]

19 hours ago, izabella said:

We see a lot of lofts on these vacation properties, but there aren't many that are easy to get to.  For a loft to really work as any kind of space, I think it needs a real staircase.  

I'm thinking that a good portion of homes with a lot of rooms are rented out to families with children. In that case, the loft area in this house could be fun for the kids (including teenagers) who want to have an escape from the wine-swilling parents, especially on rainy days. I'm sure some will want to sleep in the lofts, too.

Kids tend to be monkeys when it comes to anything that can be climbed upwards. I'd want to give those ladders a shot myself. 

[CruiseDiva]

17 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

They're fake succulents, I think in little pots, so zero maintenance, always look good, and are very affordable.   

Not really zero maintenance. They will get dusty and need to be wiped clean.

[CrazyInAlabama]

My guess is that the theme stuff disappears with the show filming ending, and so the plant wall will probably disappear too.  I've heard you can use a blow dryer to dust things like that, but I've always wanted to try a leaf blower too. 

---Tonight's the season finale, "Funky Farmhouse"  currently would rent for about $150 a night.   The family wants to rent now for income, and leave it for the kids, or the dreaded Generational Wealth (I'm sick of hearing Generational Wealth).   There is not outlet for the dryer lint, so the creapy old basement is full of nasty lint, spiders. and unsafe for guests. 

Upstairs has a half bath, for the entire upstairs, 4 bedrooms, layout is fine after they add a shower in the bathroom.  Only full bathroom is on the first floor.   

The cleaning of the bad old cabinets, etc is complicated by the huge amounts of cockroaches, mice, spiders, and lots of cobwebs.   Then the downstair bathroom is on a platform, and Scott claims opening that up is the worst stench he's ever smelled.    Debra almost pukes from the pulled apart first floor bathroom. 

Scott will gut and expand the kitchen, make a large dining room, add a feature fireplace, create a laundry and mud room, redo the full bath, all on the first floor.  

Scott found an old tractor on the farm, he's going to paint it pink.  I think having a working tractor out for tourists to play on, or drive is a horrible idea.   I think the stench from the bathroom demo drove Scott out of his mind.

Theme is Funky, lots of color, some wallpaper, add shutters to the windows.  I don't like the strange ombre colors on the stair risers (if that's the wrong term, it's the flat vertical step bottom). 

 I really don't like the color choices.  They're not turning the farmhouse funky, but garish.  I can't believe they painted the bead board ceiling in the bedroom, and then put wallpaper over the rest of it.    The turquoise fireplace brick is horrible!    The house looks nicer after the remodel, still too funky for my taste. 

Edited July 2, 2022 by CrazyInAlabama

[Suzysite]

On 6/26/2022 at 3:49 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

The house looks very nice after the remodel, still too funky for my taste. 

It looked like a clown house.  As soon as the film crew left I hope the owners repainted that fireplace and did something with the weird wallpaper in the bedrooms.  Not to mention the pink tractor.  I hope they at least remove the key so nobody can take it for a joyride.

[LittleIggy]

On 6/26/2022 at 3:49 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

I think having a working tractor out for tourists to play on, or drive is a horrible idea.

Wow, just think of the legal liability issues! 😬