A Midcentury Desert Ranch Gets a Minimalist Kitchen Update

"I’m a budget shopper and a tightwad, I guess," Danielle admits. "I like the challenge of finding something and making it look really high-end without having that $50,000 price tag on it."

“I think I look at homes for sale more than I check my email,” says Danielle Shaw, the owner and designer of the perpetually booked Airbnb property Palo Verde Ranch . Named for the massive palo verde tree that creates a spectacular canopy of branches in the front yard, Danielle’s Joshua Tree, California, home is her first foray into the hospitality world. She convinced her mother and husband to open an Airbnb with her in 2018 and hasn’t looked back since.

Before Danielle could open the house to guests, it needed a serious rehaul. The kitchen was the first order of business, and Danielle and her husband attempted to do the demo themselves. “The inspector told us he was 100 percent sure the kitchen wall we wanted to tear down wasn’t load-bearing,” Danielle explains. “But when my husband began to take it down, he got really scared as the ceiling started to sag. So we found a contractor. We did as much as we could and we had him do whatever we didn’t feel comfortable doing.”

That balance of DIY and contractor work turned out to be the key to Danielle’s success throughout the entire renovation. All of the complicated jobs were finished flawlessly, while she saved by doing simple tasks herself—and her wabi-sabi design brought it all together. Here’s how she did it:

Before: The kitchen was full of drab white cabinets and funky (in a bad way) textured walls.