People get rid of great stuff when they do a change of decor.

Anyways in Dec or Jan , bathroom pipe burst because they never switched on the heating or power, or shut down water - during the coldest winter Seattle has ever seen.

If it is a brick house, you can cover the exterior hole with decorative brick and no one is the wiser.I also don't care for tile around a tub.

Outside/decorative curtain, no if it still looks clean, since it is not in contact with water. 

I recently dropped a property from my mgmt company that had so much potential but didn't hit that target due to owner not being willing to update and decorate the property to our recommendations. 

As well as various decorative masonry elements, when the tech gets that far.

It seems like nothing cash flows unless I do a STR, and decorating an Airbnb alone eats up a large chunk of my cash.

We have seen highly decorated smaller homes book well.

That's even better from a lifestyle point of view because you can go to different properties every time, have a much bigger choice of properties and stay in properties that are much more luxurious than those you would be a co-owner in rather than be limited to the ones you own.Mind you, many people buy lifestyle properties overseas but that is because they want to stay regularly in their own house the decoration of which fits their taste and they feel at home, can leave their stuff there,...

For the painting, you can deduct it along with other furnishings and decorations that you've included in the STR to make it ready and available for tenants.