For so long the trend for rental properties, especially rental properties in oceanic areas, has been clean white decor and wicker. The 2010’s modern home design trend of painting everything you own white and having a minimalist’s dream home wiggled its way into the vacation industry as well, and now so many short-term rental properties look the same! Of course, there will always be a place for clean white decor. But in today’s climate, a vacation is just as much about the photo opportunities as it is the events of the vacation, and trendiness is playing a key factor in where people are choosing to book their vacations.
One might be surprised to read this, but the vacation rental properties that are starting to fill up are the places that your parents or even your grandparents might have honeymooned at, the places that haven’t changed their interior design since 1973. We’re talking vintage, kitschy, theme rooms. Taking ourselves seriously is out, and heart-shaped bathtubs are back in. So, in case you’re looking to switch things up and give your renters a fun and cheesy stay, but need a refresher for what’s cool, we’re here to remind you of three classics when it comes to vacation rental themed decoration.
- The classic honeymoon suite
Despite the name, we think lots more people than just newlyweds will want to book a room with this motif. We’re mentioning this one first because it’s the classic theme room experience. This one is all about hearts, red and pink coexisting, velvet and of course the famous idea of the heart-shaped bathtub. We understand most of our readers aren’t probably ready for a full re-model just to add a kitschy heart-shaped tub, but we think you can pull off this theme without it, just keep it in your brain as style inspiration. People who will want to stay in a property with this theme will not want it to be anything less than the full effect. So any time you think it might be too over-the-top, add more! Some more common motifs and decoration details popular for this theme are fringe, beading, neon, mirrors everywhere, and classic little fat cherub babies.
- When in Florida…
If you’re a Florida native, you probably don’t have to look much farther than your Aunt Margaret’s disheveled old beach house for inspiration for this theme. For so long people have been attempting to figure out how to do beach-themed decor without looking too much like a Beach Boys album cover, and some people have mastered it! However, there’s an incredible homey charm to vintage nautical and beach-themed stays. Sometimes, when people come to the beach, they’re looking for the whole cheesy nautical experience. Good colors for this theme would be blue and green, and some motifs and decoration details include fishing nets, seashells, seagrasses and good ol’ classic signs that say stuff like, “Life’s a Beach!”
- When in doubt, just pick a color.
Not a fan of themes so specific, but still want to capture that retro vacation energy? A design choice heavily adopted in the ’70s and ’80s that was promptly rejected in the 2000s and is now back with fury is a bold, bright monochromatic color scheme. Not grey, not beige, not greige, but something wild like purple, baby pink or teal. Interesting and fun things happen style-wise when you bring yourself out of the “neutrals with a pop of color” mindset. Because this design trend was SO heavily rejected in the past couple of decades, this style reads retro, kitsch and so fun.
If all this sounds like not your thing, we hope you had fun reading this anyway, but if you’re looking to add some fun retro spark to your short-term rental property, we hope we helped!
