Rachael’s place is lovely - really cosy and very clean. It looks exactly like the photos. The location is perfect too. Hawthorne is so interesting with loads of amazing restaurants, cafes and bars so we didn’t really need to leave much. But when we did, downtown was just a short taxi (10 mins) or bike ride (20 mins) away.
You could stay in a nice looking hotel in downtown for slightly cheaper, but in my opinion, Rachael’s place was totally worth it - much more interesting to explore the local area and generally peaceful and cosy whereas downtown feels a bit more hectic.