We’re welcoming interior designer and luxury hospitality maven, Blair Moore of Moore House Design, to discuss diversifying your revenue streams as a designer with high-end short term rental properties.
Since the onset of the pandemic, it feels like every designer - myself included - is branching out to beautiful vacation rental properties. It's become an opportunity to stretch some design muscles, enjoy time away from the office, and turn a profit. We're bringing in interior designer and short-term rental maven Blair Moore to discuss the ins and outs of making high-end short-term rentals profitable as a designer.
Balancing a thriving interior design business, running a small fleet of luxury boutique stays, launching a bespoke e-commerce line, and starring on her very own episode of Magnolia Network's Point of View series, Blair Moore is a maverick, muse, and magician. She's mastered the art of a family business and unpretentious luxury. I'm so thrilled to share my conversation with Blair, CEO and Principal of Moore House Design.
In this episode, Blair and I discuss:
The Moore House family-owned and operated business model
Crossovers between interior design and luxury hospitality
How Moore House expanded into guest stay accommodations
Benefits of diversifying your revenue streams
An excerpt of my conversation with Blair Moore:
Let's talk business models. I think that you all do it so differently than the traditional short term rental market. Talk to me about how you have really differentiated this, from a very basic level that you only book through your site.
Blair: It's focused around three different attributes where it's inspiration, service, and memory, right? So the core principle of Moore House Stays is really what is the inspiration that I'm getting as a client or as a guest when they're walking into that house? What is that inspiration that our design team can give them? What is then the service that makes it feel like a family is looking after them? And then what is that memory the space then invokes for the people coming back? And so those three elements have formulated sort of Moore House Stays and how Moore House Design and Moore House Stays sort of congruently work together.
"For us, the backbone has been about restoring properties that are historic."
- Blair Moore
Can you talk to us a little bit about the financial structure of what it takes to really go from your first to a few properties, and then, in your case, to a few handfuls?
Blair: So, we are not the type of people that grew up with a ton of money. We just all worked our way up and worked and saved our little pennies. So I think that is just something from the get go, we weren't handed a savings account, we built it. We have built everything pretty much on the backbone of profit. We've not really taken any investors or anything like that nor do I think we ever will. There's enough problems within the family to run things, adding another investor in, I think will just be too much for them to handle. So that being said, the design team is definitely our bread and butter. Like our largest margins, our largest profit share is the design team.
The guest stays team absolutely does run a profit. And then you just have to structure it in a way that you're purchasing properties that are not a million dollars of property. You're purchasing properties that are in up-and-coming neighborhoods.
From my years of following you, selling properties doesn't quite seem to be in the plan. Am I wrong? Or do you plan to flip those at any point or they'll just keep expanding?
Blair: It depends on what new thing we find. So, for us, the backbone has been about restoring properties that are historic. So people that are demolishing these absolutely stunning properties and building a brand new build that is using cheaper materials. You're using a design build firm that may not have the amount of years experience to make that house last for a hundred years, 200 years. That's what we wanna stop. We are trying to save these properties and that's how we started. Right? So flipping it and selling it has never really been a part of the process because we're trying to keep these houses useful. Not having someone just decimate it, demolish it, build a modern farmhouse - that should be illegal right now. That is where our core values are.
Show Notes
Mentioned in the episode:
Thanks for reading an excerpt of The Interior Collective Season 1, Episode 9: Creating Boutique Rental Revenue With Authenticity featuring Blair Moore. You can listen to our episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or access the full episode transcription below. You can follow Blair on Instagram and visit her portfolio of work at Moore House Design.
PORTFOLIO CREDITS:
Design by Moore House Design
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Episode Transcript
Anastasia Casey 00:00:02 Hi, this is The Interior Collective, a podcast for the business of beautiful living presented by IDCO Studio. And I'm Anastasia Casey. Today's episode topic is about an unconventional business model rooted in authenticity. My guest is Blair Moore from Moore House Design and Moore House Stays. Since the beginning of the pandemic, it feels like every designer out there, myself included, is branching out to beautiful Airbnbs, as fun, little getaways. Stretching their design muscles, enjoying some time away from the office and hoping to turn a little profit. Balancing a thriving interior design business, running a small fleet of luxury boutique stays, launching a bespoke e-commerce line, and starring on her very own episode of Magnolia Network's Point of View. Blair Moore is both Maverick muse and magician. I met today's guest at our very first session of Design Camp, and she immediately took my breath away. She's mastered the art of a family business and unpretentious luxury. Meet Blair Moore, CEO, and Principal of Moore House design.
Anastasia Casey 00:01:03 and co-founder of Moore House Stays. Blair comes to her projects with an out of the box creativity and staying true to the original character of a space. Moore House is a family effort with a full service design studio, as well as the collection of curated guest days in the New England area. Their spaces are heavy on architectural charm, moody tones and timeless finishes. Their passion of sustainability is at the center of their process, as they restore forgotten homes to their former glory, with organic elements and repurpose pieces of history. Blair went to business school in Australia where she grew up studying marketing and advertising, but she went on to earn a fashion degree from Parsons in New York City. A sharp contrast to growing up on a cattle ranch. While working in Italy at top fashion houses after graduation, she began developing Moore House and Moore House Design during her time off. If you can even consider it time off. Officially launching Moore House in 2017, Blair spends her time between New York and Rhode Island with her fiance and pup Otis. Welcome Blair. I'm so excited to have you. I have not actually had any face time with you since we were together in Austin for Design Camp. Two, three years ago, it was definitely a pre COVID Design Camp.
Blair Moore 00:02:15 It was like right at the precipice of COVID. I think it was like the month before COVID started, like February.
Anastasia Casey 00:02:22 I think you're right. <laugh>
Blair Moore 00:02:24 I think I've been living off that moment of us all being together for what feels like forever.
Anastasia Casey 00:02:31 Well, it's just so sweet. My heart is so full. Your group still travels together. You were all just at Round Top. I know you do market together. It's just so cool to see what I had dreamed of with Design Camp. And then how much further you all took it. I knew we would all be friends, but I think you all like literally text every day,
Blair Moore 00:02:58 Every single day, I'm currently getting 30,000 text messages from them right now, because we're all talking about too many things, but they're also all coming to my wedding at the end of this year, which is so exciting. I'm losing my mind.
Anastasia Casey 00:03:12 I didn't know the wedding was on the schedule. I am so excited to hear that it is officially planned and that is so fun. You're gonna have to get a Design Camp group photo for me and Lindsay.
Blair Moore 00:03:23 Oh my gosh. A hundred percent. I mean, small plug free you, but Design Camp was just such an amazing element of just getting like-minded people together. Just such incredible people, all talking about the same thing, all very passionate and you know, it's hard to meet your group, your tribe, your people, and then finding that is just like, you can go through life with just that, just from that one moment. So kudos to you guys.
Anastasia Casey 00:03:56 <laugh> Thank you. That's so, so, so sweet. I feel that way about every camp, but it's just so cool to see like our original, very first OG camp is still doing it. That is so fun.
Blair Moore 00:04:06 I know you're collecting some pretty cool people that's for sure.
Anastasia Casey 00:04:10 I am, that's really what the collective always was. I was like, I'm just gonna collect the coolest people, the most interesting stories and the most giving souls and just hold them in my pocket forever.
Blair Moore 00:04:22 I love that. I think that's perfect.
Anastasia Casey 00:04:25 So Blair, will you give us a little bit of an intro? Let's start with the two core businesses, cause I do know there's more business coming up later this year, but let's start with what's going on right now?
Blair Moore 00:04:37 Yeah. So we've got our main team, which is our design team, which is sort of the main part of our business. We've got a team of seven, receiving warehouse, a design firm that handles projects. We're handling I think 28 projects right now, all over the country. A very, very cool one is happening in Telluride and California that everyone's gonna find out about soon. So yeah, that's our main focus is the design team. For the design side of the business, we build most of our own furniture, with a sustainable sort of background. So, focusing on the internals of sofas and the internals of cabinetry supporting local artisans, that sort of thing. And then we have this fun other side of our business, which is the guest stay side. So our guest stay side essentially is a way that our design team was able to sort of stretch our wings.
Blair Moore 00:05:35 We are a family focused business, but we have a lot of team members that are not family that have become family. So, you know, we just get to stretch our wings, not having a client tell us exactly what we have to do on a project. But you know, there are give and takes with that in the sense that we have to do it on a tight budget. We have to do it in the sense that it is wearable, that it can get brutally beaten up consistently. You know, it's just a lifeline of another section of what we do here and we love it.
Anastasia Casey 00:06:13 So for those listening who do not already follow Moore House Stays, tell me about the general vibe/plan. They're in New England, mostly Rhode Island, is that correct?
Blair Moore 00:06:25 Correct.
Anastasia Casey 00:06:25 And they are the most beautiful, rehabed, historic spaces. Tell us a little bit about that.
Blair Moore 00:06:32 Yeah, so essentially, most of the cottages are in Rhode Island and then we have a slew of cottages opening up in Maine. We've got one that just launched on the Magnolia Network, which is pretty cool. Then we have a hotel opening up there as well. So, how we started essentially was, I have been renovating with my parents since I was two. I think <laugh>, tried to get away from it and say, okay, I'm gonna be in fashion because I don't wanna do what my parents do. So, that didn't work. I mean, I loved it, loved it very much, but the interior design, restoration, and historic homes has been in my blood. Like I get giddy when we look at a new historic home. Since I was very little, my parents had been renovating cottages and renovating houses all over the world from Australia to New England to, you know, everywhere.
Blair Moore 00:07:32 And so, essentially when we moved back from Australia, I was about 21 years old and headed into the city to go to Parsons. Then mom and dad had purchased a little cottage that was there and they were always flipping houses, right.My dad is a sustainable freak, in the sense that if he can use something that's reclaimed or something that has been thrown in a dumpster or something that is wasteful to someone else's eyes, he wants to reuse it in the space. And so for me, I grew up that way and I think that ability where growing up in Australia where you have to be super thoughtful about how you attain product, how you use that product, and how you waste less was really important for me. And that's what I focused on in Parsons was really the sustainable aspect of that sustainable materials, weight, zero waste, that sort of thing.
Blair Moore 00:08:30 So, you know, fast forward Parsons finished, I am working a job at Ralph, Calvin, Bottega Veneta and mom had opened up a little cottage, they renovated it, they were gonna move into it. I think this is like every interior designer's life where if their family were rehabbing, they lived in a house that was unfinished. It finished, it sold like crazy. But, yeah they did that and I was like, mom, don't sell it again and move into another place that's unfinished. Like people wanna experience this. People want to experience what you do, she's the hostess with the mostess. That's just always been her. How can she create some experience for someone that's coming to stay over at our house. Same thing happened in Australia. I was working at Ralph at that point of time and I started working on the side of being like, okay, well, how can we utilize this?
Blair Moore 00:09:37 How can we procure more properties, make it profitable? Extending that into a new design was the direction that I was going, but how can I also help her in the sense that she doesn't have to sell a house and just move on, right? A piece of you leaves with that house every time you sell it. While it's exciting to jump into something else, a part of you leaves, you know. You're like I put all this blood, sweat and tears into this space and it's individual, it's historic, it's stunning. And you wanna carry that on. So Moore House Stays was born, I guess <laugh>
Anastasia Casey 00:10:19 So Blair and I could have talked about a billion topics and I already told her I'm gonna chase her down to get her on Season Two to talk more about the design studio. But I really want to focus on this concept of stays. I myself have always been completely fascinated by how beautiful this brand is, but also just the functionality of it. To me, it's a dream. I wish I could just collect houses, and collect houses, and collect houses. But I mean, money's a real thing and you can't just have a bunch of houses that you're paying for and renovating and not willing to sell it or rent it. So this concept is so amazing on these short term stays.
Blair Moore 00:11:01 Yeah. There's so many avenues of this that you could even go down as well.
Anastasia Casey 00:11:06 <laugh> I'm like, yes, let's talk business models. But first and foremost, I think that you all do it so differently than the traditional short term rental market. Talk to me about how you have really differentiated this, from a very basic level that you only book through your site. It's not something that's on Airbnb, to the actual experience of staying there. How is it different than a usual short term rental?
Blair Moore 00:11:34 Yeah. So the number one thing for me, it's focused around three different attributes where it's inspiration, service, and memory, right? So the core principle of Moore House Stays is really what is the inspiration that I'm getting as a client or as a guest when they're walking into that house? What is that inspiration that our design team can give them? What is then the service that makes it feel like a family is looking after them? And then what is that memory the space then invokes for the people coming back? And so those three elements, you know, together, they have formulated sort of Moore House Stays and how Moore House Design and Moore House Stays sort of congruently work together. So, you know, did I answer your question there? I went on a tangent.
Anastasia Casey 00:12:29 Yeah. I love that tangent. Going back when I say that Blair's team is a family team, both biologically, as well as those who have come to her. Talk to me about if there is a clear hierarchy or how you divide that up amongst particularly your biological family. Like how does that work? Because that is a very tricky line.
Blair Moore 00:12:59 Yeah. A very sticky subject. No, okay. So I have a business degree first before I went to Parsons. So naturally I think as the eldest in the family and more of a business savvy mindset, I stick to sort of the hierarchy of the CEO of multiple levels of the company. But that being said, there are things that I can't do and we all sort of stick to our superpowers. Right? My mom's superpower is that she is a guest experience extraordinaire. She will go bend over backwards for all of the guests. And I think that is something that she really enjoys. That is something that she really sits in that zone really, really well. My dad's always renovating, always fixing, is a fixer, right. Very inspirational, crazy, kooky Australian man. If you watched the TV show, you got a minute glimpse of it.
Anastasia Casey 00:14:06 <laugh>
Blair Moore 00:14:07 But he is the one that's sort of the backbone at sort of what that structural to structural engineering and everything around the cottages. My skill set is design, always been designed, always been sort of what is the details? How can we make that cohesive? How does that then extend into the guest experience? And I sort of holistically see the entire process, but also filter it through each person. My sister Bromley, absolutely incredible at systems. Like she is sort of the backend of the system, she sees the design, she sees the system, she sees the marketing aspects. She sees the execution, the back end, all of that. So that's really her wheelhouse that she sits in and my brother's still younger. He's going to architecture school, but he likes to help in and out when he's up from SCAD.
Blair Moore 00:15:03 So I think that's like the family side. And then we filled in the blanks with our team. If we're gonna talk about a larger holistic side of the guest stays team we have on our design team seven, and on our guest days team we have 14, right? So that is stylist, stagers, cleaners, maintenance men, the whole marketing side, online execution. Then our design team is project management, design, online, Instagram, e-commerce, that sort of thing. So I think we all sort of work together, but there's definitely a hierarchy in what everyone's zone of genius is and let them sit in that zone of genius.
Anastasia Casey 00:15:59 So I think the question that a lot of people are wondering is, how does one, I can wrap my head around buying one property but then it's, how does that go into buying multiple properties? Did you all take on investors? Do you do the rentals completely cover and then some, and that's how you can buy others. Can you talk to us a little bit about the financial structure of what it takes to really go from your first to a few, and then in your case to a few handfuls <laugh>
Blair Moore 00:16:34 <laugh> So, we are not the type of people that grew up with a ton of money. We just all worked our way up and worked and saved our little pennies. So I think that is just something from the get go, we weren't handed a savings account, we built it. We have built everything pretty much on the backbone of profit. We've not really taken any investors or anything like that nor do I think we ever will. There's enough, <laugh> there's enough problems within the family to run things, adding another investor in, I think will just be too much for them to handle. So that being said, the design team is definitely our bread and butter. Like our largest margins, our largest profit share is the design team.
Blair Moore 00:17:28 The guest stays team absolutely does run a profit. And then you just have to structure it in a way that you're purchasing properties that are not a million dollars of property. You're purchasing properties that are in upcoming neighborhoods, somewhere that my dad has the greatest eye at he's, what is he, 60 something now. He has never been wrong and never not turned a profit, like a large profit on a property. So I think that having him in our wheelhouse is his stroke of genius is that. They were purchasing properties for a hundred, $130,000, and then pouring their time, their energy and their labor into it that luckily now were worth far more than that. But I think you just have to have a strong mindset on, okay, here's a neighboring property that maybe is up and coming, looking at areas that it's the worst house on the street, you know, that sort of thing. Real estate market really, you know, lends itself into that. But in today's, you know, wheelhouse where we're all looking at a starter home at like a million dollars for a starter home, it's insane. So it's a little bit more difficult, but there are still those areas that are diamonds in the rough. And I think for us, that's where we started and where we've always sat is where is that diamond in the rough? Where is that next place? Like Maine is absolutely blowing up right now. And it's still affordable, but only for a certain period of time.
Anastasia Casey 00:19:02 When Quinn and I were looking for a property, I was obsessed with Maine. Haven't even been to Maine. And I was like, this is where we need to go, Maine and Vermont. I was like, this is where we're gonna go for something historic and renovate. And Quinn was just like, right. But like, how often are we actually gonna be able to use it? He's like, I looked it up and it was gonna be nine and a half hours of travel time because you can't fly into that part of Maine <laugh>. And so I completely am all about, let's buy property in Maine. I think that that's amazing.
Blair Moore 00:19:36 It is a location that is so fantastic. And it's just so rustic and rural still. And that element of having something that is natural and untouched is just wonderful.
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Anastasia Casey 00:20:22 So you told us that the design studio has a higher profit margin or is bringing in more profit than the properties. When it comes to the stays themselves, those cottages.I think you alluded to it earlier, but in my mind, I think designers go into things and they're like, okay, this is a five year plan. We're gonna renovate it, we'll rent it out for a few years, and then at some point we sell it because we need to get that money back out. From my years of following you, selling it doesn't quite seem to be in the plan. Am I wrong? Or do you plan to flip those at any point or they'll just keep expanding?
Blair Moore 00:21:02 It depends on what new thing we find. So, for us, the backbone has been about restoring properties that are historic. So people that are demolishing these absolutely stunning properties and building a brand new build that is using cheaper materials. You're using a design build firm that may not have the amount of years experience to make that house last for a hundred years, 200 years. That's what we wanna stop. We are trying to save these properties and that's how we started. Right? So flipping it and selling it has never really been a part of the process because we're trying to keep