We realize that when most innkeepers have a few days off they spend it the way other folks pass their weekends, you know playing golf or shopping or taking in a museum. The experts in the field tell us that is the trick to keep burn out at bay. Happily we have been very busy since February and when three days seemed open last week, what started as a simple little ‘sprucing up’ job on one of our guest rooms turned into a marathon renovation literally completed an hour or two before our guests checked-in. The Esplanade Room is one of our favorites. It is in the rear of the house on the second floor and because it includes the old sleeping porch it has all these wonderful nooks and crannies as well high ceilings and a very comfortable bed. What started as a repair job on a small section of wall where the wall paper (which had been painted over) was coming up within a few minutes grew into taking all the wall paper off and discovering these wonderful plaster walls. Day one the room (now covered in drop cloth and all the furniture out) was looking very 1700 Italian fresco with the plaster fully exposed. Day two a fine white dust covered everything as we put on a thin skim layer to even out the worse of the rough spots. Day three (Wednesday)we are putting primer on the walls and wondering if we would finish by Friday. In between dropping the drapes off to the cleaners and hand pressing what must have been a thousand pleats from the dust ruffle, we apply the first coat of paint. The room was a royal blue (which seem far too dour for our hard labor) I thought we picked out an oatmeal color to go with the carpet and curtains. First coat just did not seem like the color in my head and what I thought I ordered. As nonchalantly as possible I amble over to the paint chip and discover I left a digit out of the color code so instead of a oatmeal /tan, I am definitely painting a color with roots more in the peach family than oatmeal. Two days, twelve foot ceilings, lots of crown molding I decide to say nothing and hope for the best. Now we are at the pint where one or the other of us are putting down the p
aint brush to answer the door for our guests. Second coat looks better, it even looks wonderful. We are now doing detail work late Thursday night, tiny brush strokes on the hand carved mantle. Friday morning after breakfast we put in the furniture, hang the curtails get a god sent phone call from the guests saying they will be arriving two hours later than planned. Vacuum vacuum vaccum and with an easy forty minutes to spare. We finish the room.
Doesn’t it look great?
But next time we are going to the movies!
Back to school
A Summer Wedding