This essay as told is based on a conversation with Leela Rea, 37, who build a greenhouse in his Californian garden. She now rents it out for small events and photo shoots, earning an average of $24,000 a month. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Our family always passed by this beautiful house in Vista. There were 100 foot trees, eucalyptus, greengrass growing down the hills and hydrangeas. It didn’t feel like we were in Southern California, but rather in the middle of the European countryside.
My eldest daughter always said, “Mom, it’s the princess’s house” or “It’s the Christmas house.” There was so much character.
In 2024, we saw that the house was for sale. Even though we were a week away from vacationing in Europe, I told my husband, “We are absolutely buying this house.” »
We closed escrow while we were in Switzerland and purchased the house for about $1 million. His interest rate is almost 8% and our monthly mortgage payment is around $7,000.
A few years earlier, my husband and I sold our wedding venue business. Living in Southern California was expensive and we owned several properties, including a house in Carlsbad, which was our primary residence at the time.
We wanted a way to increase our income without having to return to work full time. For a while, we rented out our Vista house, as well as the lawn and garden, on Airbnb. We also considered building an accessory dwelling unit on the rental property.
We consulted a contractor who gave us a quote for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom accessory dwelling unit (ADU). In total – with permits and construction – he told us to budget between $500,000 and $600,000, with a margin of error.
I said to myself, “There’s no way this thing will cost me $600,000 to build, and I’d make about $3,500 a month.” I also have three young children. Could I even trust them to run with a stranger living on our property?
My experience in the wedding industry gave me an idea
Instead of an ADU or tiny house, my husband and I decided to build a greenhouse in the backyard.
I’m not going to pretend I just came across this idea. I knew what I was doing. I’ve worked in the wedding industry before and have a pretty good idea of what people are looking for.
In Southern California, there are many beautiful venues, but few small, intimate venues. For example, there’s a gorgeous wedding venue about 15 minutes down the street, and it’s an insane property. But they have four or five weddings a day there, and their minimum on food and drinks is probably between $50,000 and $100,000.
If you’re having a rehearsal dinner or baby shower, you won’t want to spend $50,000. This is where we come in. We say to each other, “We’ll meet you here.” »
Rea has filed a patent application for his greenhouse design. Courtesy of Leela Rea/Natalie Wade
I’ve had greenhouses on my Pinterest board for 10 years. We almost hired an English company to build ours, but the quote was well over our budget. So I sketched out my own idea and contacted a welder friend.
I applied for a patent for my greenhouse design. It cost us almost $200,000 to build, including electrical work, flooring and a fireplace. To help finance construction, we sold some of our real estate properties, but not our Carlsbad home. In total it took around 10 months to build.
The greenhouse brings in about $24,000 each month. Courtesy of Leela Rea/Natalie Wade
We live in a world of social media and content creation. You give something an explosive aesthetic, people will come and they will pay – especially with the rise of AI, people want something real that stands out.
Our house is on a hill and the greenhouse is below. There are two seasonal streams on either side of the greenhouse. When it rains, they are really full. There are massive trees everywhere. Down one path we have a lavender field with about 150 French lavender plants, and you just walk into the greenhouse. It’s so sweet.
The business took off
We’ve had a lot of proposals and photoshoots are our livelihood. But our most lucrative events are intimate events, like rehearsal dinners, bridal showers and baby showers.
Most often, guests get married at the courthouse and then have a beautiful small reception of 20 people in the greenhouse.
I think in this post-COVID world, people are more drawn to intimate events with loved ones. No one really wants a marriage to Taylor Swift. You can’t do anything crazy when you have that many people.
With smaller events, you have money for flowers, candles, live musicians and food. You can really stretch your budget.
A baby shower in the greenhouse. Courtesy of Leela Rea
At first, I published everywhere to promote the greenhouse. There are various platforms that charge insane commission fees, which have worked for a while. But now we get enough requests through social media that it just doesn’t make sense.
We don’t do a lot of events each year – maybe 10-15 intimate events. But we do a lot of photoshoots and content creation. They make a lot of money and you don’t have to do anything for them.
When we started, we charged $3,000 for a day rental, whether it was a baby shower or an intimate event. Now our minimum for any event is $7,500.
Rea charges a minimum of $7,500 per intimate event. Courtesy of Leela Rea/Fiona Tang
For photoshoots, the minimum is $375 per hour for photoshoots. We also offer a complete buyout of the house – which we now live in full time – but only when we travel. It’s not like, “Hey, I want to rent your whole house today.” ” Never. We have to plan for this. And unless we bring in at least $30,000 for the weekend, I won’t be packing.
On average, we make around $24,000 renting the greenhouse. Part of this money is reinvested in maintaining the space.
For events, I always provide refreshments, paper napkins, and trash bags, which cost between $200 and $350 per month. We also hire a cleaning company that charges between $350 and $500. I used to do a lot of the cleaning myself, but I paid my dues.
We build more greenhouses based on my design
Many manufacturers contacted us and said, “Let’s build a greenhouse and we’ll share the profits.” » But I contacted the friend who built ours and said, “Let’s design this properly and figure it out together.”
We manufacture here in Southern California and there will be three sizes. I’m going to install the smaller one at our old house in Carlsbad. We already have a few pre-orders, so I’m really excited to start seeing them show up.
This project will change the lives of our entire family.
Rea and her daughters in their garden. Courtesy of Leela Rea
At first, even my family wondered, “Who would pay to rent your house and your little greenhouse?” And I was like, “Oh my God, let me show you.”
By renting our greenhouse, my husband and I are grateful that we don’t have to work full time. Some months we make as much as some people make in a year. We can also spend more time together as a family.
Our parents’ generation was always told that studying or working for 20 to 30 years was the best way to create wealth. But I don’t think our generation thinks that way.
It’s such a fun and interesting time to be alive. We have all of these tools to market and sell our ideas in ways that previous generations would never have dreamed of.
I feel like people need to think differently to start living differently. And I hope more moms know they can bet on themselves. Why not?
Gn bussni
