Series: The Birth of Grace Elizabeth’s Bed and Breakfast (#2 in a series of 4)
In the last post in this series I told you about our plunge in buying a house with the thought of maybe turning it into a bed and breakfast – someday. Well that someday came sooner than expected. The idea was to wait until retirement.
One of the buildings on the property was originally a workshop with single garage stalls on each end. If you want to learn how to increase the value of your home quickly, click on the link to find out! The previous owner had converted this shop into a livable spaced for their parents. Well, I got it into my head that if we could convert this shop into a quaint little “cottage” we could get a little taste of what running a bed and breakfast was like. After putting in egress windows, removing a couple unnecessary exit doors, removing paneling and putting in carpet and faux hardwood floors we were on our way. The fun part was furnishing and decorating. The “cottage” became a little house with two bedrooms and a full bathroom. Guests could enjoy lounging in the living area furnished with a couch and wingback chair. A full kitchen would allow guests to cook if they wished and gather around the table in the nice dining area.
The next big project involved preparing the main house to host our B&B guests for breakfast. We decided the front three rooms in the house would welcome our hungry guests. Thank goodness the hardwood floors and woodwork were already in great condition. Our challenge was to remove all the wallpaper, paint and put in single French doors in the two hearth room doorways to keep the public area and the private area separated. Once again, the fun part was the furnishing and decorating.
After about four months of construction and decorating we were ready for guests. Our goal was to be open for the sandhills crane migration in March and April. Our first guests stayed in February and a new B&B was born. Now one might ask, how did we expect people to find out about Grace Elizabeth’s Bed and Breakfast – check in on my next post and see what we have done for marketing.
Sonya Kay
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