Do we renovate a 1930s home, or keep the charm?

[Riley Herr]

My boyfriend and I recently came across a beautiful 1930s home that is all original, right down to the furniture. We're talking light greens walls, wood paneling here and there, and wall paper. We will buy it through an FHA loan so we'd be living in it for a year and thought we'd just try to Air bnb it before moving out and renting it so we have some cash flow here and there even when we're in it.

Our battle is with renovating it. It’s beautiful the way it is, but only to people who enjoy stepping back in time. Should we “ruin” all the original features by modernizing it for its future being a rental? Or just find renters who will also appreciate the charm like us? It’s a unique situation for our location. We’d be among the very few renting a 5 bedroom so we can’t exactly wait around for that perfect family who will love the “vintage-ness”. The kitchen needs redone, but we aren’t sure if we should renovate it to match the 1930s theme, or go with a modern style and update the rest of the house to match that. Any suggestions would be helpful.