Furniture Refinishing

One of the things you find with houses of a certain age is that they don't have closets. That poses a problem of where to hang or store clothes. To solve that dilemma we decided to find various sizes of chifferobes for the three regular guest rooms.

This small one apparently had been painted a "Wicked Witch of the West" green at one time. Sanding, staining & sealing in a Minwax Antique Walnut and picking out new hardware.

This larger piece will go in the larger of the three regular guest rooms. It needs a little structural TLC, but not much in the way of refinishing. We need to brace the back.

This medium-sized oak piece needs to have the mirror re-silvered. Going to learn how to do that - gotta be a DIY article on that somewhere, right?

This poor table came with the house. It had so much water damage that two layers of veneer have to be removed. Sanding and staining next.

Stay tuned for finished products!

Remodeling the Master Suite & Bath

Remodeling a bedroom usually doesn't seem like too large of a project, right? But when it entails remodeling the attached bathroom, it can look a little daunting!

We began with removing all of the white wall-to-wall carpeting in the master bedroom. We originally thought we'd put in cherry hardwood floors, but have now opted for a lighter wood flooring -- an oak plank called Gun Stock.  It was felt that a lighter shade would open up the room to give it a more airy feel.

Hardwood choice in Gun Stock

The shades can vary by small degrees.

Below is the master area, now a work in progress.

What a mess! Ha!

The bath component is where we had many more decisions to make. The original bathroom had a closed room toilet, a double-headed shower stall with a glass door, and a single sink in an "L-shaped" white cabinet. The entire area was raised on a type of pedestal area.

Our first move was to take everything out and bring the entire bath and plumbing down to floor level.

We are putting in a corner, jetted tub, a double-bowl vanity, a shower, toilet with half wall, and a small closet.

The flooring in the bathroom area will be porcelain, an almond shade with variable patterning. We're considering some art tile in the tub area.  Hopefully the vanity will arrive this week!

Using Social Media

Those who know both of us know we've never been fans of social media for a multitude of reasons. A recent online workshop for innkeepers, however, stressed the importance of an online presence and the accompanying social media.

So now, in addition to all of the remodeling and business decisions, over the next ten weeks we will be learning and utilizing the following applications:

- Blogger (check ✅)

- LinkedIn (check ✅)

- Google + (sort of...)

- Pinterest (sort of...)

- Facebook (not yet)

- Twitter (not yet)

In addition, we'll be helping create a website and launching an online reservation system!

So, the learning curve is a huge one -- new business, new software, new applications. We don't even know what it is we don't know! Ha! But we're strapping in and getting ready for the ride! There may be bumps along the way, but we've got great shock absorbers -- each other!

😉

Snow day equals TILE DAY!

So, after 11 inches of snow, an arctic blast with straight temps of NINE BELOW and wind chills of minus 35 (seriously??!!!), followed by another few inches of snow, a ray of sunlight has emerged -- tile is being laid today in the four seasons room and lounge! Hurray! More good news -- the tile guy plowed the snow in the driveway and parking lot -- BONUS!!

The floor in the lounge will have a sort of tile medallion in the center, setting it off from the four seasons room, yet giving it an open and flowing look.  We're waiting for the medallion to come in.

Excited to see finished product!!

The Barn at the Inn at Defiance

Wow -- don't you just love a big old red barn?!  There is something intriguing about this piece of Americana, and our barn is no exception!  The barn once housed chickens, a horse, and a cow  (and their tell-tale remnants were still present...ha!).

Several weeks have been spent clearing out the main floor, second floor, and the loft as well as inventorying, cleaning, and determining repair needs. We've been considering the multitude of ideas and uses for this interesting structure.

We're looking forward to the new life of this old structure!

Temporary Sign Goes Up!

The nice people at the Wentzville SignaRama did a great job - ready in 24 hours!