Published 2:30 pm Wednesday, February 7, 2024
BURLEY, Idaho — Instead of growing crops like her dad, Krista Hansen is growing a field of U-pick flowers and built an innovative rental shaped like a giant flower pot.
Krista and her daughter, Whitney Hansen, brainstormed about innovative ways to use the family land in southeastern Idaho near Burley. They entered a contest offered by Airbnb’s OMG! Fund and won $100,000 to build the pleasantly peculiar project.
Whitney, a financial coach in Boise, read about the contest and told her mom about it. They brainstormed while taking a walk and talked about their love for flowers.
“We thought a flowerpot Airbnb was weird enough to win, and it would be ideal on land I own that my dad had once farmed,” said Krista, a Realtor and skin care adviser in Boise.
The fund awarded $100,000 each to 100 winning applicants who proposed ideas for wacky rentals worldwide. More than 10,000 plans were submitted.
“The exterior will be a terra-cotta-colored stucco, so it will look like a clay pot,” Krista said.
Whitney invested about 40 hours into the application. She described their construction plans, planning and zoning approval, financial projections, and location. Its Instagram account is the Idaho Flowerpot.
The Idaho Flowerpot is 24 feet tall with a 20-foot circular base. The first floor of the 430-square-foot interior will have a bathroom and living room. A spiral staircase leads to the second-floor bedroom, while the flat roof will be a lounging area.
Renters of the Idaho Flowerpot will have many choices while strolling through the field of flowers. Krista plans to plant flowers that will bloom throughout the growing season including lavender, zinnia, cosmos, and sunflowers.
For autumn, people can pick pumpkins, gourds and Indian corn.
“We applied last June and were so excited when we found out we’d won in October,” Whitney said.
She began searching for a builder.
“The local contractors were busy or not interested in doing a round structure,” she said. “I googled round vacation rentals and found grain bins in Lava. I called the owner and asked who his contractor was.”
Riley MacButch of Pocatello embraced the eccentric project and built it in about three weeks in May. It was challenging because it is circular as well as slanted.
“The exterior walls tilt outward …, which equates to the circumference of the roof overhanging the circumference of the base by almost 4 feet,” he said. “My laser ‘level’ was crucial to the construction; a standard carpenter’s level was useless on a project like this.”
The Idaho Flowerpot will tentatively be ready for reservations by early September.
Krista Hansen and Whitney Hansen
• Ages: Krista is 60, and her daughter Whitney is 35
• Occupations: Krista is a Realtor and skin care adviser, Whitney is a financial coach and podcaster
• Hometown: Burley, Idaho
