If you’ve been reading The Non-Consumer Advocate for any length of time, you’ve heard me refer to my mother’s “guest cottages.” Although these two small houses predate the current tiny house movement by a century or so, they’re 100% on trend with the current less is more mentality.
My mother rents them out through VRBO.com and HomeAway.com, and I help out in various ways, but mostly by helping clean between tenants and other miscellaneous chores. It’s a bit of work for me, and a tremendous amount of work for my mother.
Here’s Lexie House, my favorite:
And from the other direction:
So cute, right?
I think my parents bought this income property in 2007, and it’s been fun to have in the family. My family has staycationed here a time or two, most memorably during one horrendous heat wave, as it’s air conditioned and walking distance from a swimming pool. My young adult sons have fond memories of watching cable TV here, as well as rambunctiously throwing stuffed animals through a mysterious open square that’s placed high up between the living room and second bedroom. An odd, yet exciting sport that we invented.
My mother and step father put Lexie House up for sale last year and have been dealing with offers and issues ever since. The property finally sold last week and so my mother and I went over last night for one final cleaning session. It was bittersweet, and we took our time to ready it for the new owners. (Luckily, they want the entire contents of the house, which means no packing and schlepping.)
I’ll miss the extra income, but mostly I’ll miss the camaraderie of the shared work. Luckily, there’s still one other property, which my parents are unlikely to sell.
Although I’m nostalgic about the time my mother and I spent in the shared task of cleaning Lexie, I won’t miss the toilet scrubbing and surprise messes that people would invariably leave behind.
Goodbye, sweet Lexie House. May your new owners have as much fun with you as we did.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Where I live there are many guest houses and ‘bed and breakfast’ cottages , being a historic gold mining town . I also used to assist an owner in the cleaning and preparation for guests, which can be hard work if there is a quick succession of bookings and all linen had to be laundered and attention to detail in cleaning. Yes, some people have strange habits and I used to wonder if they treated there own homes like they do rentals…. mess, rubbish , undies Etc in the bed and all. However there were also some great finds with gratis wine and food that people kindly left the owners, so not all bad!! The extra income was also welcome, as well as nice feedback in visitors books ( minus the complaints) !!!! I think when some people pay for a service they assume they can disrespect it, which is a bad reflection of their character … I would be embarrassed to leave a property in a horrible mess for someone to clean up after me !!!
Awww, sorry to hear about the Lexie House, but I’m sure it’s on to better things for your mom. It’s a ton of work to maintain those extra properties. Hopefully by going down to one income property you’ll all have more time to relax. 🙂
Tell me about the “wallpaper” on the backsplash area. So intrigued! 🙂
They’re covers from old sheet music.
That is SO cool. Where are these places? We like to stay away from chain motels in our travels.
Cool! Thanks!
Your mother and stepfather, and you, probably feel about Lexie House the way DH and I feel about the 23 rental properties DH used to co-own with a friend: It was a good gig back in the day, but enough is enough. (My favorite landlord line from DH’s experience: “Sorry, Mr. DH, but the rugby team just put a keg through the porch wall.”)
We absolutely LOVED our stay in Lexie House. It was a great place to stay our last few weeks before moving from Portland. We loved the amenities, the neighborhood, and your Mom treated us so well. Staying there made saying good-bye to Portland so much easier.
Someone got themselves a darling little house in a great Portland location!
We remember you well, Laura, and with fondness — I must say you took the prize for leaving Lexie House in splendid condition! Hopefully, you’re Livin’ the Life in Hawaii!
That is a really cute house! I know lots of people enjoyed it over the years and it is going to be a good home for someone new!
Katy, just curious, what size is the house? I live in 800 sq. ft. and always looking to see how small space is used.
That is quite possibly the most charming little house I’ve ever seen! I’m sorry you will be letting go of something with so many memories, but the memories will stay with you even if the cottage doesn’t 🙂
What a sweet post. I’m glad you had all those years of experiences/memories(/money making/gleaning). Your post makes me wish I had experienced Lexie House.
That is the cutest little house. Thanks for sharing the photos and your memories of it. I hope your Mom got a good return on her investment!
It looks like a wonderful place to stay.
We also once had a condominium that we rented out through a resort – lots of trouble – so don’t have too many fond memories of that experience. Admire people who do so successfully though.
The sort of place we would love to have stayed at. We are only two people and like to go on vacation to get away from the rest of the people in our lives. Why is it that most places sleep 8-10 guests? Frankly, we just don’t enjoy constant companionship from others–we’ve been invited for a week at a time to go with 2 people who are good friends, but I know just from spending a day or two together that it wouldn’t work—they get up at the crack of dawn, and we don’t. They stop every half hour for coffee, and we keep going for hours on end! Just little things, but guaranteed to drive you crazy after a few days together 24/7. Are we so unusual?
My husband and I are always trying to think of another couple to travel with but due the time issues, money issues and life issues we can not think of anyone.
I do say to my husband that it is very relaxing with just us. We travel very well together. We like to get up and go the same amount, see historical things and eat very casually .
We too are always looking for a small place to stay for just us 2. Glad you mentioned this. So no you are not alone.
I got a chuckle out of this, thinking that maybe the getting up at dawn is what leads to having to make frequent coffee stops.
Glad you’ve found your travel groove.