After more than a year and a half of renovations, the duplex finally hosted its first overnight guests. It was an emotional, exciting, and eye-opening test of all the work we’ve done, so we’re sharing what we learned and what we’re changing before it hosts again. We also talk about a house we considered buying last fall that resurfaced with surprising news, how we solved a few household frustrations for under $25, and how Sherry rants about a certain paper product while John finds unusual joy in another.
You can also find this episode on your favorite podcast app, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, and Spotify.
What’s New
- Heads up: there’s a Game of Thrones spoiler a few photos down. If you haven’t seen the finale yet and have avoided spoilers, skip the photo after the one of me holding the toilet paper.
- If you want to hear our original conversation about potentially buying another rental property and why that particular house in our neighborhood wasn’t right for us, check out Episode #114.
Can We Just Talk About… Tissue Boxes
- Here’s what we were venting about when we went shopping for tissue boxes for the duplex. Patterned boxes can add character to a simple bathroom, but with patterned floors and painted doors we wanted something neutral — and surprisingly, that was hard to find.
- Many multi-packs paired a couple of muted designs with bolder ones we didn’t want, so we ended up looking for a simple solution to “neutralize” the boxes throughout the duplex.
- We decided to buy a house-shaped tissue-box cover to keep the look consistent. The product shot is just a placeholder—no book called “John’s Story” exists, ha!
- The covers were $6.90 when we bought them; now some listings show them for $14. Still, that’s less than woven options Sherry found, which ranged from about $30 to $100. A nicer teak option was $17 each, but buying six of those adds up quickly.
- We’re still hoping a manufacturer will offer a simple 4-pack of subtle tissue boxes—linen-look or woven textures printed on cardboard would be perfect.
- On a related note, we finally tried the Forever Roll. It arrived after we recorded and it’s massive. We bought the starter pack as a gag gift for a friend who won our Game of Thrones finale bet.
- The photo shows our usual double roll next to the behemoth Forever Roll. For GoT fans, we even dressed up the box for the gift—now our friend will never have to leave the Iron Throne.
The Duplex’s First Guests
- We stayed at the duplex for a few nights to test everything before our first Airbnb guests arrive in June. Seeing the kitchens, bedrooms, dining tables, and outdoor showers in use was exhilarating — it felt like our work was finally paying off.
- Our test stay helped us discover a handful of missing or useful items. With so many tasks to check off during renovations, small essentials are easy to forget. Here are some things we added after the trial run:
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- A coffee scoop and single-serve sugar packets for the coffee grounds we provide.
- Spoon rests for the stovetops — silicone options that won’t crack or scratch.
- Silicone spatulas and pancake flippers to supplement the small metal spatula we already had.
- Cake and pie cutters/servers — you really can’t serve a pie properly with a fork.
- Extra TV remotes so a lost remote doesn’t disrupt a guest’s stay.
- Outdoor furniture covers for the patio sets so guests can use the furniture without hauling cushions from the shed.
- Bathroom air fresheners for guest comfort.
We’re Digging
- We bought a freezable grocery bag in the “Fresh Stripe” pattern to use as a beach cooler this summer. It’s simple, affordable (about $25), and folds up to store in the freezer so it’s always ready.
- The bag matches our beach chairs in the “ocean stripes” colorway; these chairs have held up much better than other budget versions we’ve tried.
- We also added motion-activated puck lights to the coat closet. We chose warm white and, while they’re not extremely bright, a 3-pack is only $18 and the motion sensor works well. They turn off after a few seconds of no motion, and we stuck two on the door frame to illuminate the closet contents with the third placed on the opposite side.
- Our closet also has a small fluorescent/under-cabinet-style light hardwired in a tight spot with its own tiny switch tucked into the corner. That switch is awkward to find in the dark, which made the puck lights especially handy.
- The puck lights can be screwed in, attached with magnets, or stuck on with the included 3M adhesive—flexible options depending on the surface.
If you want to revisit products we’ve featured in past episodes, there’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging and a page with all the books we’ve recommended on the Book Club page.
Finally, thanks to You Need A Budget (YNAB) for sponsoring this episode. You can sign up at YNAB to get your first three months free.
Thanks for reading!
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