7 minute read
Come on Inn
DESIGNING A BOMBSHELL AIRBNB IN 20 DAYS... CASA AMOR INN Come on Inn
Overlooking the beautiful Mossel Bay harbour, you’ll find the eclectic, retro-chic Casa Amor Inn – a DIY project by Instagram-famous Lara Beukes and Katinka Oosthuizen. After working non-stop for three weeks to make their dream Airbnb a reality, the duo takes us through their latest venture into interior design... Come on Inn!
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How it started
We jumped straight into this project with no experience in interior design whatsoever, except for our personal style, passion, and a few small DIY projects we’ve done at home. But both of us love a challenge – especially when it comes to flexing our creative muscles. Usually, when we spend time together watching the telly, we always end up flicking through reality TV or home interior series. Once, we binged-watched an entire season of an Airbnb show, and we honestly think that’s where it all started.
I (Katinka) drove home from visiting Lara once, and as I was driving past all the open fields, the idea popped into my head. I immediately messaged Lara to ask if she’d like to do this with me. After we found the perfect place in Mossel Bay, the realisation sunk in that this is actually happening. Right after that, we immediately got started!
How it went
The first week of this project was basically the two of us chirping around, throwing ideas into the air, and being giddy with excitement. We went to every thrift store, coming up with crazy ideas about how we’ll restore and ‘funkify’ everything as we walked through the aisles. Oh, little did we know the mountain of challenges and expenses ahead!
First, we set up a budget and tried our best to stay on top of it. Next, we started going through our garages and searching through Facebook Marketplace for unique, Art Deco, and mid-century modern finds. Eclectic and retro interior has always been one of our faves, but there’s something daunting about decorating your own home in that style, because it’s so bold and colourful. But having a blank canvas and being able to go all out for other people to enjoy such fun interiors, was very satisfying to do.
Lara’s great grandmother’s Art Deco cabinet was an amazing piece of furniture to discover. We eventually painted it a dark emerald green and absolutely adore it! While we were buying all of the decor, we got a good feel for the vibe we wanted to go with. We tried to think out of the box as much as possible. A big motivation for this project was the fact that we wanted to create a space where guests could create content with their family and friends. We live in a media-driven world, so we really wanted to utilise that throughout this Airbnb.
Tip: If you’re looking for affordable second-hand shops, Bredasdorp in the Western Cape is where it's at!
I get by with a little help from my friends
As soon as we arrived at the Airbnb, we packed out all of our stuff – everyone gave us a hand! We have this really cool 1950s Bosch fridge that we had to carry up the steep hill to the house. I think that was the biggest challenge. Vintage fridges are so heavy! When we finally had everything inside, the place looked like absolute chaos. We felt wholly unprepared and began rethinking this whole project, asking each other, ‘What on earth are we doing?’ That’s when we realised we were actually going to do 90% of the renovation ourselves. We dealt with the uncertainty by laughing off our nerves and just started doing things little by little. The first night we browsed the entire internet looking for good prices on beds. After we frustratingly couldn’t find a specific couch we were looking for, we decided to drive to George the next day and were able to buy everything we needed there.
Casa Amor Inn
Katinka Oosthuizen Lara Beukes
@casa.amor.mosselbay @katinkadiekat_official @larabeukes1
Before
The hustle and slay behind the stay
The first few days involved browsing through a lot of second-hand stores, buying tons of paint, and scrolling through Pinterest each night for even more inspiration. The first time this project felt real, was when we bought the beds, mattresses, and linen. Yes, we almost started crying when swiping our credit cards, but boy-oh-boy will our guests have the most comfortable beds when they come and stay at Casa Amor Inn. It was totally worth the spend, and after investing our money on those items, there was no turning back.
Our daily lives changed like this:
We woke up every morning at 7 am, made a to-do list for the day, put on our overalls, and started painting, putting up wallpaper, restoring pieces, and shopping till we dropped – literally. Gradually, we started adding pops of colour like spray-painting the David statue a shocking pink. We realised that we needed to figure out a colour scheme for each room, otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to decide on types of furniture and so on. So, plenty of colour palettes and brainstorming sessions later, we had a vibe for each room.
Everything but the kitchen sink
The kitchen was our biggest concern of all, because we started working on it at the very end. We first had to wait for the sink to be moved to the back of the kitchen, but as soon as we started on that space, everything fell into place. Now it’s everyone’s favourite room in the house! Casa Amor Inn came to life as soon as we decided on the perfect prints that would represent our funky space as well as our humour. You would think that picking out prints is easy, but that was actually one of the hardest parts!
Done and dusted
The last day we rearranged everything in their assigned spaces, made up the beds and stood back, looking at our Airbnb with big smiles of relief and satisfaction. We can’t believe we actually did it! The whole process, from start to finish, was 20 days – blood, sweat, and tears. Needless to say, we were exhausted, but it was worth every minute and cent. We left the project in Mossel Bay as better versions of ourselves than when we started, and that is enough of a reward.
Some tips and takeaways we learned from this project are:
1. Second-hand doesn’t always work out cheaper
Restoring antiques isn’t exactly inexpensive, since you still have to factor in the cost of wood primer, rust remover, sandpaper, paint, and paint primer. But when it’s a statement piece that you really love, then it’s 100% worth it. You won’t find anything like it anywhere else!
2. Time is money
If you have limited time to do something, get people to work on the big stuff (like painting walls) when you’re not there. That way you can focus on your strengths and have peace of mind knowing that when you’re driving around for the smaller stuff, something is actually happening back at the Airbnb!
3. Fail to plan, plan to fail
If you want to thank yourself later, plan everything before you get started. Make a list of what you need to buy and take measurements of all the windows and rooms.
4. Spend wisely
Invest in high-quality mattresses, bedding, and towels that will bring good value for money for your guests, and rather cut back on decor expenses, since these won’t make as big of an impression in the long run.
5. Do it yourself
The project might take a little longer and you’ll be a bit of a zombie for the duration of it, but in the end, doing it yourself is so rewarding. You save a lot of money, learn so many new things, and ultimately have the satisfaction of saying, ‘I did that!’
Opening an Airbnb as a pair of 24-year-olds is no joke, but we’ll do it all again a thousand times over. Hopefully, this isn’t our last project. Now we just need those bookings to come in! We are so blessed with everyone who helped and supported us on this journey. So, we just want to say thank you and welcome to Casa Amor Inn!
OPULENT.
Round Kitchen Mixer. MK03-PVDBB. Underslung Sink. MKSP-S380440-BB
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