Conservatory, Pandemic, Gardening: How Do You Want to Live?

"I understand that to move close to God is to move close to everything that human beings have ever experienced.  And that, of course, includes a lot of suffering, as well as a lot of joy."  Parker Palmer
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"But from time to time, back in the woods that primitive wildness was there, and if that's all God is, I'll settle for it....easily and thankfully."  Parker Palmer.
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"And so I now see the soul as that wild creature way back there in the woods that knows how to survive in very hard places, knows how to survive in places the intellect doesn't, where the feelings don't, and where the will cannot."  Parker Palmer
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Conservatory built for Penny McHenry Hydrangea festival, above, by Tara Dillard & Susanne Hudson, Better Homes & Gardens magazine shoot.
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Too long without a garden, 5 years since moving rural, my body/brain/spirit has shot up from the ocean with 2 thoughts, evergreen hedges and a conservatory.
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"The point of being an artist is that you may live....you won't arrive.  It is an endless search."  Sherwood Anderson.
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Susanne Hudson's Conservatory, above, from Country Living magazine.
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"Vocation is a gift not a goal."  Parker Palmer
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Old Quaker adage, "Let your life speak."
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How did I get 5 years, without starting my garden?
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A life wants to live in me.  My garden let it grow.  As my garden spoke, it taught my soul to speak. 
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Then I moved away from my 30 year garden.
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Susanne Hudson's Conservatory, above,.
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Gardening is walking the talk of thinking.
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Conservatory, above, my previous garden.
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Susanne Hudson's Conservatory, above.
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What should your garden aspire to?  The best in you.  Do you have that clarity?
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Take from the Greats....they will never leave you once you've taken them.  TAKE.
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Susanne Hudson's Conservatory, above.
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The irony of my gardening is how much non-ironic work my garden does  on me.
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Moving from my 30 year garden, I miss most, my Conservatory.  It had only been there my last 3 years.  Go figure.
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Conservatory, above, built by Tara Dillard & Susanne Hudson.
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"Design at its core, thrives when a human being cares enough to do work that touches another --- it doesn't thrive when it gets more efficient."  Seth Godin
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Yes, I do believe my garden is me touching another.
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Conservatory, above, built by Tara Dillard & Susanne Hudson.
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With, 'conviction, commitment and conscience', plan your garden.  Each will return greater in forms you've never known, but always knew.
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Conservatory, above, built by Tara Dillard & Susanne Hudson.
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"(Iris) Murdoch begins by reflecting on the fundamental difference between the function of philosophy and that of art --- one being to clarify and concretize, the other to mystify and expand." Maria Popova
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Conservatory, above, built by Tara Dillard & Susanne Hudson.
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Beloved renovated a small historic shed on our property and moved it exactly where I indicated.  Smart man, things go south, my fault.  How did I know where to place it?  The GREATS.  Moved shed to a new garden room, and pulled strings from the main house, making sure the shed/Conservatory 100% parallel to main house. 
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One side of the shed will become my new Conservatory.  The open shed roof, and back wall are dimensions for the new Conservatory.  Drew a picture, with measurements, texted pic to Susanne Hudson, "Do you have any windows for me to buy for my new  Conservatory?"
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My previous Conservatory was over a decade of dumpster diving old windows and doors, literally.  This Conservatory has no luxury of time.  Instead, fitting what Susanne has, to my dimensions.
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No text in reply, instead, a PHONE CALL.  "How would you like 2 pairs of French Doors at the front of your new Conservatory?"  Best phone call of 2020 so far.
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"Bad writing is almost always full of the fumes of personality."  Iris Murdoch.
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Bad gardening is almost always full of the fumes of personality.  Tara Dillard
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Taking from the Greats, has its purposes.  Fumes of personality?  I adore gardens, photographed, hinting nothing toward what continent or era of the garden. 
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"The epic side of truth, Wisdom, is dying out."  Walter Benjamin
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"Wisdom in the age of information."  Maria Popova
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My Conservatory, above, previous garden.   
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Building my new Conservatory is a freedom, of knowing what I want, knowing how to get it, knowing what it will give me.  Back to the Greats. 
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My Conservatory, above, previous garden.
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At the front end of building Gardens, and Conservatories, I thought it was all architecture, engineering and labor. 
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It's still all those things, yet they're layered by greater gifts.  More important.
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"Knowledge hinges on an act of correlation and interpretation.  At the top is wisdom, which has a moral component, it is the application of information worth remembering and knowledge that matters to understanding not only how the world works, but also how it should work and that requires a moral framework of what should and shouldn't matter, as well as an ideal of the world at its highest potentiality."  Maria Popova
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My Conservatory, above, previous garden.
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My Conservatory, above, previous garden.
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Client Conservatory, above, I put into a Garden Design.  They hired me to brighten up a 'Dark Corner'.  Muse reigns.
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Conservatory, above, my previous garden.
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Susanne Hudson Conservatory, above.
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Your Home and Garden must have a name, a color trinity, and garden rooms, each with a name.
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Susanne Hudson Conservatory, above.
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Sending pic of measurements for my new Conservatory, quickly named it, East Conservatory.  Easiest garden name ever.  Sometimes naming can take over a year. 
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Susanne Hudson Conservatory, above.
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The shed has 2 nice sides, both with metal roofs Beloved built.  First moment the shed was moved to its new location, I knew, there will be 2 Conservatories.  Cannot wait for the West Conservatory.  It faces mostly wooded shade, acres of view, including a pond and fading lake.  East Conservatory faces a hedged garden I'm planting now.  Lots of good sun, some shade, a bit 'formal' easy to maintain.
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Client's Conservatory, everything you see, above, is rescued.  My Garden design put the shape of the conservatory into the plan, we had a great conversation, poof.  This is 'their' detailed design, not mine.  Fabulous.
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"Information is increasingly cheap and wisdom increasingly expensive...."  Maria Popova.
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Gardening, Pandemics, Conservatories, we're each seeking the same gifts, of those gifts with no price tag.  Grace, transcendence, beauty, a knowing of who we are, what we stand for, how to live in that grace everyday.  No matter what each day brings.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T
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Asked Beloved yesterday if I could borrow his old work truck for a few days, to pick up Conservatory parts with Susanne.  LIFE entered this story.  Alas.
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A much loved gardening friend, we've roomed several times across Europe and USA Eastern Seaboard studying historic gardens, and miscellaneous symposiums attended, flower shows, etc.  She's 77.  Had a chunk of breast cancer removed, feels great, gardening, busy.  She made the choice for no chemo/radiation. 
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Oh the things of life we've already shared.  More than that, blessedly, laughter always far greater than tears.
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Susanne knows her well, we 3 beautifully scarred, dusty, matriarchal elephants, each with our own continent, are slowly converging.  Soon, we'll all be in the far off garden of our friend.  Road trip.... 
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"I understand that to move close to God is to move close to everything that human beings have ever experienced.  And that, of course, includes a lot of suffering, as well as a lot of joy."  Parker Palmer

Color: Counterintuitive Paint Trim

Happy charmer, below.  Makes me want to go inside. 
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See a change, an easy change too, making the roof higher and house taller?
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Once I tell you the change, you won't believe me.
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But, true nonetheless.
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Know?


Pic, above, here.
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Paint the trim at roof line, a tone darker than the siding or a darker tone from the roofing material.  Seems counterintuitive.
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White jumps forward, and pulls down, at roof line.  Darker tones heighten a home by a 1', or more.  Promise.
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Can't finish without mentioning the 'Welcome' sign.  Banal.  Dinky is Stinky.
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Especially here.  The front door is screaming 'Welcome !' with incredible class & elegance.  Why diminish that impact?
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Be wary putting words into your garden.  Can be done well, but with care.
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Favorite sign in a garden?  Tea Room & Toilets .
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Garden & Be Well,    XO T
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More rabbit holes in this photo.  Those delicious lights, too perfect.  But, that is gardening.  Layers of delight here.

Pumpkin Pastiche

Not-one-bit-extra is an apt motto for my mom.  Poor dear was born into wrong era.  Her brain power seriously under utilized.  Married in the 1950's she had 2 kids and was a housewife and major volunteer.  Judge Judy never fails to amuse.  Especially her continuing success and earnings.  Why?  Mom could be Judge Judy, except bigger.  Mom could judge all the galaxies.  More, mom would pass judgment with the merest movement of her arched right eyebrow.  Clearly letting you know being stupid is the grander mistake than whatever brought you before that eyebrow.
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No surprise I grew up liking a little bit extra.  Not much.  Just a tad, or less.
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During the 1980's I worked at a garden center with many locations.  Christmas was a huge money maker for them, I still miss working there during Christmas.  Easter, Valentines and the other holidays were decorated too, lots of extra trinkets for sale.  I still use those holiday purchases.



One Halloween/Thanksgiving I performed in a play during 3rd grade.  Evening performance, all the parents/siblings in attendance.  How was I to know?  Read the paper teacher had us take home?  My parents would really go?  I didn't want to go.  Quite elaborate, the play a celebration of Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims.  Speaking parts, singing parts, dancing parts.  About 6-7 kids chosen to line the front of the stage at floor level, no singing, dancing, speaking for them.  Each child with a large cardboard cut out tied around their waist.  I was one of those few kids chosen to be in front.  Each of us, a sheaf of wheat.
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My dad, the NASA engineer, keep in mind this was the mid 60's, and I was a sheaf of wheat, when astronauts were dying, yet Kennedy and USA needed man-on-the-moon.  Standing thru the entire play, a sheaf of wheat, watching my dad get angrier, angrier.  I knew.  Not a star of the play, or even a speaking role, a sheaf of wheat.  It got quite ugly during the car ride home.  Best result?  Dad never came to a school event again.
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Age 8, I didn't know it took a strategy to be a sheaf of wheat.  All of us wheat sheaves, should have staged a pop-up Wind Storm, singing a ridiculous song we made up, finally collapsing into a pile.  If dad was going to be angry, I should have, at a minimum, made it worth my while.    



Pumpkins on our front porch, above, win zero awards for skill/talent, yet they pass my simple test question.  Does it make you smile?    
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Seriously, it's one of my Garden Design questions.  Does it make you smile?
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T
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Cute Kills is a Garden Design rule.  Hmm.  Every rule meant to be broken.  Another Garden Design rule followed, Overdose on a Theme.  And, a favorite Garden Design rule followed, Dinky is Stinky.  You over it with my Garden Design rules?  I was too, at the front end of learning Garden Design.  Now, I understand Garden Design rules for what they truly are, PERMISSION.  Limitations?  Hardly.

Taking Historic into the Modern Realm

Clearly a master's touch, below, playing with history, cunningly modern.
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Whimsy, below, in the metaphor of sanctity.  What?  Taking the choice, below, to walk into the garden, you must bow your head, at the shrine of espaliered trees.
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Soon, hedging will shield the house from the outer world, flying buttresses, arc-boutant, to the nave within.
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Is your life worth anything less?
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Stewardship of self.  In all its layers.






For good measure, several ball rooms planted into the back yard, above.



The long hallway, above at right, a promenade, lit in the manner of le jardin rustique.  With hedging at the backyard too, another nave, a double cathedral built,
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Someone, at the top of their game, above.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T
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We are still tending structural  outdoor necessities at our ca. 1900 American farmhouse garden.  Pouring more gravel, putting in paths, lighting, plantings, must wait.  One of those 'necessities' a well.  Beloved has worked with the well diggers many times during his construction career, he trusts them.  Good, fine.  My concern is flagrantly obvious.  Where will they find water?  How will it affect designing the garden?  
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We chose similar lights, above, for a renovated shed.  Once installed, I knew those lights would be perfect for the rest of the garden, on posts along pathways.  Imagine my surprise seeing the pic, above.
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What a day I had on the old Kubota tractor yesterday.  Wounded pride, newbie mistakes.  Hilarious being an 'expert' and embarking upon a new learning curve in the garden.  Details sketchy, pride still ruffled.
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Pics from here.

Design: House Meets Patio

Commercial, mostly interiors shop, March, below, better at garden design than most garden centers.
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Not a lot here, excepting there is a lot.  Each layer, perfect.
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Color, flow, plants, staging, texture, contrast, plants, still life, heights, focal points, axis, seasonal, lighting, vanishing threshold, multi-functional, over-dose-theme, easy maintenance.
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At this phase, below, personally.  Have purchased a harvest table made from wood of a century old tobacco barn.  What's the phase?  Choosing chairs.  Looking at galvanized metal.  Time is a luxury, the table won't fit in my van, Beloved's trucks are at a jobsite for another few weeks.  Need 10 chairs.  Don't want all of them to match, perhaps they will.  That is the fun of the hunt.
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Pic, above, here.
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Color trinity, above, great for my zone, tail end of Piedmont swallowed by Coastal Plain, in depths of summer's miseries heat-humidity-bugs, gives the illusion of 'cool' viewed from interiors.
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Alone, this pic is a, Design: House Meets Patio, course.
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Ironically, my horticulture degree included zero about this zone.  Zero
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Notice the stone at the open door?  Very nice.

Garden & Be Well,   XO T
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Go into the typical box store garden center, and be greeted by zillions of colorful greenhouse annuals, chemicals to annihilate bees-butterflies-man, finish off with fertilizers to poison groundwater, and kill earthworms and mycorrhizal fungi in the soil.  With zero irony the same garden centers sell annual flowers to attract butterflies, planted in soil with systemic insecticides, all with banner marketing.  Aka, killing the same butterflies you're trying to attract.
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Made a mistake at the seed store early this month, bought a small bag of 'organic' fertilizer for our lone tomato plant.  Reading the label at home, after opening, it's N-P-K, ugh, kills earthworms/fungi.  At least the tomato is in a pot.    

Front Door: A Course in Beautifully Scaled Details

Off the edge of perfect, below, beyond perfect.
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Have never understood the predilection for oversized lights at a front door.  Studying historic gardens across Europe for decades, diminutive lighting, compared to USA, is the memo.
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Tara Turf, below, to the foundation.  Alone, enough to instigate a nastygram from any HOA.  Here's the deal with Tara Turf, it's a rich way to live, according to Providence.  And me.
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Opulent patina, not pressure washed away, on the walls, below.



Pic, above, here.
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Who knew I would ever think a collection of little green meatballs was charming?  Indeed, these are.  Here, they are a whimsical pun.  You already thought the same thing, right?
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The pair of small spheres.  Swoon.  Their plinths, double swoon.
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Notice the climbing roses?  Not the physical plant but what they do for the design.  Taking very little space, espaliered, they give maximum lush.
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Tiny gravel, above, color of the house, drifting into most-of-a-circle tiny flagstone, again colored to the house, terrace.  With no edging between gravel/plants or gravel/flagstones.  Your already picked up on this huge detail, edging, right?
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Enfilade, above, is something we have at our ca. 1900 American farmhouse.  Ours, 80' long, with heart of pine floor, I'll have to figure out how to get the shot, we even have the trees in back, but our pond is behind the trees.
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Our house, now, has a small gravel parking court in front, we kept the previous owner's half-round of bricks at the front steps.  Unbelievable, the vernacular language is the same, this home, above, and ours.
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This front door, above, says the most important thing, "Welcome."  And, "You want to come inside, this house is interesting, the people who live here I want to know and see more, the garden, and....."
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Garden & Be Well,    XO T
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Beloved is a pressure washing fool.  One of these days, at present I leave the premises when he pressure washes, I will stand my ground, and instead of crime scene tape outlining a body on the ground, Beloved will pressure wash around my body on the wall of our home.  If this were our home, above, I know his pressure washer would have something 'wrong' with it each time he tries to use it.  Buy a new one?  It would have something 'wrong', always, too.

Design: Speak Volumes With No Words

Live - Love - Laugh blares a painted garden sign, on the shelf, with price tag.  Next time you see any garden sign/plaque for sale think, "Danger Will Robinson.", while asking yourself the Dante'sque question, Does this path enlarge, or diminish, my thought?
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Mostly, if words are put into a garden Alexis de Tocqueville has been given another arrow to release at USA.  Mostly.  And that's one of the joys of designing your garden, knowing when to use your tiny percentage allowed, to break rules.
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In a garden it is important no matter the joys & sorrows amongst your days/years, you know you have a place actively nurturing sorrows and increasing joys.  Without effort.  This layer of garden design is rarely mentioned, but inherent.



Made me laugh, above.  No words.  Is it whimsy, or a pun?
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Doesn't matter.
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Secondary smile, above, at the height of the evergreen wall.  Noticed decades ago the economics of gardens and hedges.  The 4' hedge easily maintained by the owner.  The 6' hedge, still maintained by the owner, but a ladder is involved, or hired gardener.  8' + hedges pruned with scaffolding or cherry picker for hired gardener to reach.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Found pic on Pinterest, and it had no link to provenance other than what is stamped on the picture, Getty Images.
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"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.", Alexis de Tocqueville.

Free Garden Design

Modern 2,000+ years ago.  Modern today.
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No need to be an expert, to understand why garden centers are not 'on board'.



Calm.  Facade, bench, pots, gravel, fade their colors into each other.  I see the silhouette of branches in winter striking the house, and gravel.  I hear the leaves, wind rustled, see their fall colors.  Gravel crunching underfoot.
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This house doesn't make the Garden Design special, instead, the choice to have this Garden Design is special.
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Free Garden Design.  Equally at home with a brick ranchburger ca. 1963, pioneer cabin, starter home, $2 million home in a gated community.
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Myriad choices made with this Garden Design.  Especially adore all of the 'no' choices.
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Why is this Garden Design harder to choose than keeping foundation plantings, installed by the builder, and a pocked lawn needing mow/blow/go, fertilizers poisoning groundwater, zero aesthetics to increase property value, no choices for plantings to reduce hvac expenses, no thought for color, or pulling the foot outside to enjoy Nature?
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Picture from here.

Topiary: Levens Hall & Arne Maynard

Levens Hall, The Lake District, Cumbria, was the first European study garden I visited.  I was on my way to Scotland to study historic gardens.

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Levens Hall is known for many things, especially topiary, below.

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Topiary was not off my radar, entirely, for decades.  I didn't like it. 

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Now, I get topiary.  Better late than 'nevah'.  Proof, my mistakes are never small.

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Large properties, especially, find topiary useful.  Small properties too.

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Accent, focal point, all year effect, easy to maintain, design uses are many.

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Across USA millions of homes retain their PSO's planted by the builder to satisfy mortgage loan requirements with new construction.

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PSO?  Plant Shape Only.

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Plenty of mature USA hollies are ready for topiary.

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From Levens Hall, below, a chart of some of their topiary.  What's not to like?  You get to put your mark on topiary.

Discovered the work of Arne Maynard via the internet.  Have never been to his garden, nor those he has designed.  Soon, soon...

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Knew immediately he was already where I was headed.  Deep simplicity, Nature, house architecture, wit, intelligence, deeper simplicity.  Of course, Levens Hall runs thru the fragrance of Maynard's work.

Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

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Top pic Levens Hall, bottom pic Arne Maynard.

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The famous topiary garden at Levens Hall was laid out on axis from a bank of windows inside the home, the middle lead.   Not written anywhere, discovered during my tour.  Levens Hall has had a head gardener entering in the garden journal for almost 4 centuries.

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Life is good, have been to Levens Hall 3 times, and Arne Maynard's gardens await.  Oddly, have zero inclination to travel to international gardens at present.  Too important to design gardens and get them in the ground.  

Rental Success: FlipKey, AirBnB, HomeAway, VRBO, Craigslist

After dinner she said, "....Craigslist too."

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They rented their cabin successfully with several vacation rental sites.

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Living a good retirement, aka good judgement involved, I paid attention.  Perhaps their rental success could be copied?

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For sale 6 years, and listed with a local vacation rental company (with little/no success) my friend's cabin was ripe for a little fun, "I'll stage your cabin & list it."

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Staging was approached with a full quiver of collateral career tools.  A week later I presented a staging plan, and he was not-on-board. 

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Without proper staging why waste time uploading?  Finally, "You let me do 100%  or I walk."  Got my 100%.

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What do vacation renters want?  Easy.  Vacation rental sites guide you through listing necessities of bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, dining tables & how many they seat, eat in kitchen, separate dining room, amenities of your home, and nearby activities.

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Pictures.  The more pictures you include the better your rental chances.

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Choose your lead picture, below, with seduction.  

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Study listings and see which pictures most reflect what you are trying to offer.

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This cabin had the good fortune of being near the Appalachian Trail, Tallulah River, Lake Burton, a marina, wineries, golfing, antiquing, several good restaurants, wedding venues, camping & camps.

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Narrative.

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Staging DIY?  Look clinically at what you have, no ego.  Remember, this is about making money.  Real, serious, money.  List  negatives, confront each with positives and write a list.

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I studied the local 'professional' rental listing.  Why wasn't it renting?  Crime scene photos, zero narrative,  Told the owner my thoughts, he said there wasn't a market for rentals near his cabin.  He was not making enough rental income to pay a single month's mortgage. 

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For decades I enjoyed a family lake house, below, aside from innate beauty of setting & architecture & garden the house welcomed/nurtured all who entered.  Every age group.  The kitchen, a great gathering place while chef/s performed magic.  The audience content with cocktails & conversation.  Labradors in/out, wet from the lake.  Books in every room, chairs arranged for views & conversation throughout the house.  No TV.  Always a new person to meet/enjoy invited by someone else.  

  

Staging the cabin meant adding a place in the kitchen for chef/audience, it had no table/seating.  Creating a library, there were no books.  Creating a 'grandchild' zone, there was zero for children.  Giving Nature its proper role by taking away the power of the TV's in every seating arrangement.  Placing garden chairs outside facing the myriad mountain views, there were none. Honoring the architecture of the cabin, local craftsman, moving furniture that was hiding it, and lifting valences that hid entire mountain views. 

Valences, above/below, tucked atop blinds, showing off mountain views instead of hiding them.
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A basket with coffee filters, and coffee saved from a zillion vacation hotels, was in a basket on the counter by the coffee pot.  Shampoo/soap from those hotels was put into the bathrooms.  New'ish magazines/catalogs were regularly refreshed in the family room.
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Another basket had plenty of mustard, ketchup, mayo, packages, not used from too many lunches eaten out.

Every kitchen counter item had been plastic.  Added cookbooks, wood cutting boards, ironstone canister for wooden cooking spoons, local pottery tea pot & antique Italian tea canister filled with array of teas.  Table is a drop leaf and the chairs are local Appalachian vernacular.  Basket on the table is full of brochures for local activities & restaurants.  Lighting was limited to overhead, small lamp added.
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Owner provided dishwashing liquid, dishwasher powder, clothes washing soap, and garbage bags.

Show off the charm of your rental.  Most renters did ask about a fireplace, did it work, wood available, etc.  Again, only overhead lighting, small lamp added.  Wood not provided, but matches were always on the mantel.

Every piece of furniture faced the TV.  Now all the views can be seen too, and the local craftsman made mountain laurel rails, below.

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TV and internet are expected by most renters.  No internet at the cabin, but cell phone internet is not a problem.  No renter has backed out after discovering no internet.  

A choice was made, no dogs or smoking.  Rental sites make it obvious/easy to list what is not allowed.

A potential renter asked about a fire ring.  There was not one.  The owner told her he would have it by her rental date, and he did.  My bad, not thinking about it first.



Renters want to know bed specifics.  Tell them AND show them, below.  Listing sites are generous in number of pics you can post, and it's easy to add captions.
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Master bedroom, below, was simple to stage.  It had no art on the walls, and the brass lamps were ca. 1982, they went downstairs to a guest room.  Lead bedroom pics with the showiest.



French doors from every bedroom to a deck with fabulous views.  Again, show AND tell.



Those brass lamps, below.  Bedspread, below, exchanged later for a 'lighter' version that will dry faster.  A request from the housekeeper.
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The owner was fortunate to have someone honest, hardworking, cheerful, helpful, and pro-active as housekeeper.  Housekeeping with the local rental company, finally, had to be denied services.  A drama, yes, but easily resolved.
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C.S. Lewis, below, on the bed table.

Another guest room, below, was chosen as a grandchild's room.  Again, there was no art on the walls, all the staged pieces related to childhood, in joy, nothing cute.

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Almost half of the renters have had children.

Once sterile of children, the cabin now has little child's toys left behind here/there, Better, a sweetness in seeing where an adult has set a children's book they had been reading aloud to their little one/s.

  Intuition for accepting rentals is needed.  New Year's Eve, over 30 requests came in from groups of 7, (maximum allowed) that reeked of alcohol, debauchery, sex, broken furniture, ruined rugs, in the request.  
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A damage deposit is on the rental sites for you to include.
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In a year's time, nothing has been stolen or damaged at the cabin.
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The majority of the cabin rentals have been due to love.  With the rental requests, a little story is commonly given from the renter.  Did not expect this, and have quite enjoyed them.  (Somehow I became stager & screener.)
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Not my cabin, every 'off' request, I let the owner know, for approval/disapproval.  On a Tuesday, someone offered to rent the cabin, at a discount, because they noticed it was not rented yet for the weekend.  Owner approved, bad move.  Renter never showed, and another renter offered full price on Thursday.  True story.
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Rental requests can be sent automatically to your cell phone.  And replied to via your phone.

Be aware, most counties do have a bed tax for vacation rentals.

One renter, coming for a car rally, had a high performance sports car.  He needed a pic of the driveway.  My bad, it was added soon after.

Renters want to get away, the entry gate is a perfect sign, without words, welcome/relax/enjoy, put your tires on our gravel.

Fireplace mantel, above, had fake Canadian spruce for decor with no art.  Local, dried hydrangea blossoms were staged with art/books.  The fake spruce was used on a chest in the downstairs hall.

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Staging is not about remaking a home, but making it more intensely its best self.

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One renter offered to not pay for the maid, and have a deep discount.  I thanked him for the opportunity & wished him the best in his search for a weekend home.  Saw in him, my college girl self, and laughed.  We've all been there. 

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98% of 2014 renters left the cabin showing their character/integrity and thoughtfulness towards others by leaving leftover firewood, charcoal & etc.

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That 2% renter?  They liked sex.  Loved that phone call from the housekeeper.

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Sites used for the cabin: FlipKey, HomeAway, AirBnB, VRBO, Craigslist.

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I set up a gmail address for the cabin.  And, keep a paper 'master' calendar of dates rented, with me at all times.

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Craigslist brought in renters, they were sent to HomeAway to rent instead of owner handling the transactions, easier.  None of the Craigslist renters balked at this method.  

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The various rental sites have various methods of paying for their services.  The cabin owner decided to do the 10% fee/rental.  After a year of experience, he knows the flat fee of $300/year is a cheaper deal for him.

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What did vacation rentals bring the owner?  Almost enough to pay for a year of his mortgage.  Considerable leap in success, over the local rental company.

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What did I get out of this?  Knew I could do it, successfully, now have proved it.  That little genie of 'competitiveness' got out of her bottle.  Love that genie but know she can take over, best to trust Providence, with action steps of course.

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Lecturing in Chicago last year I met an incredible woman.  We locked eyes, and bonded completely.  During our time she mentioned, without knowing of the cabin, her bucket list.  Walking the Appalachian Trail was on her list.  She flew to Atlanta, she wanted to see my house/garden, then off to the cabin.  The owner gave me time at his cabin.  Walking the Appalachian Trail, with her, well, I have no words for the richness.  It is a good story, the emotion still too raw, later it will be told.

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  Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara

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This is not a solicitation to rent the cabin, merely the how-to I used in staging & setting up the cabin on rental sites.  

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I spent $300 on staging accouterments, in addition to loaning much from my attic/garden/garage.  Hunting gathering staging materials was done over a month's time during my normal work days, stopping at nearby antique/junk shops.  Once at the cabin, to stage, I was alone, it took 4 hours to move furniture and accessorize.  Wish I could tell you what this 'service' should cost.  If you are a stager, and have a good guess, let me know.  Also, if you see staging mistakes/omissions, let me know.  Good money was made, but always willing to make more.  Oops, genie out of her bottle, it's not my money.  Favorite, not-my-money?  Laying in bed, checking email, answering rental request, getting $800 contract.....  

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The local vacation rental company offered the cabin owner, recently, for $300  & 35% rental fee, to upload his cabin to HomeAway.