upgrades, refurbishing, more . . . .

Officially summer hasn't arrived yet but it has come to Tucson.  This is the time of year we try to bring everything up to snuff again with a deep cleaning and sometimes some refurbishing or upgrading too.  Glenn House got some of this done kind of quickly between the last of our Winter Guests leaving then us going on a vacation and Guests that are staying with us for three months.  There wasn't a bunch of time but we did put a new layer of bamboo/reed fencing all round and got in and assembled a new lift-top coffee table.  Not planning on much more there except general maintenance after these Guests depart.  Garcia House VR is the big summer project this year and I'll be adapting it to be more dog friendly and I've turfed the old sofa/chaise/ottoman set up and brought in new furnishings -- including another of those lift-top coffee tables!  I think they're so perfect for our spaces and will allow Guests to eat comfortably while on the sofa or use a laptop easily.  

My point really isn't to go on about changes at one or the other of the VR's but to note that I believe it's important -- and especially so for vacation rental owners -- to occasionally look at their properties through the eyes of a Guest.  So many of us work so hard at pulling these places together and then I think we're kind of exhausted :-).  Sometimes we forget that furnishings get old, outdated or damaged.  I saw pix someone posted in a VR group I belong to of a hallway leading to a bath that was tiled and I thought looked lovely.  They'd had enough of it and put down the wood-look vinyl planks and the change was remarkable and sooooooooo much better!  They did it mainly for easy-care whereas the tile and grout was causing them work, effort, grief and money and they made the right decision.   

We have to keep our eyes open for all kinds of stuff that would normally be just fine within our own homes but not up to snuff for our Guests.  I'm sure not nuts about Tucson summers but at least they give me the opportunity to really go over things and see if they need replacing or if they've got a season or multiple seasons left in them.