I’ve been home this week, taking a little time off and contemplating our upcoming Thanksgiving feast.

I had a surgery that needed some recovery and thought this was a good time to take a bit of a break, right before the holidays. It is working out perfectly, and I’m getting to do a little planning and blogging too. I’m feeling pretty good already, so everything went well and I should be back to taking another major project or two in the new year.

We’re renting an Airbnb Barndominium for Thanksgiving!

Today, I wanted to share this cool Airbnb we have rented outside the Austin area, for our Thanksgiving, that will be shared with family members there. My MIL moved to an Assisted Living place in that area this past summer, so this year, we are going to head that way for Thanksgiving to make the get together easier for her.

We have friends coming to stay here in our house while we are gone, to celebrate locally with their family, so our house will be occupied. :-)

I thought that by heading to an Airbnb, that I could give myself a little more time to recuperate too. My husband and daughter love to be in charge of the cooking, so they will handle most of that anyway.

Last year, we did an outdoor Thanksgiving meal. It was fun and something we’ve never done before. I was even featured on the Weather Channel on spots, several times during Thanksgiving, talking about how we were taking our dinner outside for safety reasons and just to enjoy the nice weather. :-)

An outdoor Thanksgiving dining tabletop setting | Carla Aston, Designer

I selected this rental place, a “Barndominium”, because it had a big open entertaining space indoors and a nice outdoor space too, complete with an outdoor kitchen! There’ll be plenty of room for all of us to spread out, cook and enjoy being together for the day.

I’m sooo picky when it comes to rentals now, after staying in a few I didn’t like and weren’t as good they advertised. I have also watched every short term rental type design show there is and would love to design one myself soon!

The nice thing about this one is that outdoor space. We’ll just see how the weather goes and have the option for either dining experience!

Barndominium indoor view to the kitchen - carlaaston.com

Living and dining space in the Barndominium - carlaaston.com

Here’s the outdoor area. It looks like there are plenty of dishes, etc. We will bring some food pre-prepared, but will also do some cooking here.

Outdoor dining, lounge space and kitchen / grill area. It looks perfectly outfitted for entertaining! carlaaston.com

It has a hot tub and a firepit too! That’s always a bonus. carlaaston.com

Here’s the outdoor kitchen. Looks like maybe a small pizza oven out there? Not that we will be making pizza for Thanksgiving, but it’s kind of cool to have. Maybe we will make pizza once while we’re there. carlaaston.com

There are only two bedrooms in this Barndominium, but that works perfectly for us, as we have family coming from the local area to spend the day. My daughter will fly in from LA, so she’ll have one room, and we’ll have the other.

The bedrooms look really nice. It’s great for her, as she usually gets the “kids” rooms, bunks or a loft space when we rent, since she is single. :-)

Primary bedroom in the Barndominium - Spicewood, TX | carlaaston.com

Secondary bedroom in the Barndominium, Spicewood, TX | carlaaston.com

I can’t resist doing some kind of tablescape for the dining table, whether we will be indoors or out. I plan to forage a bit to find some things for the table, but I’ll bring a few of the pumpkins I’ve bought for the house.

I will probably buy some flowers, bring some pinecones, a vase or two, and then I do plan on bringing my glassware. It seems like glassware runs out fast in rental property, especially the way we like to serve the wine!

I bought these vintage smoked glasses at Round Top last spring, specifically for my Thanksgiving table, so I’m bringing these babies with me!

Smoked glass goblets for Thanksgiving dinner tabletop - carlaaston.com

These goblets are likely from the 1980’s, when smoked glass was having a moment. They’re perfect for a fall tabletop look, could hold water, wine or even a margharita! I got a set of 12 for $20 in Roundtop last spring. carlaaston.com

I’ll let you know how we enjoy the place and how it all works out. I’ll also post some pics on Instagram of the table, etc. so follow me there.

And if you’re looking for some links for Thanksgiving tabletop items, try this post below. I updated the links for 2021 and I love the terracotta colorway of the fresh tabletop design!

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