A Waterloo couple has been putting substantial effort into an old property on Fourth Street, turning the house into a rental property while striving to maintain its old-school charm.

Christy Johnson spoke about the work she’s put into the property which has been dubbed the O’Bannon House.

Johnson, along with her husband Rick, purchased the property some time ago and have been renting the house through Air BnB for two years.

Johnson said she’s lived in Monroe County all her life, having moved from Columbia to Waterloo when she was a small child and feeling a deep love for the community ever since.

She worked as a teacher in the Waterloo School District for roughly a decade before having to step away to oversee family matters. She has since worked in the Lindbergh School District in St. Louis and expects to retire at the end of the next school year.

While Johnson’s career has been in teaching, a longtime passion of hers has been design, which has come in handy since she and her husband have been fixing up and managing the O’Bannon House.

“Education has been my job. Design has been my passion throughout my life,” Johnson said. “My kids are always like, ‘Mom, I don’t know why you went into education. Why didn’t you get a design degree?’ And I just didn’t, but I read enough and study and research enough of any design books that I probably could have a degree in it if they gave it out like that.”

With retirement on the horizon for both of them, they opted to purchase the property several years ago, using their individual talents to turn it into the rental property it is today.

“He is a contractor. He has been his whole life,” Johnson said. “I did the design aspect of it. It’s a lot of work… I think eventually it’s going to be very profitable for us, but it costs a lot of money to rehab a place and make it really nice.”

The O’Bannon House currently consists of two apartments listed separately on Air BnB: The Ruby and The Hugh.

The Ruby, which opened two years ago, is one of the spaces on the ground floor of the property. Johnson described it as the more elegant of the two with something of a French influence. She further described it as “old-looking without being old,” as it still contains “modern sensibilities.”

The Hugh opened more recently and is the upstairs loft which spans the length of the building. Johnson spoke to the “mid-century cool” aesthetic of this unit.

Johnson discussed how she came to design these two units – as well as her general approach to design. 

She voiced her disapproval of taking an old house – the building is 190 years old according to the Air BnB listing – and trying to make it look like many other modern homes.

“I believe that every house will kind of tell you how to design it,” Johnson said. “I personally think it’s kind of crazy to go into a big, old house like that and make it look super-ultra-modern. It’s speaking that ‘This is what I want. This is who I am.’ They kind of have their own personalities.”

Johnson also touched on what she believes helps the O’Bannon House stand out among other rental properties in the area.

Along with the proximity to downtown Waterloo and the amenities – she noted supplying guests with the ingredients for Belgian waffles as the O’Bannon House features a waffle maker – she pointed to interactions with renters online and how they have become good friends with several guests.

“We can’t have that many people into our own home, but we love to have people into our home,” Johnson said. “It’s just kind of an extension of that. If there’s anything that sets us apart, that would probably be it. We want them to feel like they’re at home.”

She further explained the names of the house and the units. The O’Bannon name, she said, was selected in honor of her husband’s family who had a very old house he has many fond memories of.

Ruby and Hugh are the names of her husband’s grandparents, as is Maxine, the other ground-floor unit the couple is hoping to prepare in the future.

“There is no way I would even begin that until I’m retired,” Johnson said. “One Air BnB is a lot, and two and working full-time is a lot a lot. That will be something that we touch on, probably, the end of next school year.”

As Johnson and her husband both approach retirement, their sights are primarily focused on getting The Maxine ready for rent once they have more free time.

For more information on the O’Bannon House, visit the O’Bannon House Design Facebook page or email johnson5@htc.net.