Walnut Coast · Owner partnerships
Boutique short-term rental management in Pensacola.
Thoughtfully designed homes. Hands-on care. A manager who knows the space, not just the listing. I’m Melissa, and Walnut Coast is built for owners who want a personal, considered approach to their short-term rental—not a place in a mass-market portfolio.
Whether you are preparing a new rental, considering a design refresh or looking for ongoing management, we start with the home and your goals. We serve Pensacola with a specialty in downtown, and choose partnerships where we can stand behind the guest experience.
Meet Melissa
Experience behind the details.
My short-term-rental experience began in Denver, where I previously owned and managed 16 units, and it shows up today in an aged Airbnb hosting account with a 4.8 average across more than 130 guest reviews. I run three Pensacola homes myself today — SunKissed on the Coast, the Cunningham Cottage and the Cunningham Carriage House — with a fourth joining soon. More than ten years in this business — most of it running high-turnover, quality homes where every arrival resets the standard — has shaped how I look at a property: not simply as a listing, but as a place that has to work for the guest, the owner and the people caring for it.
I am also a certified design stager and a licensed real estate agent in four states. That background brings a broader property perspective to conversations about layout, condition, location and investment priorities. It helps me spot what makes a property shine for guests and for you.
Walnut Coast brings those experiences together with my hands-on design work. I want to know the rooms, understand how the home lives and be responsible for the standard we put our name on. My goal is a considered collection of homes—not the largest possible portfolio. A considered collection still grows: three homes today, a fourth joining soon, with the standards of sixteen homes behind every one.
- 10+ years
- Short-term-rental experience
- 4 homes
- In Pensacola today, and growing
- 16 units
- Owned and managed in Denver — where the systems were built
- 4.8 ★
- Airbnb average across 130+ guest reviews
- Four states
- Licensed real estate agent
Why Walnut Coast
Personal responsibility. A considered guest experience.
Boutique is not a price point. It is the attention paid to the home and the stay: the mattress a guest actually sleeps on, the lighting they read by, the dishes they reach for and the condition of the room when they arrive. A beautiful first photograph is only the beginning.
A clear plan before you launch
We walk the home together and look at the address, layout, guest audience and your goals. You leave with a practical plan: what's ready, what's worth investing in, and how to get to your first booking with confidence.
Design guests remember
A cohesive home, not a shopping list. I choose furniture scale, lighting, artwork, real mattresses, linens and kitchen essentials so every room works and photographs beautifully. For tiers 3–5, I can also handle the full ready-to-rent setup; purchases stay on your budget.
Care after the first booking
I write and present the listing, manage pricing and the calendar, answer every guest, coordinate each turnover to our cleaning standard, keep an eye on the home and send you a clear statement for every stay.
Real homes. Executed design.
Different budgets. The same thoughtfulness.
SunKissed and Cunningham Cottage show my work in actual homes managed by Walnut Coast. One draws largely on Wayfair and Amazon; the other uses Havertys furnishings. The source changes. The commitment to a cohesive, comfortable, guest-ready home does not.
Wayfair / Amazon · Tier 3
SunKissed on the Coast
Havertys · Tier 4
Cunningham CottageMy design approach connects the visible room with the everyday operation: enough comfortable seating, sensible furniture placement, useful kitchen contents, washable textiles and pieces that can be cared for between stays. Good design should make the home easier to enjoy and easier to maintain—not simply more expensive.
Homes we care for
Managed by Walnut Coast today.
Three homes today and a fourth joining soon — a collection that grew out of sixteen homes run before these, and one that gets tighter with every address added.
- SunKissed on the CoastManaged now
- The Cunningham CottageManaged now
- The Cunningham Carriage HouseManaged now
- The Cessnock RetreatJoining soon
Currently in the works
More homes, still under renovation.
These homes are in extensive renovation right now. None of them opens any time soon — I’d rather show the work than promise a date. If you own a home and want to know what we would do with it, that is the conversation to start.
The Palmetto
Undergoing an extensive renovation — not opening any time soon.
The Sea Glass
Undergoing an extensive renovation — not opening any time soon.
The Azure Tide
Undergoing an extensive renovation — not opening any time soon.
The Hibiscus
Undergoing an extensive renovation — not opening any time soon.
A partnership, not a handoff
The right home. The right commitment.
I keep a small, considered collection so every home gets my personal attention. Your existing furnishings can stay when they work, and when a room needs a lift, we build an improvement plan together before launch. The goal is care and readiness—not designer labels in every room.
- Owners who love the idea of guests leaving five-star reviews.
- A home we can set up to deliver the stay guests are booking.
- Clear approvals, practical budgets and shared expectations from day one.
- A local Pensacola partner, with a specialty in downtown.
Already operating, but not where you want to be?
I'd love to take a look. Tell me about your listing, guest feedback, the home and your goals, and I'll give you an honest read on what could help—an assessment, a design refresh or full management. We agree on any scope and fee before work begins, so there are no surprises.
How we work together.
You own the home; I run the stay. Your STR management fee covers the day-to-day operation—listing, pricing, guest communication, turnover coordination, reviews and owner reporting. The pass-through cleaning fee pays for a hotel-level turnover: fresh laundry, made beds, spotless bathrooms and kitchen, and a home staged for the next arrival, with anything that needs attention reported to you.
Furnishings and supplies like toilet paper and laundry pods come from your budget — and I'm happy to pick them up and invoice you so you never have to think about it. Design and ready-to-rent setup are separate, clearly quoted services.
Once you're invited, Owner resources walks through the full operating plan, cleaning standard, furnishing planner and setup estimator. You don't need a login to start a conversation—just say hello below.
Before the furniture, the bigger picture
- Location & demand
- Who visits this neighborhood, why they come, and measured distances to the places they care about. A beautiful room cannot change its address.
- Size & room count
- Bedrooms, bathrooms, layout, parking, and usable gathering space determine who can stay comfortably. More beds alone do not make a better rental.
- Budget & staying power
- Furniture is only the beginning: delivery, assembly, linens, supplies, repairs, insurance, utilities, and a reserve for quieter months all belong in the plan.
- Your overall goals
- Income, personal use, launch timing, and how much you want to be involved. The right plan should fit your life as well as the property.
- Readiness & responsibilities
- Applicable rental rules, permits, safety, insurance, and tax responsibilities need attention before launch. We identify what needs checking, rather than assuming every house is ready.
- The everyday operation
- Pricing, guest communication, cleaning, laundry, restocking, maintenance, and clear owner reporting. Consistency after opening matters as much as the first photos.
Our assessment connects these considerations before recommending a furnishing tier. Higher spending does not guarantee higher profit; rates and occupancy vary with demand, season, competition, and the experience you deliver.
Planning your purchases
Five furnishing approaches, honestly considered.
These approaches help explain the choices—not promise a nightly rate or a return on investment. Walnut Coast’s separate ready-to-rent service is offered for tiers 3–5 only. SunKissed and Cunningham show real rooms; the other tier images are illustrations.
Tier 1 · Lowest budget
The Marketplace Tier
Cheapest way in
This is the running-around-town approach: Facebook Marketplace, garage sales, a couch someone was giving away. It costs the least, and it looks like it costs the least.
It's the easiest way in, and a few great secondhand finds can add real character. Just know that guests notice mismatched or tired pieces in photos and reviews, which can hold the nightly rate back — and used furniture tends to need replacing sooner. We'll help you spot which pieces are worth keeping.
Our take: It gets a property listed, and for some owners that's the goal. It's simply not a model we put the Walnut Coast name on.
Tier 2 · Budget, but new
The Flat-Pack Tier
Low budget, all assembly required
Everything is new, everything matches, and everything arrives in a flat box. It's a real step up from secondhand — but it looks and feels like what it is, and guests know it too.
One Pensacola-specific reality: there is no IKEA here. Every piece is ordered online, sight unseen, and when something arrives damaged or wrong — and something always does — you're shipping a heavy box back at your own expense and waiting weeks for the replacement.
Our take: Workable for a starter property, but plan for assembly time, return shipping, and a ceiling on your nightly rate.
Tier 3 · The smart middle
The Amazon / Wayfair Tier
Mid budget, all assembly required
This is where a property starts to genuinely work. With thousands of reviews behind every piece, you can put together rooms that photograph beautifully and hold up to guests — if you choose carefully.
The honest trade-off: every single piece still has to be assembled by an actual human, and that human is not us. A full house of flat-pack furniture is days of work, and one wobbly bed frame shows up in a review.
We're not speaking in theory here — our own SunKissed on the Coast is a Wayfair/Amazon house. Done thoughtfully, this tier earns strong rates and happy guests. It's proof you don't need a luxury budget; you need good taste and patience.
Our take: The best value tier for most owners. We'll happily manage a well-executed Wayfair/Amazon home — we run one ourselves.
Tier 4 · Quality that shows
The White-Glove Tier
Higher budget, delivered and assembled
This is the Havertys route — real wood, real upholstery, delivered and set up by professionals. No hex keys, no missing screws, no return labels.
Guests feel the difference the moment they sit down, and that feeling is what supports a higher nightly rate. Solid furniture also survives the rental life: it can be tightened, touched up, and re-loved instead of replaced.
Our Cunningham homes were furnished this way, and the difference in guest feedback — and in what the calendar can charge — is real.
Our take: For an owner who cares about quality and wants the rate to reflect it, this tier pays for itself in reviews and repeat bookings.
Tier 5 · Restoration Hardware / Arhaus
The Extended White-Glove Tier
A serious investment
Restoration Hardware, Arhaus, and the like — heirloom-weight furniture, designer lighting, rooms that belong in a magazine. This is for an owner willing to put a boatload of money into a project because the property, the location, and the guest can all support it.
Done properly, this tier commands the highest nightly rates in a market. It shines when the home and neighborhood match it — so we'll help you decide whether this level will pay you back before you spend.
Our take: Extraordinary when the property calls for it — and we'll give you an honest read on whether yours does.
Starting from the ground up?
Still house-hunting? Melissa is a licensed real estate agent — and if you close on your home with her as your agent, she'll cut her per-room ready-to-rent setup fees in half. It's her way of putting her money where the partnership starts, on a home you'll build together from the very first walkthrough. Ask her about it when you talk through your project; she'll walk you through the details personally.
Start the conversation
Tell us a little about you and the property. Melissa reads every note personally and will reach out to talk through your goals. There's no obligation—just a friendly first conversation.