This Myrtle Beach area house has gone viral. Take a look inside the ‘Pink Palace’
For Beth Richeson, online virality wasn’t the goal when designing and building a new rental house in the Myrtle Beach area, but it was what she got.
The Pink Palace in Ocean Lakes Family Campground recently went viral on social media after several drive-by videos showing the building’s brightly colored exterior gained millions of views.
The house started as a sketch on a napkin, Richeson said, but grew into a towering project complete with shell-strung chandeliers, a handcrafted palm tree mosaic using shells and sand from the beach, a carriage, a putting green and even a machine that sends bubbles drifting across the yard each night.
Cinderella has also been known to make regular visits to the property, as either Richeson or one of her employees dons a princess dress and takes photos with children.
In creating the Pink Palace, Richeson aimed to provide a Disney-like experience for kids and adults alike who may never get to experience the theme park. She worked to combine the “magical” feeling of Disney with her love of Charleston-style architectural charm, and the Pink Palace was born. Already, she said it’s brought smiles to the faces of many children.
“That’s what it’s all about,” she said.
Unique features abound
Construction on the house began last September and wrapped up in February. Richeson focused on decorating the property with as many personal touches and ornate details as she saw fit until opening it for rentals in May. Because of its newly won internet stardom, the house is already booked for much of the summer.
According to the listing on the Richeson Properties website, rent starts at $400 per night.
Aside from the building’s bright pink facade, several other notable details have been grabbing attention from visitors and locals who cruise by on their golf carts. For example, rather than putting a day bed out on one of the house’s sprawling wrap-around porches, Richeson opted to set out an entire bed, so renters can lounge in comfort while looking out at an ocean view.
“I said, ‘I have to make my house look different than all of the other houses,’” she said.
“I wanted to bring the inside outside,” Richeson said, so that anyone who happens by the house can get a “little taste” of what’s inside.
For anyone staying in the Pink Palace who wants to spend time outside enjoying the weather, there is the option to cook outside in the outdoor kitchen or cruise around the campground in a pastel-colored Moke, or a low-speed vehicle, for $100 a day.
The house has four bedrooms and three bathrooms, with five queen- and two king-sized beds, as well as two living rooms, ample outdoor seating, and multiple chandeliers on every floor.
“Everybody tells me that goes by this house that they have to keep coming back because every time they see something new,” Richeson said.
An eye for detail
Richeson, who formerly did design work for HGTV, said that she got her love for design and detail from her father. She recalled taking family vacations to Williamsburg, Virginia, as a child, during which he would photograph various moldings and carvings on the historic houses to take home and replicate.
While working on the Pink Palace, Richeson did the same, taking a ride around Charleston and snapping photos of any designs that caught her eye.
Richeson and her husband own the company Richeson Properties, which manages 38 properties and allows Richeson to remodel, design and construct houses that fit her artistic vision. The couple lives next door to the Pink Palace, where they have fallen in love with the unique community within Ocean Lakes.
Richeson’s plans for the house aren’t stopping with the 2025 tourist season. She hopes to add a mural on the first-floor stairway, a tile mosaic to one of the bathrooms and icicle lights to illuminate the putting green at night. For Halloween, she has already stocked up on Disney character costumes so kids can come by for meet-and-greets.
As the house continues to ride the wave of internet fame, with curious onlookers coming to catch a glimpse of it or take photos in the carriage that sits out front, Richeson is just glad that her designs are brightening the days of those who come see them.
