Holy smokes you guys! Pretty sure I’ve finally found the perfect airbnb. If you’re into quiet roads, peaceful gardens, and a fan of antiques like me anyway. I love a good hotel, but since we had kids, we’ve become avid vrbo and airbnb users. Considering how much we travel, we’ve stayed in a lot of them…a lot. There have been some really great ones too. All have their perks in regards to location, layout, and design, but the one I’m talking about today totally changed the way I feel about mixing styles and most importantly, the color blue.

My husband and I weren’t able to getaway for our anniversary this year, so we decided to head up to Santa Fe to celebrate a few weekends early instead. He typically handles the sitters and leaves the lodging to me. We didn’t nail down help with the littles until the day before and lodging was scarce since our getaway fell on the same weekend as the insanely popular Spanish Heritage Festival. Lucky for us, someone must have backed out of their reservation for the casita we ended up renting because it randomly popped back up on the map just as I was about to propose that we go to Albuquerque instead.

We arrived a few hours before sunset and started to make our way up the winding dirt roads just north of Canyon Road. The description said to look for a blue gate with a statue of the virgin Mary above it. As we parked, I started to wonder what I had got us into and then I opened the wooden gate and was greeted by the most amazing flower garden. Immediately after opening the front door, I felt a sense of calm. I figured it was the cool icy blue of the interior stucco walls, but that seemed off because I typically dislike shades of blue. No particular reason other than I just never feel at ease around them. I’m a warm color kind of gal I guess. What I really think was going on, was that the host had drenched the house in character. They obviously trust their tenants because tiny, authentic artifacts, quality antiques, and beautiful original paintings and drawings adorned every surface. Just off the living and dining room sat a bright, sunlit kitchen with open shelves, quirky countertop appliances, and the most amazing antique stove. I immediately turned to Josh and said, “Cancel tomorrow’s dinner reservation. Let’s hit the farmers market, stay in, and cook instead”. From there, the house only got better. There were multiple levels that opened up to more rooms adorned in the same way. The library and the master provided access to another immaculate garden. This one flanked with flagstone and a small robin’s egg blue patio table (there’s that blue again). But, I’ll stop rambling and let the photos do it justice.

I literally made a walk through video of the house before our departure. Ya know, just in case we decide to sell off our historic home in downtown and build our own little casita on the canyon rim somewhere.