Tips for Decorating an Airbnb A-Frame on a Budget

Whitney Bradberry, a freelance marketer in Kittredge, Colorado, says she’s always had a love for A-frame cabins. When she spotted one while browsing listings out of curiosity that she thought she and her husband, Andrew, might like, she went out to see it right away and ended up persuading Andrew over FaceTime that they should put in an offer. Within six months, they turned it into Front Range A-Frame, a cabin rental that enjoyed immediate success on Airbnb. Read on for tips on how to decorate your Airbnb (or home) on a budget while still keeping things hip and neat.

Building a Following Before Opening to Guests

What they thought might be a two- or three-month DIY project -- turning this 1960s cabin into an Airbnb rental -- turned into half a year of spare time and weekends spent working on renovations, prepping for future guests and piecing together a gorgeous cedar hot tub. “We basically spent every single second we had there for six months,” Whitney says. Along the way, she documented their renovation journey on Instagram and through newsletters she sent out, keeping people up to date on the status of the project and when it would be open for rentals. The result? The cabin has been nearly fully booked all summer long, and well into fall.

Opening Up the Kitchen Modernized the Home

Whitney and Andrew took down a wall separating the kitchen from the living room to open up the space and let this tile accent wall play a starring role in the decor for the space. Whitney didn’t want the space to feel too modern — “I want it to feel the way it was meant to be,” she says, adding that she looked at old photos of the house when they were working on the project. She wanted the kitchen tile to be vintage, unique and “more playful than something I would maybe put in my own home,” she says. “I had seen some star-shaped tiles and started just looking around to find one that fit into our budget,” she says, and ultimately found this one at Home Depot.

Working Well Together as a DIY Team

Taking down the wall that used to separate the kitchen from the rest of the house was the most significant change Whitney and Andrew made to the house, and it enables the kitchen tile to act as an accent wall for the whole house. “Andrew is really detail-oriented, which is great for actually executing on the renovation,” she says. “When he’s going to remove a wall, he’ll sketch it out and envision the space that way. I create ideas in my head — it’s like a giant Pinterest board in there — but he somehow gets it, and it works.”

Custom Camp Mugs Make a Perfect Gift for Guests

Guests who stay in the A-frame can take home a camp mug Whitney and Andrew had made for the cabin, touting its official name, Front Range A-Frame. “I just love the little camp feel to them,” she says. Whitney also set up a website, Instagram and newsletter for the cabin before launching it on Airbnb. “The marketer in me knew right away that I wanted to have a social media presence for this A-frame, but I also really wanted to share the journey,” Whitney says. “Everything we did was still a learning process for us — it just took so much time and effort to build this, and I wanted people to know what it’s like to do that.”

Retro Appliances Keep to the Vintage Vibe

The kitchen is fully stocked with everything you need to make a meal from scratch, Whitney says, plus gorgeous appliances like this coffee maker and kettle from Haden. “I don’t want anyone to feel like they don’t have what they need,” she says. “It’s meant to be a complete home.” Some people advised her not to put nice things in the house because it’s a rental, but she said she disagreed. “I just never felt like that was good advice,” she says. “I went into it thinking, if I show people how much this place means to me, they’ll take care of it.”

The Cabin's Decor Mixes Modern and Vintage Furniture on a Budget

Whitney wanted to mix modern touches with vintage pieces that create a sense of place and a good story. “I wanted the house to have a vintage, playful feel,” she says. “It’s not your grandpa’s cabin.” So, she mixed pieces like this bold sofa from West Elm with a vintage coffee table she found on Facebook marketplace that matches the same coffee table the home’s previous owners had, according to an old photo she found of the cabin’s earlier days.

A Balance of Big-Box and Local Boutique Pieces Keeps Things Budget-Friendly

Whitney found this light fixture at Wayfair. Throughout the cabin, there’s a mix of pieces from bigger-name places — Wayfair, West Elm, Target, Walmart, and so on — and local boutique shops where she found finishing touches that make the whole place look like a cohesive story worth telling. “Even though a lot of the furniture is from these bigger shops, I tried to find little details from local places wherever I could,” Whitney says.

Painting the A-Frame's Interior was Risky — but Rewarding

Whitney and Andrew debated whether they should paint the walls of the A-frame, and posed the question to their following on Instagram before making the final decision. It was a bit controversial, Whitney says — some people were adamant that it would ruin the cozy cabin vibes natural wood provides, and it would be a mistake they couldn’t undo. But they decided to go for it anyway. They filled in the knots of the wood, sanded them down, filled in seams with caulk and painted everything by hand. It took forever, Whitney says. But it was worth it. “It lightens up the place so much,” she says. “It makes the beams pop, and I’m so happy we made that decision.”

Modern Upgrades Make the Cabin Safer

Whitney and Andrew also replaced the cabin’s original staircase, which was a little too steep for their liking. They redid the hardwood floors with a laminate from Floor & Decor. This five-piece dining set is from Overstock.com.

Tabletop Decorations Don't Have to Be Expensive or Extravagant

Throughout the cabin, Whitney decorated on a budget without compromising style. She’s a patient shopper, she says, which helps. Sometimes she’d find something she liked, and she’d put in the time to find sales or less expensive, similar options. “Before this place was even officially purchased, I was already envisioning in my head what it was going to look like,” she says. She found this tray at IKEA and bought it even before she knew exactly where it was going to go, then found these vases at H&M Home.

Adding Unexpected Touches Can Make Your Rental Stand Out

When Whitney was decorating the A-frame, her future Airbnb guests were top of mind. She thought about rental homes she’d previously stayed in, and what kinds of things she wished she’d had access to as a guest. The bar cart here — which is from Walmart — has a cocktail shaker and some mixes, and the kitchen is stocked with lots of different kinds of tea and locally-roasted coffee.

Impress Guests with Personalized Recommendations for Nearby Activities

Whitney made a binder full of recommendations for nearby hikes, great restaurants and other activities to do in the area, which she stores in a faux leather envelope she sourced from Target. “I change it up all the time, depending on different places I try or new trails we do,” she says. And even though it can be tricky to figure out how to keep houseplants healthy in a rental they're not visiting constantly, decorating with live plants was non-negotiable. "They had to be in there," she says.

A Forest-Themed Bedroom Plays Off the Room's Views

“When you’re lying in bed, you look out into trees — you’re straight in the forest,” Whitney says, which inspired this bedroom's forest theme. “I really wanted to play off that in this room, so there are a lot of greens.” A lantern by the bed helps emphasize the feeling of being in a cabin in the woods. She sourced the curtains from Wayfair and the quilt from Treklight Gear, a shop in Boulder.

Thoughtful Touches That Are Both Useful and Decorative Make the Difference

Whitney also put thought into the games and books she bought for the house, curating a unique collection. This book, Good Mornings, by Linnea Dunne, is in one of the bedrooms. “These are the kinds of details I spend a lot of time thinking about,” she says. “I want people to wake up feeling different than they do on an everyday basis. I want them to feel relaxed. I love that this book gives people ways to do that.” The vase is a nice touch from a Denver boutique called Conifer Shop.

Keeping the Natural Wood Walls Made the Bedrooms Cozier

Whitney and Andrew decided not to paint the walls of the bedrooms upstairs. Instead, they added drywall to the ends of the rooms, which lightened them up quite a bit. “We liked keeping that original wood feeling upstairs, and because the walls are higher, it works,” she says.

This bedroom has a queen-sized bed and a twin. Whitney sourced the pillow on the left from West Elm and the queen-sized blanket from Urban Outfitters. The accent blanket on the twin bed to the right is from Petra de Luna.

Splurge in Small Places Like the Bathroom

Whitney and Andrew gutted the cabin’s bathroom, which is located on the first floor behind the kitchen. “The tile is really what created that vision for me,” Whitney says. “I found that tile even before we had purchased the house and knew — 'that’s going in the A-frame.'” The tile, sourced from Bedrosians Tile & Stone, was one of the bigger splurges they made. “That’s my favorite thing to do in small spaces,” she says.

Buying in Bulk and Minimizing Turnover Helps the Bradberrys Rent Sustainably

Instead of getting single-use toiletries for her guests, Whitney buys toiletries in bulk. She also has a two-night minimum for guests, so that they’re not washing bedding and towels every single day. Her advice for keeping on top of between-rental cleanings? “We did the first two months ourselves so we could get a feel for how long it took and what it took, and then we found the most amazing cleaner who’s local,” she says. “She definitely plays a huge role in making this place run.”

Don't Neglect Outdoor Spaces When Creating or Renting a Vacation Home

The cabin is full of places to sit with a cup of coffee and read, write or just take in nature. This orange patio couch was there when Whitney and Andrew bought the house, and they decided to keep it and create a seating area around it. The smaller white chairs are from World Market. “Nothing in this place is outrageous, it’s all affordable,” Whitney says. “I think the secret to making it look good together is having those newer pieces mixed with vintage.”

A Hanging Chair Is the Perfect Modern Touch for a Patio

When Whitney set up this hanging basket chair from Wayfair, she was pleasantly surprised. “I didn’t envision it being as comfortable as it is, but I’d sit there and read a book and drink coffee all day if I could,” she says.

A DIY Cedar Hot Tub Was Hard Work — But Worth the Challenge

Whitney and Andrew ordered this cedar hot tub from the Canadian company Northern Lights Hot Tubs. To save on costs, they ordered it in pieces and assembled it themselves, which was hard work. “We tried to assemble it in January, and pipes were freezing,” Whitney says. “But the first time we sat in it, we said, never mind — this was worth it.”

Make Sure Your Airbnb Listing Has Great Photos

Front Range A-Frame feels super-tucked away in the forested mountains of Bailey, where you can feel worlds away from the buzz of Denver even though you’re only about an hour’s drive from the city. Whitney and Andrew made sure to capture this essence in the photos they used 500 Operands are not of the same type: comparison is supported for Number types only.

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