The Quirky Zen House Airbnb Experience in Gainesville, Florida + Our 60s Mod Room

This weekend I employed my niece and took her an hour south to Gainesville, Florida for a Body&Soul sales event. The venue was the gorgeous new-ish Depot Park. We, along with all the other vendors, discovered they'd lied about many details of the event. It wasn't the blockbuster turn-out we were expecting but with hard work we made it profitable and made some fun memories, too.

This event happened to be during the same weekend of the biggest football game in Florida. So I'm told, I'm not going to fact-check that, I hate sports! And now I hate the related sports partying because the night we arrived we maybe slept 3 hours if we were lucky! The whole block was pulsating, it felt like trying to sleep in an actual dance club. It made our Zen House NOT so Zen.

Despite the location and grumpiness of a guy we're assuming lives in or helps run the Airbnb, I adored the home itself. Sunny yellow, multiple gongs, spatial harmony, zen garden, ladder to the roof, history?! My kind of kitschy place. Different details gave it the appearance of an old fashioned church, juxtaposing that with zen trappings was delightful and spiritually uplifting to look at.

(1) the 60s mod "art room" we stayed in. (2) The entrway and our colorful room door (3) Beautiful bedazzled flower of life on the sidewalk outside the house

We stayed in the Art Room, I loved what they did with the tall ceilings and the bookshelf full of new-age books. I was clearly in the midst of fellow Japanophiles with the house name. The "learning Japanese" workbooks in the shelves were completely filled-out, too.

The gate on the side of the property

The gardens and exterior looked perfect but you could tell different spaces on the inside were under construction. I like staying at places that are a little unfinished, picturing the potential is invigorating.

And the communal kitchen bought back memories of all my favorite types of hippie shared-living places. The bathroom had a huge tub and I loved the old painted wood walls.

A picture of the courtyard I snuck through the fence, it was locked. I seemed like this was an airbnb and communal living space?

Multiple drunk asses rung the gongs loudly at night while we were trying to rest for long outdoor market days, the guests next to us were too loud and the location of this place near the busy Main St. means every weekend probably gets too loud, but it was still wonderful to get away from my normal environment even for a couple of days and just for work. I'm definitely planning to do more trips to Gainesville for more chakra healing (we did a trade for one and it was awesome!) and artistic and spiritual inspiration.


BTW: I extended my online sale until Sunday if you're looking for Gift-giving, I ship things same-day so they arrive in time for Christmas. You don't have to type in a code, just click here.

For daily updates, information, & Inspiration: Follow me on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram.