How to Furnish a Midterm Rental (Lessons From My Own Renovation)

Written by: Rene

This week, we’ve had some really exciting progress with the basement rental! The kitchen cabinets are in, the walls and baseboards have been painted, and it’s finally starting to feel like a home instead of a construction zone.

However, with that progress comes crunch time. Now it’s time to order the final construction details, appliances, furniture, decor, and everything else we need to turn an empty space into a fully furnished midterm rental. I had so many items selected ahead of time but held off on ordering because I didn’t want everything arriving months before we were ready. It was a great plan in theory.

Except now that it’s actually time to order, nearly all of my original selections are out of stock. Which continues to be a running theme for this renovation! So back to the drawing board selecting new appliances, furniture, dish-ware, and dozens of other items while working against the renovation timeline. At any given moment, it feels like there are about 200 decisions floating around in my brain.

One thing helping me keep track of it all is my trusty sidekick: my checklist. This is, a prettier version, of the checklist I use when furnishing my own midterm rentals, including the basement rental I’m working on right now. It helps me stay organized, keep track of what I’ve ordered, and make sure I’m not forgetting the small things that are easy to overlook, because furnishing a midterm rental is different from furnishing a short-term vacation rental. Your guests aren’t just visiting, they’re actually living there. Guests need a space where they can comfortably cook, work, do laundry, settle into a routine, and live their everyday lives for weeks or months at a time.

If you're furnishing a midterm rental of your own, keep that in mind with every decision you make. It's not about picking the trendiest couch or the cutest dish set. It's about picking things that hold up to real, everyday living for weeks or months at a time. That's the whole reason I built the Midterm Rental Checklist in the first place, so you're not figuring this out the hard way while your renovation timeline is breathing down your neck like mine is right now.

I’m so glad you found your way to this little corner of the hosting world. Here’s to better Midterm rentals (and staying on track)
~Rene

P.S. If you haven’t already, follow my journey on Tiktok, Pinterest, and Instagram.