Bikers in Buchanan

Our most recent guests in our B&B were so much fun.  It was a young woman and her uncle.  They were biking across the United States.  Biking, not motorcycling.  She had started in San Francisco and was almost to her goal.  Her uncle had been accompanying her on this last leg.

 

Their stories were fascinating and meeting them is one of the best reasons for having a B&B.

   

The people you meet are so much fun.

Bedroom, DONE

Our B&B has been up and running for quite some time.  But the bedroom wasn't finished.  I wanted a painting over the bed, but never found one I liked.

 

We recently visited one of our favorite auction places in Roanoke, Crowning Touch.  Lee noticed a large paining on one wall.  He thought it looked like a home in the Cotswolds. 

We bid on it and won the auction.

 

It is big and kind of heavy, so we placed two picture hangers in the studs.  You wouldn't want a painting to fall on your head when sleeping would you?

 

All the artwork in the bedroom have some blue in them, so this picture fits with my decorating scheme.

Hah!  Did you fall for that one?  I have no scheme, decorating or otherwise.  But we do have a preponderance of blue in the room and this picture has blue and I like it.  That is the limit of my decorating gene.

 

The room is now complete.  No more lists of things I want to finish it.  It is finished.  We get a lot of compliments on the room and I hope this will add just an extra touch to make it that much more warm and inviting.

Our First Guests

We just had our first official B&B guest.  We have had friends and family stay with us and used them as guinea pigs for our B&B aspirations.  In our former home, we would invite the neighbors over for breakfast to practice how long meals for a bunch of people would take and to try out recipes on them. 

But now it is official. We are a working B&B.

 

Zach and Courtney were the perfect first guests, friendly, outgoing and just a lot of fun.  Airbnb allows for, and encourages, a lot of communication between hosts and guests.  Among other things, they told us that they were on their honeymoon.

A friend commented that it was "cool that the start of your new venture begins with a couple who are beginning an adventure of their own."  And I was excited to be a part of their honeymoon memories.

 

We plan on providing some sort of treat each day for all our guests, in addition to the breakfast.  But this was a special day for them, so I made chocolate dipped strawberries and then made some heart shaped linzer cookies.  Go big for a honeymoon!

 

We were absolutely thrilled when they told us the next morning that they enjoyed the place so much and wanted to stay another night.  Sure!  And then they brought a treat back for the dog.  How great is that?

Courtney and Zach are on their way home and we will clean and prepare for the next guest.  We have someone coming Sunday and I just got another inquiry.

So we are on our way.

Home Tour 2013

Several years ago we agreed to be on the Home Tour for the Town of Buchanan.  This is a fund raiser for the Community House and we were glad to participate.

We were approached to do it again this year.  The house is the same, but we now have a fledgling B&B and Harry Gleason (Town Revitalization manager) thought local people might be interested in seeing it.

We are happy to help, but it does mean we have to get out all the decorations that generally spend Christmas in boxes.  All our kids are coming for Christmas this year for the first time in quite a few years, so we probably would have gone all out anyway.

 

So now we have two trees.  One upstairs and one downstairs

 

This is my favorite spot in the B&B.  A cozy corner to curl up and read.

 

The bedroom is finished and we even put some decorations there, although we won't do that when we have guests.  You have to have places to put the junk we all travel with.

 

In addition to the Santa themed Christmas tree, we have a corner with a large Nativity scene.

 

I took the advice from others and changed the wheelchair vignette.  After Christmas I can remove the Santa hat and the bear can occupy the chair until I get some antique dolls.

 

We put out more decorations scattered throughout the rooms.  I hope the visitors will feel they got their money's worth.  It IS for a good cause!

Lee is even showcasing his truck.  His truck hauling Santa.  The reindeer must be on strike or something!

When the Cat's Away...

You know the old saying.  The mouse is supposed to have big fun.  And so is your spouse.  When one leaves, all the lists go on hold, right?  Lee had a bunch of things to do with the two cars, well, one car and one truck, that are in various stages of restoration.  Every time I called him, that is what he said he was doing.  Resting (his eyes) and working on the vehicles.

When I got back after less than a week of travel, I found that he had spent the whole time doing things we had been discussing, but hadn't gotten around to!  And all by himself.  As I was showing my friend, Marcy, around the house I kept being surprised by projects he finished while I was off visiting my mother.

Several years ago Lee had mentioned how he wanted to get a big flagpole to put up a flag that can be seen from a distance. We live up on a hill and thought that would be a great thing to do.   I went online and ordered a pretty big one for his birthday, but we could never decide where to put it and it needed to be set in concrete. It has been sitting around for a couple of years.  Recently Lee's father passed away and because he was a veteran, the family received a very large flag.

As we approached the house I noticed that the flagpole was now up. Complete with Jim's flag.   Is there a prettier sight?

 

I was amazed that he had dug the hole, poured the concrete and assembled the flagpole all by himself.  In just a few days.

 

Then just like a TV huckster, but wait!  That's not all!  I have been admiring a Maddox Chippendale Secretary at a local consignment shop.  It was beautiful, with curved glass and lots of drawers.  What is it about drawers and even hidden drawers that is so appealing?  I love that.  I wanted a desk of some sort for the B&+B and I just loved the idea of a secretary.

 

When I was showing Marcy the new B&B, I sucked in air and almost started screaming.  She looked around, waiting for a vampire bat that must be attacking, but it was just me.  I was thrilled with the new piece of furniture.

 

Lee had also installed the new quilt hangers he had ordered and hung the quilt.  It is partly just decoration and mostly to hide the electric panel. 

 

Now we can get to the panels, but the room no longer looks so industrial.  So busy.  What a great guy.

But wait!  That's not all!

I have been looking for a headboard for our bed in the guest room.  I had some criteria that was proving difficult to find.  I only wanted a headboard.  Footboards make it harder to tuck in the sheets, and with any luck, there will be lots of bed making in our B&B. I didn't want a big headboard because some are so huge it makes the bed and even the room look small.

 

Lee managed to find a great headboard and no footboard on craigslist.  And brought it home and installed it.  All by himself.

 

But wait!  That's not all!  He took all the leftover tile and carpet we had saved in case of emergency breakage or some other catastrophe to the shop.   Then he bought and put together the storage unit I need for cleaning supplies and other necessities for the B&B.

AND he put a new teak shower bench in the B&B shower for supplies, or in case you need to sit when in the shower.  Can you imagine?

 

He's my favorite husband.

We're Legal!

The last hoop we had to jump through to start our B&B was last night.  The Botetourt Planning Commission approved the zoning change so we could open a B&B in our home.  It remained for the Board Of Supervisors to vote on the proposal.

 

The local Fincastle Herald carried several legal notices to inform the public, in case anyone wanted to speak against the zoning change. 

 

There was also a story in the paper about the upcoming Board meeting.

 


 

While we waited in the empty meeting room, it slowly began to fill up.  More and more people filled the rows of seats behind us and I started to become a little worried.  No one has spoken against us during the Planning Meeting.  But maybe they were going to come and derail us at the Board meeting.

Fortunately, we were up first.   After a brief presentation from the Planning Commission on what we proposed and what stipulations they wanted us to have, there was a call for people to speak.  There was a long moment of silence and the Board approved our application for a Special Exceptions Permit.

One of the stipulations is that we are not allowed to have outdoor events, or even indoor events, such as weddings.  Supervisor Terry Austin asked if that included our own family holding a wedding here.  He knew we had a daughter of marrying age.  And in fact I mentioned to the Board that she was engaged.  She may want a wedding at a B&B or a winery, but at this time it seems she will be wanting a wedding closer to where she lives. A family wedding would be permitted here, but it doesn't look like it will happen.

We still have to get a business license and arrange for the Health Department to approve for the septic system to handle the additional bathroom.  It was already approved, but they want paperwork to that effect.  Governments of all sizes love their paperwork.

So now we are legal and need to do the business of starting a business.  And start a web site. And a business bank account.  This may take some time...

 

But if you are planning a visit to the Roanoke area, look us up.  We'd love to have you visit.