When it comes to furnishing your Airbnb, there are a lot of things to think about. You want to stay within budget, make sure you get everything (this is why having a checklist helps!), and ultimately create a space that guests will love. Another thing we recommend thinking about is purchasing furniture that is not only stylish, but also durable. Because the last thing you want is a guest complaining about your furniture breaking (spoiler alert: we’ll include what happened to us!). So follow along for some tips on picking durable and guest-friendly furniture.
What Needs To Be Durable?
An easy way to get started with choosing durable furniture is to know what needs to be durable in the first place. For this, you’ll really want to think about how items are used. For example, anything that guests will be sitting on is a good candidate for sturdy choices.
You’ll want to consider the durability of couches, chairs, tables, desks, decorations that aren’t secured, and even things like the shower bar. Save yourself a headache and get a bar that screws into the wall!
You’ll also want to make sure the property itself is sturdy. For example, we had closet doors in the master bedroom that were meant to slide side-by-side. For some reason, we had guests trying to pull on them instead of slide. That led to them falling off the tracks.
We’d recommend taking a look around the property to ensure things like this are secured!
How To Pick Durable Furniture
The best way to pick durable furniture is in person. Being able to test each piece out to see how sturdy it is can be very helpful. However, it’s not always possible. So what do you do in that case? I’d rely on reviews.
Taking a look at reviews can allow you to view the product from the eyes of a consumer who’s already tested the product out. If you see positive reviews, that’s a great sign. Reviews mentioning durability? Even better! Usually you’ll be able to spot some flimsy products with negative reviews.
If you are able to go in person, you’ll want to test the product out. Have a seat. Wiggle around. Be slightly aggressive. Obviously you don’t want to break the store model, but get a good feel for the product.
One thing from experience (more on that below) that I think can help is to look at the footing of the furniture. Small, flimsy legs can lead to the product breaking. Especially if it’s something where multiple people will be sitting at once, such as a couch or loveseat.
In terms of picking materials, solid wood or thick metal will almost always be the best bet. Plastic can be okay, but I’d shy away from them for seating or high traffic items.
Our Couch Pick Hurt Us
When we were planning out the style of our property, we wanted a bright, fun couch. In our searches, that led us to choose a royal blue sectional from Wayfair. The silver legs added to the funkiness, and we thought it was perfect. Within a few days it was shipped and we put it together. All is well! So we thought.
One day following a guest’s stay, we got a message from our cleaner that the couch was broken among a few other things. The completely filled trash cans with empty alcohol bottles and food trays led us to believe they were having a party. Another story for another day!
We went over to take a look. The bolt attaching the middle supporting leg was sheered off, leaving the leg at an angle. The worst part was the bolts holding the back piece completely sheered off as well!
Not to worry. A few long screws put in the right places set the bolts and pieces back in place. However, a few stays later we had a guest complain that the back came off again. We have had nothing but issues with this couch. Our next one will be built much sturdier! Take from our experience and purchase one built to last. It’s worth the extra money.
Don’t Forget To Choose Guest-Friendly!
In this case, guest-friendly would mean high traffic. You’ll be having all sorts of guests staying at your place, and they’ll all have different needs. They’ll also likely be on vacation, able to spend much more time using your space. Due to this, it’s likely your furniture will receive more wear and tear than if it were to sit in your home.
So that means you want materials that will last. Keep in mind anything that could stain, fade, or even rip. Based on our experience, it seems like a leather couch or one with a patterned fabric would’ve suited our space better. That way it could be easily cleaned, or if something did end up staining the fabric it would be less noticeable.
We also recommend using mattress covers to preserve your mattresses. Even after a full year of wear and tear on our linens, the mattresses look as good as the day they arrived. It’s much easier and cheaper to change out a $35 mattress protector than a $350 mattress.
10 High-Use Items That Should Be Durable
I’m a huge fan of lists. It helps me go back and make sure I didn’t forget anything. I figured it would be best to have a list of items you should focus on when it comes to purchasing durable furniture for your Airbnb. Here ya go!
- Couch
- Recliner/loveseat
- Dining table
- Dining chairs
- Work desk
- Desk chair
- Bed frame
- Mattress (use mattress protectors)
- Shower rod (drill into wall!)
- Loose decorations i.e. items not hung up on the wall
Have Fun Decorating!
We had a ton of fun decorating our Airbnb, and we hope you do too! We just recommend taking some precautions when purchasing high-use items so that they last as long as possible. Stuff happens, but we learned it’s best to start off on the right foot. That will save you from some headaches down the road!