We rented the Havana House from Renee, through a website called Home Away. It was such a lovely…read morebeach house, with a waterfront view in Galveston in Bermuda Beach. The beach house had three rooms -- two with queen beds and 1 room with 4 bunk beds. There was a futon couch and a sleeper sofa too. It could sleep 2 couples, 2 singles (futon and couch) and up to 4 kids in the bunks comfortably, but I wouldn't over-pack the house. We had 5 (2 couples and 1 adult), so it was really perfect. Two bathrooms, one in the master bedroom and one other in the hall. We paid ~$1200 for Saturday through Weds July 7-11th, a peak vacation time.
What sets this beach house apart, other than the friendly relaxed nature of the owner, is the very cool vintage decorations and personal touches throughout the house. It's a beach house that looks like a home, I had friends ask if we were borrowing this house from a friend -- it doesn't look like a standard run of the mill big family beach house. It's really thoughtfully designed. It's got a great beach-facing deck with plenty of adirondack chairs and benches. The living room has a guitar for guests to use, and photos of vintage hawaii, surfing and beaching. The kitchen is roomy and well designed, with a dish washer, full size stove/oven and fridge, a pot rack over the fridge (saves space). Dishes and utensils were all there, including many cooking staples (fish fry, baking soda, cinnamon, sugar etc). There were also plentiful towels and toilet paper for the week. The master bedroom had a comfy mattress and nice thick sheets, and was decently sound insulated. The whirlpool bathtub was smallish, but it was a perfect size for relaxing. There is a washer / dryer in the beach house, a camp shower outside. They had beach chairs and some beach toys downstairs for use, along with a BBQ.
We had 2 families over for a post-wedding reception one of the nights, we had about 30 people there. It got a little crowded in the kitchen, but once we pushed everyone to the living room and deck, it was very nice and the roomy deck was great. Again, if it had been a huge giant hall of a beach house, it wouldn't have felt so "our house-ish" as it did.
Renee came by to meet us a day before we left (we had friends pick up the keys the first night). He was friendly and glad to hear we had a good time. Since we had paid a cleaning fee, he encouraged us to let the cleaning service clean up. We somewhat took him up on that offer, leaving towels and sheets to clean etc. But since it did feel kind of like renting from a friend, we cleaned some too, as we were so happy with the experience that we wanted to leave it clean. We asked that he hold a week or so on sending the deposit because we were going on a honeymoon. A few days after we returned from the honeymoon we had our deposit in the mail! A really nice rental experience, we will look forward to being back.
