Photography courtesy of Patti Gabriel
Are you proud of your home and willing to share it for supplemental cash? Are you looking for something less sterile than a hotel for your reunion of college friends? Try Airbnb.com (newer, easier to search, a little hipper, with more security filters) or VRBO.com (a longer-established listing service with a slightly older demographic, skewing to families and longer stays). A quick browse of local properties will remind you of the crazy variety our area has to offer—and what sort of getaway you need right now.
Pick Your Mood
Some rentals are discreet little fantasies—luxe penthouses, ivied carriage houses, a 7-acre wooded estate in the middle of Clayton. Others are romps made to order for a family, such as the five-bedroom Lake Sherwood house with swimming dock, kayaks, and a paddleboat (vrbo.com/333364). Or Tami Morton’s log cabin in scenic Marthasville with a lake in the front yard and “more wildlife than imaginable” (vrbo.com/746985).
Pick Your Era
A fun modern house uses old Macs as a cocktail table pedestal. A bungalow on Route 66 goes vintage, with bedrooms themed to ’40s tropical travel and the Space Age ’50s (airbnb.com/rooms/832639). The Kuhlmann Wagon Shop in St. Charles dates back to the 1830s (vrbo.com/469831), and Sarah Grobe’s Soulard rowhouse was on the city map in 1875 (airbnb.com/rooms/4376387).
Pick Your Ambience
Patti Gabriel turned an old Clifton Heights bakery (pictured) with big storefront windows into a gallery for folk artist Theresa Disney. Here, guests are surrounded by Disney’s bright, colorful art—even in the Back Room, which Gabriel rents for small parties (vrbo.com/801974). Jessica Gibbens went for the opposite mood, sleek and Buddhist-serene, with her 1909 rehab in Tower Grove (airbnb.com/rooms/11398267). Ben and Sara Brown now spend their summers on a sailboat in the Bahamas but couldn’t bear to part with their big house on Piasa Road in Elsah, so they rent it as a gated-garden retreat (airbnb.com/rooms/6950045).
Tender Touches
Luxury bedding and Netflix are no-brainers, but they don’t warm the heart. Sarah Grobe keeps her fridge stocked with local craft beer and offers Kakao chocolates. Tami Morton gives guests a discount to her spa. Jessica Gibbens bought two little boys a coloring book and markers; Patti Gabriel bought Cardinals peanuts and pencils for a young family and fills a basket with toiletries, fresh cream, and freshly ground gourmet coffee for the grownups.
