Before … 
After …
Last post I talked about how home-share rentals have been labeled as “sterile” in the press (specifically an article in the New York Times). To show that it doesn’t take much to turn a place from sterile to cozy, I took this before photo of a place my husband and I recently rented on VRBO as it looked when we walked into it. Yes, sterile is the perfect description, isn’t it?
For the after photo, I gathered up a few things I found in the unit — two throws, a vase and some magazines — and I sent Mr. Fix-it out to the garden to cut a few irises. Much better! There’s still not a lot of color, but at least the place looks less like a doctor’s office waiting room and more like an actual home.
Donna Evans-Deyermond, author 