What Does an Airbnb Interior Designer Actually Do?

Hiring an Airbnb interior designer isn’t just about having someone pick out a sofa and a few throw pillows. Vacation rental design requires thinking about the property as both a home and a hospitality experience.

The goal is to create a space that catches someone’s attention online, feels good when they arrive and works properly throughout their stay.

We start with the property itself

Before choosing furniture, we want to understand where the property is located, who is likely to stay there and what makes the home special. A Northwoods lake house should feel different from a city apartment or coastal vacation rental.

That doesn’t mean covering a cabin in bears and pine-tree décor. It means using materials, colors, textures and details that make sense for the setting and architecture.

Layout comes before decorating

One of the most important parts of vacation rental design is making sure every room actually functions for guests. If the property sleeps eight people, the living room should comfortably accommodate a group. The dining space should also make sense for the number of guests the home is marketed toward.

We look at furniture placement, walking paths, sleeping arrangements, storage and how guests will actually move through the property. A room can be beautiful and still have a poor layout.

Then we create the design direction

Once the space works, we begin developing the look. Furniture, rugs, lighting, artwork, paint, bedding, window treatments and décor all need to feel connected.

We don’t necessarily want everything to match. In fact, spaces often feel more interesting when they include different materials, textures and pieces that feel like they were collected over time.

The goal is cohesion, not sameness.

We think about photography too

Your future guest will probably experience your property through photographs before they ever walk through the front door. That means the design needs to translate well on a screen.

Lighting, contrast, focal points and color can make a huge difference in listing photography. We want people scrolling through dozens of properties to stop because something about yours feels different.

And we think about durability

Vacation rentals experience a lot of use. Furniture gets moved. Bedding gets washed constantly. Suitcases scrape against walls. Dining chairs get pulled around every day.

We try to find a balance between style, price, durability and how easily something can be replaced if necessary.

At Wilder Stays, we want the finished property to feel memorable without becoming impractical to own and operate.