Evening shut down

[Morticia]

Do you do anything in the evening to 'close up shop'? I don't mean your own personal things, but to get the inn ready.

• Things like check exterior doors, turn lights off or on, things like that.
• If you usually turn things off, how do you approach guests who are using the area you want to shut down?
• What time do you shut down?

 

[gillumhouse]

I lock up when the last guest gets in for the night. Lock doors and turn off all lights except the hall lights. I also set the table before I go to bed. It is usually 11 to midnight before we go to bed.

 

[YellowSocks]

When I go to bed I make sure the door is locked (actually, I check that every time I go by) and turn down the main lights in the house... instead of all lights at full force in the dining room I leave one on low, for example. I also turn on any lights I think guests might need for navigating at night. If guests are in the areas (rare so far) then I just leave the lights on and don't say anything (or maybe good night). They have always turned lights off when they were done without being asked. (Not that we've had that many...)
=)
Kk.

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

We call it "night mode" - pick up stuff, put stuff away, turn off main lights and put secondary lights on. Lock our quarters for the evening.

 

[gillumhouse]

When I go to bed I make sure the door is locked (actually, I check that every time I go by) and turn down the main lights in the house... instead of all lights at full force in the dining room I leave one on low, for example. I also turn on any lights I think guests might need for navigating at night. If guests are in the areas (rare so far) then I just leave the lights on and don't say anything (or maybe good night). They have always turned lights off when they were done without being asked. (Not that we've had that many...)
=)
Kk..

An insurance agent told me that if a guest has to reach out and flip the light switch, does not, and falls down the stairs, I am liable because they had to reach out. So I leave the hall lights on when guests are in-house.

 

[Samster]

We call it "innkeeper mode" when we have guests in the main house. I haven't had guests hanging around downstairs late at night yet. Sometimes the front porch. Seems like most of our guests have to be somewhere, so they turn in by 11 pm & I am usually up past then. Most of our lights (inside & out) are on timers. I have a table by the front door with a lamp which stays on all the time & a lamp in the downstairs back reception hall that stays on all the time.
I have to keep turning the upstairs hall lights on with the guests in house now...they keep turning them off to save energy

 

[user 26]

late afternoon, i set the tables for the next day's breakfast, write on the board what is for breakfast and print out folding cards or retrieve those i've already used for the tables that say what breakfast is
i've got the mugs, tea cups, toasting things set and ready to go. usually, i set them back out right from the dishwasher and then start the second load.
early evening, i have the big coffee makers in the breakfast room ready to go.
if there is any 'scut work' as kathleen calls it, for breakfast the next day, i try to do that.
about 9 pm: i clear coffee mugs, snacks and trash out of the library. turn off the overhead lights in the hallways ... there are wall lights and night lights we leave on. lock the doors on first and second floor. if anyone is in the library watching tv, i tell them i'm just going to 'pull to door to' and i tell them i'm going to bed. i go in the breakfast room area that doubles as my living room and i lock the door. my son installed a doorbell next to that door so if someone needs me, they can ring the bell and i'll hear it. i turn the volume down low on the kitchen phone and turn off the ringer in my room.

 

[Morticia]

Because it's summer we tend to have guests sitting up on the porch or watching TV. We tell them until we are blue in the face to please close the door when they come in off the porch. They don't. Which means the front door is wide open all night.
Ditto turning off lights or turning off the TV. On all night. Gas fireplace, on all night in the winter.
Or, they'll think I'm giving them the bum's rush and say, 'We were just finishing up here.' So then I feel like I've ruined their evening.

 

[EmptyNest]

Because it's summer we tend to have guests sitting up on the porch or watching TV. We tell them until we are blue in the face to please close the door when they come in off the porch. They don't. Which means the front door is wide open all night.
Ditto turning off lights or turning off the TV. On all night. Gas fireplace, on all night in the winter.
Or, they'll think I'm giving them the bum's rush and say, 'We were just finishing up here.' So then I feel like I've ruined their evening..

Can you put some sort of timer on the TV and Table lamps at least..so they go off say at midnight??? That would be fun to see their reaction if they are sitting there watching TV at that time. Oh yeah...and keep the timer hidden..so they can't see it and turn it back on

 

[user 26]

Because it's summer we tend to have guests sitting up on the porch or watching TV. We tell them until we are blue in the face to please close the door when they come in off the porch. They don't. Which means the front door is wide open all night.
Ditto turning off lights or turning off the TV. On all night. Gas fireplace, on all night in the winter.
Or, they'll think I'm giving them the bum's rush and say, 'We were just finishing up here.' So then I feel like I've ruined their evening..

that's amazing!
we have guests who go out early in the morning and leave the door open, but when they come in at night (and it gets really dark here!) they close the door and leave it closed.

 

[mooseberry]

I lock up when the last guest gets in for the night. Lock doors and turn off all lights except the hall lights. I also set the table before I go to bed. It is usually 11 to midnight before we go to bed..

The same here...also set table for morning and prep breakfast as much as I can. I am usually done a little sooner the 11 thou

 

[swirt]

Because it's summer we tend to have guests sitting up on the porch or watching TV. We tell them until we are blue in the face to please close the door when they come in off the porch. They don't. Which means the front door is wide open all night.
Ditto turning off lights or turning off the TV. On all night. Gas fireplace, on all night in the winter.
Or, they'll think I'm giving them the bum's rush and say, 'We were just finishing up here.' So then I feel like I've ruined their evening..

Can you put some sort of timer on the TV and Table lamps at least..so they go off say at midnight??? That would be fun to see their reaction if they are sitting there watching TV at that time. Oh yeah...and keep the timer hidden..so they can't see it and turn it back on

.

LOL Fake Power Outage ... she has that one down already ... though how she gets the rest of the town to play along I'll never know.

 

[Morticia]

Because it's summer we tend to have guests sitting up on the porch or watching TV. We tell them until we are blue in the face to please close the door when they come in off the porch. They don't. Which means the front door is wide open all night.
Ditto turning off lights or turning off the TV. On all night. Gas fireplace, on all night in the winter.
Or, they'll think I'm giving them the bum's rush and say, 'We were just finishing up here.' So then I feel like I've ruined their evening..

Can you put some sort of timer on the TV and Table lamps at least..so they go off say at midnight??? That would be fun to see their reaction if they are sitting there watching TV at that time. Oh yeah...and keep the timer hidden..so they can't see it and turn it back on

.

Can you put some sort of timer on the TV and Table lamps at least..so they go off say at midnight??? That would be fun to see their reaction if they are sitting there watching TV at that time. Oh yeah...and keep the timer hidden..so they can't see it and turn it back on

That's a good idea for the lights. Not sure about the TV because I don't want to be woken up at midnight to 'fix' the TV! Maybe there is also a way to put a thermostat on the gas fireplace so it kicks off instead of running all night.

 

[swirt]

Because it's summer we tend to have guests sitting up on the porch or watching TV. We tell them until we are blue in the face to please close the door when they come in off the porch. They don't. Which means the front door is wide open all night.
Ditto turning off lights or turning off the TV. On all night. Gas fireplace, on all night in the winter.
Or, they'll think I'm giving them the bum's rush and say, 'We were just finishing up here.' So then I feel like I've ruined their evening..

Can you put some sort of timer on the TV and Table lamps at least..so they go off say at midnight??? That would be fun to see their reaction if they are sitting there watching TV at that time. Oh yeah...and keep the timer hidden..so they can't see it and turn it back on

.

Can you put some sort of timer on the TV and Table lamps at least..so they go off say at midnight??? That would be fun to see their reaction if they are sitting there watching TV at that time. Oh yeah...and keep the timer hidden..so they can't see it and turn it back on

That's a good idea for the lights. Not sure about the TV because I don't want to be woken up at midnight to 'fix' the TV! Maybe there is also a way to put a thermostat on the gas fireplace so it kicks off instead of running all night.
.

Maybe there is also a way to put a thermostat on the gas fireplace so it kicks off instead of running all night.

There should be. We have thermostats on all of our gas stoves. More than likely it is the same mechanism. If it turns on and off with a switch (as opposed to a valve) then there is a good chance that a programmable thermostat could be attached and have it set to turn itself down at a certain time every night.