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  Christine Karpinski , Christine's Blog: Buying New Beds for Your Vacation Rental Property (1/30/07)  
 
     
Christine's Blog: Buying New Beds for Your Vacation Rental Property (1/30/07)

Christine vents her frustration with the myriad of choices to made when buying new beds for her vacation homes.
 

Hello all! I cannot believe it's already the last week of January. Where does the time go?

All in all, January was a steady inquiry month for all of my properties. I was a bit concerned because I thought by this same time last year I had more bookings, so I looked up last year's stats and sure enough, I am at just about the same pace as I was the previous year. I suspect February will be less Looky-Lou's ("lookers, not bookers") and more people who will just call and book (or at least I hope).

Every January I try to make improvements in my properties. This year I have decided to change out my queen-sized beds (that were in my cabin when I purchased it) and replace them with kings.

We'll it's just not that easy of a task-- you have to first find mattresses. Ok I have a really good vendor that I use for beds~ Velorlo. They have great quality commercial grade mattresses. Just give them a call, order the mattresses, and set up a delivery date.

The next thing I had to do was find a new bed frame. And of course I would prefer log beds because it's a cabin. If you have ever searched for log beds before you'll know my pains. There are about a million different manufacturers from the mass production places to the one-off guy who makes them in his back yard. Then there are the different types of materials—pine, willow, white cedar, red cedar, aspen, oak, cherry and the list goes on. And then you have to choose a finish, with the bark or without, rustic peeled, rough cut, smooth finish, unfinished, oiled, stained, Aaaaahhhhhhhh too many decisions! I get very overwhelmed with decisions. In the end what I did was called another owner that I know who has log beds. I asked her what she bought and then I just got the same ones. Yes it's lame, but I would have never made a decision on my own.

Now it's time to buy new sheets, new quilts, pillow shams, dust ruffles, and I'll probably have to change the curtains because the old ones won't match.

And lastly, try to coordinate it so everything is delivered around the same time.

I thought I was just going to switch the size of the beds—not so easy I guess!

Happy Renting by Owner!
Christine

If you're interested in hearing Christine speak at one of her upcoming seminars, visit the Seminar Schedule for more information.

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