Today we’d like to introduce you to Courtney Childers & Kari Ziesemer.
Hi Courtney Childers &, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
We (Courtney & Kari) bought an interior design business about 5 years ago. We love what we do, but felt a calling to branch out and do a project that was truly our own with us as the homeonwers. We toured a historic estate that was for sale in Alexandria and fell in love. In 2023 we purchased what we now call the Starling House – a historic estate built in 1909. The house is over 4,000 square feet and consists of 9 bedrooms with 11 beds. We remodeled the house ourselves in three months, with updates consisting of a new kitchen, adding a bathroom, refinishing flooring and millwork, painting every wall, exterior updates, and fully furnishing the home. We opened it up for rentals in December 2023. It is now a hot spot in Alexandria for nightly and hourly rentals and we love sharing the history of the home with our guests!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Funding for a house so large proved challenging, and making sure we had proper insurance coverage, damage protection, etc for the historic features in the house was not easy to secure. We also ran into several challenges as we remodeled due to the age of the home (plaster walls, custom millwork that was hard to replicate, old plumbing, etc). Also, once we went live, it was hard to secure our first bookings with no reviews. But once people started staying and leaving good reviews, the future bookings got easier.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Pinecasa Rentals?
We started an LLC called Pinecasa Rentals which we run the Starling House under. We currently only have the one rental house. We are 2 women who are interior designers by trade with a passion for historic houses! We love being “hosts” to tourists who visit Alexandria and creating a unique and customized experience when they stay at our home.
What matters most to you?
HOSPITALITY! Creating spaces where people feel welcome, comfortable, and pampered. We want our guests who stay in our home to have a remarkable experience because of the space they are surrounded by and the thoughtful touches we left there for them. The customer experience is everything.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.starlinghousealex.com
- Instagram: @Starling_House_Alexandria
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1bRtwQxGEu/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Other: Airbnb: https://airbnb.com/h/starling-house VRBO: https://t.vrbo.io/g5KOicAUFHb Peerspace (Hourly rentals): https://host.peerspace.com/Starling-House
