For those who don’t know, I’ve been going through each part of a property and listing out our essentials. This is for me to reference as I build more Airbnb listings, but I also hope that you gain some insight into what it takes to furnish an Airbnb. Next on that list is Airbnb living room essentials. We’ll talk about what we like to look for, some must haves based on experience, and more. Let’s dive in!
Choosing Sturdy Furniture
This is by far my most sought after aspect of furniture. And it’s from personal experience. We purchased a couch from Wayfair. I love it and we actually have it in our house now. But it’s been broken multiple times leaving me to head over and repair it.
I can’t stress this enough, save yourself a bad review and choose sturdy furniture. This includes couches, chairs, recliners, etc. Spend a little extra upfront to reduce your chances of a headache in the future. You never know how guests will use your space, so in this case it’s better to be safe.
One of our guests seemed to have a party. House was left a mess, way too much trash for 5 people or less staying for 2 days, and alcohol left behind. With that, the couch (and garage door opener??) was broken. The bottom support was tilted, nearly snapped off. And the bolts holding in the backrest were sheered off. I did what I thought was a good job reattaching everything and securing it until another guest complained that it was broken. A few extra pieces of wood and some longer screws solved the issue. But what if I wasn’t available to fix it? In my opinion, sturdy furniture is the way to go!
How To Choose Sturdy Furniture
The easiest way to choose sturdy furniture is to test it out yourself in person. If that’s not an option or you do opt for an online purchase, do your due diligence. Look at reviews, check out any customer pictures, and try to get as good of a look at it as you can.
Couches that aren’t suspended with legs are less likely to break from the bottom. Chairs and recliners are a bit harder to tell, but also harder to break. Knowing what I know now, my first choice is in person. And if I find something online, I’m relying on customer reviews. If there aren’t any, I’ll likely pass and find one I can be sure will be hard to break.
Our Airbnb Living Room Must Haves
Apart from sturdy furniture, we have some other must haves. Some of these are based on reviews (which we’ll share some experiences below), and some are things we’ve discovered ourselves along the way.
Adequate Seating
We got docked a bit for this one. One of our guests stated that we didn’t have enough seating for four guests in the living room. While we kind of disagree, we also could see their side of the issue. We had the couch that sat three comfortably, but then the other seats are technically behind the couch (two high top chairs, four at the dining table, and an extra at the work desk).
So while there’s seating in the same room, it’s not exactly inviting for everyone to sit in our living room space. Adding an accent chair would have been an easy fix for this. We recommend making sure that guests can all sit comfortably in your living room.
TV
We talked in our Airbnb bedroom essentials post about how we thought TVs aren’t necessary in the bedroom. And we received some reviews that said the opposite! I think the living room TV is another one of those things where it may not be necessary in your own life but worth incorporating into the space so that guests can enjoy it in their own way.
It’s easiest to get a smart TV so that you can connect to streaming services. Whether you offer them is up to you. The first 6 months or so we didn’t. Then we had a guest staying for a month ask if we had them so we started paying for Netflix and Hulu. While the feedback we received prior was directly related, we felt this was an easy win that eliminated guests having to log in and out of their own services. In our opinion it is $20 a month worth spending!
Board Games & Alternate Entertainment
As I (sort of) mentioned above, everyone’s entertainment needs are different. Some folks are happy watching TV. Others would prefer different forms of entertainment. Having multiple fun things to do at your property can save guests’ from having a boring experience. Especially during those rainy days!
We are lucky enough to have a Port St. Lucieopoly (a Monopoly game modeled after our city) created, so we of course picked that up to share with our out of town guests. We also provide a few other board games and a couple decks of cards. Some easy ones to provide are:
- Monopoly
- Life
- Chutes & Ladders
- Checkers
- Chess
- Sorry
- Uno
You never know what guests are into, so feel free to mix in some other board games you find interesting!
Another form of entertainment we provide is books. For this I actually just brought over 8 books from my own collection. Having a full library is an easy way to add value. We stayed at an Airbnb in St. Augustine, Florida that had a wall full of National Geographic magazines. Some of them were over a hundred years old! While we didn’t stick around to read them all, it certainly was fun to go through some of them.
While we only provide those things, we encourage you to not stop there! If there’s room for it, consider adding other forms of entertainment. You never know what your guests may want to do while they’re at the property, so giving them options can really help. While we have plans for a game room or outdoor activities at our next property, we also feel that the simpler items can be valuable as well. Especially for the lower to mid tier priced Airbnb’s where having SOMETHING is a step above the rest!
Dedicated Workspace
Before we get to the explanation, this can obviously be placed anywhere in the property. We just happened to set it up in the living room so we’re putting it here! We purchased a nice sturdy desk and chair from Target. We thought that would be perfect for a dedicated workspace. After a negative review about how our property wasn’t ‘homely’ enough, we decided to add some additional features (more on improving your property using Airbnb reviews here!). This included a lamp with built-in phone charger, a power strip with additional outlets and USB ports, and shelves above decorated with various trinkets. Following that review things looked like a real workspace!
It may be tempting to just throw a desk in the corner of a room like we did. But if you’ve ever worked from home you know that having a true dedicated space for work means more than that. When decorating this space think of some things you’d like. On our shelves we put faux plants, a globe, and an hourglass. Nothing crazy, but it made it look much more inviting than a blank desk!
Honorable Mention: Sleeper Sofa
In our opinion, this is pretty underrated. While you may opt out for a number of reasons, it can be an easy way to fit another guest or two in the property. And that almost always means you can charge more. So while I won’t say it’s a must have for you, it is for us.
Now, as far as what makes it a ‘sleeper’ is pretty lenient. Ideally, if you’re saying that you have an additional place to sleep on the couch it is comfortable. Whether that be a pull out bed or the foldable couch where the backrest becomes the second half of the ‘bed’. If you’re going to offer a regular couch as an additional bed (like we did), make sure it’s comfortable!
Things We’ll Be Trying
We have no intentions to stop being hosts. And with that, we’re gathering as much information as we can about successful ways to furnish our Airbnbs. On top of the list of our must haves for a property, we’ve also gathered some things we’ll be trying in our next properties. Check them out!
Video/Arcade Games
If you plan to host families or groups, having video games or arcade games (or both!) can be a huge win. Now this doesn’t necessarily have to fit in the living room, but we felt it could be mentioned here in case that’s where you want to put them.
Walmart offers arcade games that are simple to set up. We have helped friends put together a few and they are sturdy. But you can also use an old gaming console if you don’t have the space! We’re big on adding things to the house that count as amenities on Airbnb, and both arcade games and game console count!
Indoor Fireplace
This will of course depend on where we end up with our next property. But basically if it’s any further north than Orlando we’ll seriously consider fitting an indoor fireplace into the living room. Having one available can help guests stay toasty on cold nights. Your space doesn’t have one built in? There are smaller options available that plug in!
Sound System
Another Airbnb amenity. We want to give our future guests the chance to dance and have fun in our space! Creating a great entertainment space is made easy with good music, and offering our guests the option to plug into a sound system is perfect for that. We aren’t going to go overboard with anything that would upset the neighbors, but a decent system that has good sound quality is what we’ll be looking for.
Create A Comfortable Entertainment Space
However you decide to move forward, keep your guests in mind. What can you provide them that makes the living room a space for entertaining? They are vacationing in your space, so help them have a great time! We hope this helped give some insight into how we approach our necessities. These lists don’t contain everything we put in our property, but will certainly help cover the essentials.