Renovation advise needed...

[Emily Spiers]

:welcome:
I typed up a beautiful response then hit the wrong button. Argh!!
For starters, I agree with everything everyone else has written. We renovated ours and took all the advice we could get and I'm so glad I did!
You. Must. Have. Private. En Suite. Bathrooms. You've got the room... just do it!!
Big, messy, expensive projects first. (Roof, siding, gutters, insulation, windows, furnace, flooring, bathrooms.)
Spend extra on stuff that's set... you can always swap out a faucet, but flooring tile is forever!
And spend the money on the invisible stuff... like sufficient hot water. High efficiency heat, insulation and good windows don't add to room rates but they sure help your overhead!
Biggest beds possible... no doubles! Having room for a fold-out bed (and a place to store it) will add a lot of flexibility to your reservations. Avoid having beds that share a wall, or even better, guest rooms that share a wall.
Flat screen TV's, wall-mounted on arms... take very little room. Don't forget to run the cable.
You can't have too many electrical outlets. It's impossible to have too many. I have an odd one in the middle of a wall that raises eyebrows... and I use it all the time for vacuuming.
Ideal innkeeper quarters are completely separate and private (ours aren't, but we make do), big enough to be comfortable (not cramped), small enough that you don't mind cleaning them when you're already tired of cleaning the rest of the place.
I absolutely love my laundry chute. Laundry up and down stairs is a big issue. Speaking of laundry, you'll be spending a LOT of time dealing with it, so plan accordingly. I have the largest residential w/d available and they were worth every penny. I have a custom built shelf with a 2' x 4' retractable ironing board (there's a picture somewhere here on the forum) that's large enough to iron a king sized pillow case without having to move it around. But even still, when I wash comforters I start running out of space quickly!
Build in storage in any nook or cranny. Each room needs one (or two) spare comforters, 2-3 spare sheet sets, cleaning supplies, spare glasses, extra towels... you can have a central storage with your laundry, but I prefer mine to be in the same area as the rooms. It's nice to have a vacuum cleaner on each floor... if you have a place to put it!
One of the best pieces of advice I got was to "have something fun in each room." Now, this innkeeper actually was referring to "toys" that could be made use of by couples... like a feather boa, or a fan... (How do you clean a boa??) But I liked that advice a lot. If you want cookie cutter, go to a hotel. The best features of my B&B are the fun things we incorporated while we were renovating... rope lights under the baseboards going up the stairs in the third floor guest room, as well as the amazing mozaic tile in the shower of that room (necessitated by the many angled drywall!). The banjo in the corner of the Music Department guest room. This is not your house, or a box motel... have fun with it! Make it fun and unique and they'll blog about you when they get home!
Finally, if you can swing five guest rooms, do it! I have four and wish it were five. I know an innkeeper who has six but only rents four as it's too much work for just her and her daughter to do more. BUT... the rooms are there if she wants to rent them, and someday she'll be able to sell it more easily.
Again, welcome to the forum! I've been pretty busy and haven't been on much lately but feel free to email me if you have further questions... I'd love to know where you're located!
=)
Kk..

We stayed at a B&B recently and they had the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located. Very smart!! (They have a guest room in a carriage house at the back and a second laundry room in the main house basement.) The laundry room didn't adjoin any guest rooms, just storage closets. No dragging stuff up & down the stairs.
Having something fun in each room is a great idea. Too much clutter is not a good thing though.
.

the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located.

What about the noise? That would worry me (as an owner)

 

[egoodell]

:welcome:
I typed up a beautiful response then hit the wrong button. Argh!!
For starters, I agree with everything everyone else has written. We renovated ours and took all the advice we could get and I'm so glad I did!
You. Must. Have. Private. En Suite. Bathrooms. You've got the room... just do it!!
Big, messy, expensive projects first. (Roof, siding, gutters, insulation, windows, furnace, flooring, bathrooms.)
Spend extra on stuff that's set... you can always swap out a faucet, but flooring tile is forever!
And spend the money on the invisible stuff... like sufficient hot water. High efficiency heat, insulation and good windows don't add to room rates but they sure help your overhead!
Biggest beds possible... no doubles! Having room for a fold-out bed (and a place to store it) will add a lot of flexibility to your reservations. Avoid having beds that share a wall, or even better, guest rooms that share a wall.
Flat screen TV's, wall-mounted on arms... take very little room. Don't forget to run the cable.
You can't have too many electrical outlets. It's impossible to have too many. I have an odd one in the middle of a wall that raises eyebrows... and I use it all the time for vacuuming.
Ideal innkeeper quarters are completely separate and private (ours aren't, but we make do), big enough to be comfortable (not cramped), small enough that you don't mind cleaning them when you're already tired of cleaning the rest of the place.
I absolutely love my laundry chute. Laundry up and down stairs is a big issue. Speaking of laundry, you'll be spending a LOT of time dealing with it, so plan accordingly. I have the largest residential w/d available and they were worth every penny. I have a custom built shelf with a 2' x 4' retractable ironing board (there's a picture somewhere here on the forum) that's large enough to iron a king sized pillow case without having to move it around. But even still, when I wash comforters I start running out of space quickly!
Build in storage in any nook or cranny. Each room needs one (or two) spare comforters, 2-3 spare sheet sets, cleaning supplies, spare glasses, extra towels... you can have a central storage with your laundry, but I prefer mine to be in the same area as the rooms. It's nice to have a vacuum cleaner on each floor... if you have a place to put it!
One of the best pieces of advice I got was to "have something fun in each room." Now, this innkeeper actually was referring to "toys" that could be made use of by couples... like a feather boa, or a fan... (How do you clean a boa??) But I liked that advice a lot. If you want cookie cutter, go to a hotel. The best features of my B&B are the fun things we incorporated while we were renovating... rope lights under the baseboards going up the stairs in the third floor guest room, as well as the amazing mozaic tile in the shower of that room (necessitated by the many angled drywall!). The banjo in the corner of the Music Department guest room. This is not your house, or a box motel... have fun with it! Make it fun and unique and they'll blog about you when they get home!
Finally, if you can swing five guest rooms, do it! I have four and wish it were five. I know an innkeeper who has six but only rents four as it's too much work for just her and her daughter to do more. BUT... the rooms are there if she wants to rent them, and someday she'll be able to sell it more easily.
Again, welcome to the forum! I've been pretty busy and haven't been on much lately but feel free to email me if you have further questions... I'd love to know where you're located!
=)
Kk..

We stayed at a B&B recently and they had the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located. Very smart!! (They have a guest room in a carriage house at the back and a second laundry room in the main house basement.) The laundry room didn't adjoin any guest rooms, just storage closets. No dragging stuff up & down the stairs.
Having something fun in each room is a great idea. Too much clutter is not a good thing though.
.

the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located.

What about the noise? That would worry me (as an owner)
.

the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located.

What about the noise? That would worry me (as an owner)

We just got the Samsung front loader (on sale!) and they are amazingly QUIET. Those would work.
RIki

 

[Samster]

:welcome:
I typed up a beautiful response then hit the wrong button. Argh!!
For starters, I agree with everything everyone else has written. We renovated ours and took all the advice we could get and I'm so glad I did!
You. Must. Have. Private. En Suite. Bathrooms. You've got the room... just do it!!
Big, messy, expensive projects first. (Roof, siding, gutters, insulation, windows, furnace, flooring, bathrooms.)
Spend extra on stuff that's set... you can always swap out a faucet, but flooring tile is forever!
And spend the money on the invisible stuff... like sufficient hot water. High efficiency heat, insulation and good windows don't add to room rates but they sure help your overhead!
Biggest beds possible... no doubles! Having room for a fold-out bed (and a place to store it) will add a lot of flexibility to your reservations. Avoid having beds that share a wall, or even better, guest rooms that share a wall.
Flat screen TV's, wall-mounted on arms... take very little room. Don't forget to run the cable.
You can't have too many electrical outlets. It's impossible to have too many. I have an odd one in the middle of a wall that raises eyebrows... and I use it all the time for vacuuming.
Ideal innkeeper quarters are completely separate and private (ours aren't, but we make do), big enough to be comfortable (not cramped), small enough that you don't mind cleaning them when you're already tired of cleaning the rest of the place.
I absolutely love my laundry chute. Laundry up and down stairs is a big issue. Speaking of laundry, you'll be spending a LOT of time dealing with it, so plan accordingly. I have the largest residential w/d available and they were worth every penny. I have a custom built shelf with a 2' x 4' retractable ironing board (there's a picture somewhere here on the forum) that's large enough to iron a king sized pillow case without having to move it around. But even still, when I wash comforters I start running out of space quickly!
Build in storage in any nook or cranny. Each room needs one (or two) spare comforters, 2-3 spare sheet sets, cleaning supplies, spare glasses, extra towels... you can have a central storage with your laundry, but I prefer mine to be in the same area as the rooms. It's nice to have a vacuum cleaner on each floor... if you have a place to put it!
One of the best pieces of advice I got was to "have something fun in each room." Now, this innkeeper actually was referring to "toys" that could be made use of by couples... like a feather boa, or a fan... (How do you clean a boa??) But I liked that advice a lot. If you want cookie cutter, go to a hotel. The best features of my B&B are the fun things we incorporated while we were renovating... rope lights under the baseboards going up the stairs in the third floor guest room, as well as the amazing mozaic tile in the shower of that room (necessitated by the many angled drywall!). The banjo in the corner of the Music Department guest room. This is not your house, or a box motel... have fun with it! Make it fun and unique and they'll blog about you when they get home!
Finally, if you can swing five guest rooms, do it! I have four and wish it were five. I know an innkeeper who has six but only rents four as it's too much work for just her and her daughter to do more. BUT... the rooms are there if she wants to rent them, and someday she'll be able to sell it more easily.
Again, welcome to the forum! I've been pretty busy and haven't been on much lately but feel free to email me if you have further questions... I'd love to know where you're located!
=)
Kk..

We stayed at a B&B recently and they had the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located. Very smart!! (They have a guest room in a carriage house at the back and a second laundry room in the main house basement.) The laundry room didn't adjoin any guest rooms, just storage closets. No dragging stuff up & down the stairs.
Having something fun in each room is a great idea. Too much clutter is not a good thing though.
.

the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located.

What about the noise? That would worry me (as an owner)
.

Quiet machines. Laundry room not adjacent to any guest rooms - no shared walls. No noise at all. We were in & out of our room while she was doing laundry.

 

[birdwatcher]

OH how fun with stress and anticipation and so much thinking it makes you crazy...this forum is a Godsend trust me.
I remember when we decorated our B & B and where thinking of names for the rooms and we thought...hey we'll name them after the parents and the rooms had their own personalities, Guests actually where surprised at the names and how they went with the room. It was the funnest of all the things that we did when whe bought the place. Shopping for the furniture-antiques and getting the best mattresses and beds and no doubles-and our when our first guests said that the mattress was better than the one they had at home-now thats a complement! Cant say enough about private baths-we where thankful that we had them.
Have fun and do everything now so you don't have to worry about it later. Welcome!

 

[Joey Camb]

:welcome:
I typed up a beautiful response then hit the wrong button. Argh!!
For starters, I agree with everything everyone else has written. We renovated ours and took all the advice we could get and I'm so glad I did!
You. Must. Have. Private. En Suite. Bathrooms. You've got the room... just do it!!
Big, messy, expensive projects first. (Roof, siding, gutters, insulation, windows, furnace, flooring, bathrooms.)
Spend extra on stuff that's set... you can always swap out a faucet, but flooring tile is forever!
And spend the money on the invisible stuff... like sufficient hot water. High efficiency heat, insulation and good windows don't add to room rates but they sure help your overhead!
Biggest beds possible... no doubles! Having room for a fold-out bed (and a place to store it) will add a lot of flexibility to your reservations. Avoid having beds that share a wall, or even better, guest rooms that share a wall.
Flat screen TV's, wall-mounted on arms... take very little room. Don't forget to run the cable.
You can't have too many electrical outlets. It's impossible to have too many. I have an odd one in the middle of a wall that raises eyebrows... and I use it all the time for vacuuming.
Ideal innkeeper quarters are completely separate and private (ours aren't, but we make do), big enough to be comfortable (not cramped), small enough that you don't mind cleaning them when you're already tired of cleaning the rest of the place.
I absolutely love my laundry chute. Laundry up and down stairs is a big issue. Speaking of laundry, you'll be spending a LOT of time dealing with it, so plan accordingly. I have the largest residential w/d available and they were worth every penny. I have a custom built shelf with a 2' x 4' retractable ironing board (there's a picture somewhere here on the forum) that's large enough to iron a king sized pillow case without having to move it around. But even still, when I wash comforters I start running out of space quickly!
Build in storage in any nook or cranny. Each room needs one (or two) spare comforters, 2-3 spare sheet sets, cleaning supplies, spare glasses, extra towels... you can have a central storage with your laundry, but I prefer mine to be in the same area as the rooms. It's nice to have a vacuum cleaner on each floor... if you have a place to put it!
One of the best pieces of advice I got was to "have something fun in each room." Now, this innkeeper actually was referring to "toys" that could be made use of by couples... like a feather boa, or a fan... (How do you clean a boa??) But I liked that advice a lot. If you want cookie cutter, go to a hotel. The best features of my B&B are the fun things we incorporated while we were renovating... rope lights under the baseboards going up the stairs in the third floor guest room, as well as the amazing mozaic tile in the shower of that room (necessitated by the many angled drywall!). The banjo in the corner of the Music Department guest room. This is not your house, or a box motel... have fun with it! Make it fun and unique and they'll blog about you when they get home!
Finally, if you can swing five guest rooms, do it! I have four and wish it were five. I know an innkeeper who has six but only rents four as it's too much work for just her and her daughter to do more. BUT... the rooms are there if she wants to rent them, and someday she'll be able to sell it more easily.
Again, welcome to the forum! I've been pretty busy and haven't been on much lately but feel free to email me if you have further questions... I'd love to know where you're located!
=)
Kk..

think that rope lighting is a great idea as it can double up as soft night lighting for extra safety you can put it on at night to make sure even if people turn off the main lights there is still enough to see.

 

[MTLLodge]

:welcome:
I typed up a beautiful response then hit the wrong button. Argh!!
For starters, I agree with everything everyone else has written. We renovated ours and took all the advice we could get and I'm so glad I did!
You. Must. Have. Private. En Suite. Bathrooms. You've got the room... just do it!!
Big, messy, expensive projects first. (Roof, siding, gutters, insulation, windows, furnace, flooring, bathrooms.)
Spend extra on stuff that's set... you can always swap out a faucet, but flooring tile is forever!
And spend the money on the invisible stuff... like sufficient hot water. High efficiency heat, insulation and good windows don't add to room rates but they sure help your overhead!
Biggest beds possible... no doubles! Having room for a fold-out bed (and a place to store it) will add a lot of flexibility to your reservations. Avoid having beds that share a wall, or even better, guest rooms that share a wall.
Flat screen TV's, wall-mounted on arms... take very little room. Don't forget to run the cable.
You can't have too many electrical outlets. It's impossible to have too many. I have an odd one in the middle of a wall that raises eyebrows... and I use it all the time for vacuuming.
Ideal innkeeper quarters are completely separate and private (ours aren't, but we make do), big enough to be comfortable (not cramped), small enough that you don't mind cleaning them when you're already tired of cleaning the rest of the place.
I absolutely love my laundry chute. Laundry up and down stairs is a big issue. Speaking of laundry, you'll be spending a LOT of time dealing with it, so plan accordingly. I have the largest residential w/d available and they were worth every penny. I have a custom built shelf with a 2' x 4' retractable ironing board (there's a picture somewhere here on the forum) that's large enough to iron a king sized pillow case without having to move it around. But even still, when I wash comforters I start running out of space quickly!
Build in storage in any nook or cranny. Each room needs one (or two) spare comforters, 2-3 spare sheet sets, cleaning supplies, spare glasses, extra towels... you can have a central storage with your laundry, but I prefer mine to be in the same area as the rooms. It's nice to have a vacuum cleaner on each floor... if you have a place to put it!
One of the best pieces of advice I got was to "have something fun in each room." Now, this innkeeper actually was referring to "toys" that could be made use of by couples... like a feather boa, or a fan... (How do you clean a boa??) But I liked that advice a lot. If you want cookie cutter, go to a hotel. The best features of my B&B are the fun things we incorporated while we were renovating... rope lights under the baseboards going up the stairs in the third floor guest room, as well as the amazing mozaic tile in the shower of that room (necessitated by the many angled drywall!). The banjo in the corner of the Music Department guest room. This is not your house, or a box motel... have fun with it! Make it fun and unique and they'll blog about you when they get home!
Finally, if you can swing five guest rooms, do it! I have four and wish it were five. I know an innkeeper who has six but only rents four as it's too much work for just her and her daughter to do more. BUT... the rooms are there if she wants to rent them, and someday she'll be able to sell it more easily.
Again, welcome to the forum! I've been pretty busy and haven't been on much lately but feel free to email me if you have further questions... I'd love to know where you're located!
=)
Kk..

We stayed at a B&B recently and they had the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located. Very smart!! (They have a guest room in a carriage house at the back and a second laundry room in the main house basement.) The laundry room didn't adjoin any guest rooms, just storage closets. No dragging stuff up & down the stairs.
Having something fun in each room is a great idea. Too much clutter is not a good thing though.
.

the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located.

What about the noise? That would worry me (as an owner)
.

the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located.

What about the noise? That would worry me (as an owner)

We just got the Samsung front loader (on sale!) and they are amazingly QUIET. Those would work.
RIki
.

We also got the Samsung (on sale also) ! I love the song it plays when it is finished.

 

[InnBloom]

:welcome:
I typed up a beautiful response then hit the wrong button. Argh!!
For starters, I agree with everything everyone else has written. We renovated ours and took all the advice we could get and I'm so glad I did!
You. Must. Have. Private. En Suite. Bathrooms. You've got the room... just do it!!
Big, messy, expensive projects first. (Roof, siding, gutters, insulation, windows, furnace, flooring, bathrooms.)
Spend extra on stuff that's set... you can always swap out a faucet, but flooring tile is forever!
And spend the money on the invisible stuff... like sufficient hot water. High efficiency heat, insulation and good windows don't add to room rates but they sure help your overhead!
Biggest beds possible... no doubles! Having room for a fold-out bed (and a place to store it) will add a lot of flexibility to your reservations. Avoid having beds that share a wall, or even better, guest rooms that share a wall.
Flat screen TV's, wall-mounted on arms... take very little room. Don't forget to run the cable.
You can't have too many electrical outlets. It's impossible to have too many. I have an odd one in the middle of a wall that raises eyebrows... and I use it all the time for vacuuming.
Ideal innkeeper quarters are completely separate and private (ours aren't, but we make do), big enough to be comfortable (not cramped), small enough that you don't mind cleaning them when you're already tired of cleaning the rest of the place.
I absolutely love my laundry chute. Laundry up and down stairs is a big issue. Speaking of laundry, you'll be spending a LOT of time dealing with it, so plan accordingly. I have the largest residential w/d available and they were worth every penny. I have a custom built shelf with a 2' x 4' retractable ironing board (there's a picture somewhere here on the forum) that's large enough to iron a king sized pillow case without having to move it around. But even still, when I wash comforters I start running out of space quickly!
Build in storage in any nook or cranny. Each room needs one (or two) spare comforters, 2-3 spare sheet sets, cleaning supplies, spare glasses, extra towels... you can have a central storage with your laundry, but I prefer mine to be in the same area as the rooms. It's nice to have a vacuum cleaner on each floor... if you have a place to put it!
One of the best pieces of advice I got was to "have something fun in each room." Now, this innkeeper actually was referring to "toys" that could be made use of by couples... like a feather boa, or a fan... (How do you clean a boa??) But I liked that advice a lot. If you want cookie cutter, go to a hotel. The best features of my B&B are the fun things we incorporated while we were renovating... rope lights under the baseboards going up the stairs in the third floor guest room, as well as the amazing mozaic tile in the shower of that room (necessitated by the many angled drywall!). The banjo in the corner of the Music Department guest room. This is not your house, or a box motel... have fun with it! Make it fun and unique and they'll blog about you when they get home!
Finally, if you can swing five guest rooms, do it! I have four and wish it were five. I know an innkeeper who has six but only rents four as it's too much work for just her and her daughter to do more. BUT... the rooms are there if she wants to rent them, and someday she'll be able to sell it more easily.
Again, welcome to the forum! I've been pretty busy and haven't been on much lately but feel free to email me if you have further questions... I'd love to know where you're located!
=)
Kk..

We stayed at a B&B recently and they had the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located. Very smart!! (They have a guest room in a carriage house at the back and a second laundry room in the main house basement.) The laundry room didn't adjoin any guest rooms, just storage closets. No dragging stuff up & down the stairs.
Having something fun in each room is a great idea. Too much clutter is not a good thing though.
.

the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located.

What about the noise? That would worry me (as an owner)
.

the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located.

What about the noise? That would worry me (as an owner)

We just got the Samsung front loader (on sale!) and they are amazingly QUIET. Those would work.
RIki
.

We also got the Samsung (on sale also) ! I love the song it plays when it is finished.
.

I have the Samsung too, but I'm not happy withe the dryer for sheets. For towels and regular clothing it's fantastic. But don't you find that it turns a set of sheets into a "sheet cigar".....just a big log of tightly wound sheets? What am i doing wrong?

 

[egoodell]

:welcome:
I typed up a beautiful response then hit the wrong button. Argh!!
For starters, I agree with everything everyone else has written. We renovated ours and took all the advice we could get and I'm so glad I did!
You. Must. Have. Private. En Suite. Bathrooms. You've got the room... just do it!!
Big, messy, expensive projects first. (Roof, siding, gutters, insulation, windows, furnace, flooring, bathrooms.)
Spend extra on stuff that's set... you can always swap out a faucet, but flooring tile is forever!
And spend the money on the invisible stuff... like sufficient hot water. High efficiency heat, insulation and good windows don't add to room rates but they sure help your overhead!
Biggest beds possible... no doubles! Having room for a fold-out bed (and a place to store it) will add a lot of flexibility to your reservations. Avoid having beds that share a wall, or even better, guest rooms that share a wall.
Flat screen TV's, wall-mounted on arms... take very little room. Don't forget to run the cable.
You can't have too many electrical outlets. It's impossible to have too many. I have an odd one in the middle of a wall that raises eyebrows... and I use it all the time for vacuuming.
Ideal innkeeper quarters are completely separate and private (ours aren't, but we make do), big enough to be comfortable (not cramped), small enough that you don't mind cleaning them when you're already tired of cleaning the rest of the place.
I absolutely love my laundry chute. Laundry up and down stairs is a big issue. Speaking of laundry, you'll be spending a LOT of time dealing with it, so plan accordingly. I have the largest residential w/d available and they were worth every penny. I have a custom built shelf with a 2' x 4' retractable ironing board (there's a picture somewhere here on the forum) that's large enough to iron a king sized pillow case without having to move it around. But even still, when I wash comforters I start running out of space quickly!
Build in storage in any nook or cranny. Each room needs one (or two) spare comforters, 2-3 spare sheet sets, cleaning supplies, spare glasses, extra towels... you can have a central storage with your laundry, but I prefer mine to be in the same area as the rooms. It's nice to have a vacuum cleaner on each floor... if you have a place to put it!
One of the best pieces of advice I got was to "have something fun in each room." Now, this innkeeper actually was referring to "toys" that could be made use of by couples... like a feather boa, or a fan... (How do you clean a boa??) But I liked that advice a lot. If you want cookie cutter, go to a hotel. The best features of my B&B are the fun things we incorporated while we were renovating... rope lights under the baseboards going up the stairs in the third floor guest room, as well as the amazing mozaic tile in the shower of that room (necessitated by the many angled drywall!). The banjo in the corner of the Music Department guest room. This is not your house, or a box motel... have fun with it! Make it fun and unique and they'll blog about you when they get home!
Finally, if you can swing five guest rooms, do it! I have four and wish it were five. I know an innkeeper who has six but only rents four as it's too much work for just her and her daughter to do more. BUT... the rooms are there if she wants to rent them, and someday she'll be able to sell it more easily.
Again, welcome to the forum! I've been pretty busy and haven't been on much lately but feel free to email me if you have further questions... I'd love to know where you're located!
=)
Kk..

We stayed at a B&B recently and they had the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located. Very smart!! (They have a guest room in a carriage house at the back and a second laundry room in the main house basement.) The laundry room didn't adjoin any guest rooms, just storage closets. No dragging stuff up & down the stairs.
Having something fun in each room is a great idea. Too much clutter is not a good thing though.
.

the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located.

What about the noise? That would worry me (as an owner)
.

the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located.

What about the noise? That would worry me (as an owner)

We just got the Samsung front loader (on sale!) and they are amazingly QUIET. Those would work.
RIki
.

We also got the Samsung (on sale also) ! I love the song it plays when it is finished.
.

I have the Samsung too, but I'm not happy withe the dryer for sheets. For towels and regular clothing it's fantastic. But don't you find that it turns a set of sheets into a "sheet cigar".....just a big log of tightly wound sheets? What am i doing wrong?
.

We're only a two room inn so are not drying so many sheets at once.
RIki

 

[Proud Texan]

The one detail I wish we had paid attention to were the spaces into which our vacuum cleaner could fit. There are several areas in our rooms that the vacuum just does not fit. grrrrr! I have to use attachments to get into those tight spots. Consider ease of cleaning when placing furniture and bathroom fixtures. If you think about it now, you'll thank yourself later.
When designing the room, think TRAVELER. Don't have so many knick-knacks and doilies that there is no where for guest to put their stuff. Have lots of hooks and shelves. In the bath, put a hook near the sink for travelers to hang their toiletry bags within easy reach of the sink. Have extra hooks for towels and robes.

 

[Arks]

The one detail I wish we had paid attention to were the spaces into which our vacuum cleaner could fit. There are several areas in our rooms that the vacuum just does not fit. grrrrr! I have to use attachments to get into those tight spots. Consider ease of cleaning when placing furniture and bathroom fixtures. If you think about it now, you'll thank yourself later.
When designing the room, think TRAVELER. Don't have so many knick-knacks and doilies that there is no where for guest to put their stuff. Have lots of hooks and shelves. In the bath, put a hook near the sink for travelers to hang their toiletry bags within easy reach of the sink. Have extra hooks for towels and robes..

Consider ease of cleaning when placing furniture and bathroom fixtures. If you think about it now, you'll thank yourself later....Have lots of hooks and shelves...put a hook near the sink for travelers to hang their toiletry bags...

Excellent! My first keeper of the day...but the day is young.
Thanks, PT!

 

[Tom]

You already got a lot of valuable advice, but I'll amplify one area: hot water.
Quoting Yellow Socks: " ... like sufficient hot water."
Morticia: "Had one woman tell us we should LABEL the knobs in the shower as the hot and cold were reversed. Uh, no, they weren't, it just takes a little bit for the hot water to get upstairs."
If you are replumbing, have a circulating pump on hot water: it takes water from the farthest point back to the tank and connects at the bottom drain faucet. Your guests will have instant hot everywhere and you will save water, energy, and frustration.
Indeed, I discovered that nearly all my showers had temperature indicator reversed and the only complaint came from my brother-in-law, as the actual guests immediately get hot or cold at a twist.
Could also advise a combination of electric and tankless heat. We have one 50-gallon water heater to serve six full baths, a jetted tub, three lavs and three dishwashers. We have not run out of hot water yet. Secret is that the cold inlet to the tank is supplied by a 200,000 btu/hr tankless. The 50-gallon only serves circulation and as a buffer for short over loads when tankless output temp drops due to demand.
When occupancy is low, I turn off the tankless preheater.

 

[Joey Camb]

Mind you in response to people saying that our beds (By that I mean B&B people generally) are better than at home. When questioned these people say oh our mattress is ten years old or second hand from Gran etc the number of people who sleep on crap beds astound me! you spend a good chunk of your life asleep make sure your bed is good! plus i always answer we only do two things Bed and Breakfast if you can't get them right you should be doning something else LOL.
P.S. I am very fussy about my mattresses for this reason.

 

[InnBloom]

You already got a lot of valuable advice, but I'll amplify one area: hot water.
Quoting Yellow Socks: " ... like sufficient hot water."
Morticia: "Had one woman tell us we should LABEL the knobs in the shower as the hot and cold were reversed. Uh, no, they weren't, it just takes a little bit for the hot water to get upstairs."
If you are replumbing, have a circulating pump on hot water: it takes water from the farthest point back to the tank and connects at the bottom drain faucet. Your guests will have instant hot everywhere and you will save water, energy, and frustration.
Indeed, I discovered that nearly all my showers had temperature indicator reversed and the only complaint came from my brother-in-law, as the actual guests immediately get hot or cold at a twist.
Could also advise a combination of electric and tankless heat. We have one 50-gallon water heater to serve six full baths, a jetted tub, three lavs and three dishwashers. We have not run out of hot water yet. Secret is that the cold inlet to the tank is supplied by a 200,000 btu/hr tankless. The 50-gallon only serves circulation and as a buffer for short over loads when tankless output temp drops due to demand.
When occupancy is low, I turn off the tankless preheater..

I think this might just be genius. I'm gonna have to think on this for a bit, but it might be genius.

 

[scrambled_eggs]

:welcome:
I typed up a beautiful response then hit the wrong button. Argh!!
For starters, I agree with everything everyone else has written. We renovated ours and took all the advice we could get and I'm so glad I did!
You. Must. Have. Private. En Suite. Bathrooms. You've got the room... just do it!!
Big, messy, expensive projects first. (Roof, siding, gutters, insulation, windows, furnace, flooring, bathrooms.)
Spend extra on stuff that's set... you can always swap out a faucet, but flooring tile is forever!
And spend the money on the invisible stuff... like sufficient hot water. High efficiency heat, insulation and good windows don't add to room rates but they sure help your overhead!
Biggest beds possible... no doubles! Having room for a fold-out bed (and a place to store it) will add a lot of flexibility to your reservations. Avoid having beds that share a wall, or even better, guest rooms that share a wall.
Flat screen TV's, wall-mounted on arms... take very little room. Don't forget to run the cable.
You can't have too many electrical outlets. It's impossible to have too many. I have an odd one in the middle of a wall that raises eyebrows... and I use it all the time for vacuuming.
Ideal innkeeper quarters are completely separate and private (ours aren't, but we make do), big enough to be comfortable (not cramped), small enough that you don't mind cleaning them when you're already tired of cleaning the rest of the place.
I absolutely love my laundry chute. Laundry up and down stairs is a big issue. Speaking of laundry, you'll be spending a LOT of time dealing with it, so plan accordingly. I have the largest residential w/d available and they were worth every penny. I have a custom built shelf with a 2' x 4' retractable ironing board (there's a picture somewhere here on the forum) that's large enough to iron a king sized pillow case without having to move it around. But even still, when I wash comforters I start running out of space quickly!
Build in storage in any nook or cranny. Each room needs one (or two) spare comforters, 2-3 spare sheet sets, cleaning supplies, spare glasses, extra towels... you can have a central storage with your laundry, but I prefer mine to be in the same area as the rooms. It's nice to have a vacuum cleaner on each floor... if you have a place to put it!
One of the best pieces of advice I got was to "have something fun in each room." Now, this innkeeper actually was referring to "toys" that could be made use of by couples... like a feather boa, or a fan... (How do you clean a boa??) But I liked that advice a lot. If you want cookie cutter, go to a hotel. The best features of my B&B are the fun things we incorporated while we were renovating... rope lights under the baseboards going up the stairs in the third floor guest room, as well as the amazing mozaic tile in the shower of that room (necessitated by the many angled drywall!). The banjo in the corner of the Music Department guest room. This is not your house, or a box motel... have fun with it! Make it fun and unique and they'll blog about you when they get home!
Finally, if you can swing five guest rooms, do it! I have four and wish it were five. I know an innkeeper who has six but only rents four as it's too much work for just her and her daughter to do more. BUT... the rooms are there if she wants to rent them, and someday she'll be able to sell it more easily.
Again, welcome to the forum! I've been pretty busy and haven't been on much lately but feel free to email me if you have further questions... I'd love to know where you're located!
=)
Kk..

We stayed at a B&B recently and they had the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located. Very smart!! (They have a guest room in a carriage house at the back and a second laundry room in the main house basement.) The laundry room didn't adjoin any guest rooms, just storage closets. No dragging stuff up & down the stairs.
Having something fun in each room is a great idea. Too much clutter is not a good thing though.
.

the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located.

What about the noise? That would worry me (as an owner)
.

the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located.

What about the noise? That would worry me (as an owner)

We just got the Samsung front loader (on sale!) and they are amazingly QUIET. Those would work.
RIki
.

We also got the Samsung (on sale also) ! I love the song it plays when it is finished.
.

I have the Samsung too, but I'm not happy withe the dryer for sheets. For towels and regular clothing it's fantastic. But don't you find that it turns a set of sheets into a "sheet cigar".....just a big log of tightly wound sheets? What am i doing wrong?
.

I have the Samsung too, but I'm not happy withe the dryer for sheets. For towels and regular clothing it's fantastic. But don't you find that it turns a set of sheets into a "sheet cigar".....just a big log of tightly wound sheets? What am i doing wrong?

How many sheets are you putting in? I had the same problem with a whirlpool so now i can only dry one set of king sheets at a time and it works. So just a top bottom and two pillowcases

 

[Morticia]

:welcome:
I typed up a beautiful response then hit the wrong button. Argh!!
For starters, I agree with everything everyone else has written. We renovated ours and took all the advice we could get and I'm so glad I did!
You. Must. Have. Private. En Suite. Bathrooms. You've got the room... just do it!!
Big, messy, expensive projects first. (Roof, siding, gutters, insulation, windows, furnace, flooring, bathrooms.)
Spend extra on stuff that's set... you can always swap out a faucet, but flooring tile is forever!
And spend the money on the invisible stuff... like sufficient hot water. High efficiency heat, insulation and good windows don't add to room rates but they sure help your overhead!
Biggest beds possible... no doubles! Having room for a fold-out bed (and a place to store it) will add a lot of flexibility to your reservations. Avoid having beds that share a wall, or even better, guest rooms that share a wall.
Flat screen TV's, wall-mounted on arms... take very little room. Don't forget to run the cable.
You can't have too many electrical outlets. It's impossible to have too many. I have an odd one in the middle of a wall that raises eyebrows... and I use it all the time for vacuuming.
Ideal innkeeper quarters are completely separate and private (ours aren't, but we make do), big enough to be comfortable (not cramped), small enough that you don't mind cleaning them when you're already tired of cleaning the rest of the place.
I absolutely love my laundry chute. Laundry up and down stairs is a big issue. Speaking of laundry, you'll be spending a LOT of time dealing with it, so plan accordingly. I have the largest residential w/d available and they were worth every penny. I have a custom built shelf with a 2' x 4' retractable ironing board (there's a picture somewhere here on the forum) that's large enough to iron a king sized pillow case without having to move it around. But even still, when I wash comforters I start running out of space quickly!
Build in storage in any nook or cranny. Each room needs one (or two) spare comforters, 2-3 spare sheet sets, cleaning supplies, spare glasses, extra towels... you can have a central storage with your laundry, but I prefer mine to be in the same area as the rooms. It's nice to have a vacuum cleaner on each floor... if you have a place to put it!
One of the best pieces of advice I got was to "have something fun in each room." Now, this innkeeper actually was referring to "toys" that could be made use of by couples... like a feather boa, or a fan... (How do you clean a boa??) But I liked that advice a lot. If you want cookie cutter, go to a hotel. The best features of my B&B are the fun things we incorporated while we were renovating... rope lights under the baseboards going up the stairs in the third floor guest room, as well as the amazing mozaic tile in the shower of that room (necessitated by the many angled drywall!). The banjo in the corner of the Music Department guest room. This is not your house, or a box motel... have fun with it! Make it fun and unique and they'll blog about you when they get home!
Finally, if you can swing five guest rooms, do it! I have four and wish it were five. I know an innkeeper who has six but only rents four as it's too much work for just her and her daughter to do more. BUT... the rooms are there if she wants to rent them, and someday she'll be able to sell it more easily.
Again, welcome to the forum! I've been pretty busy and haven't been on much lately but feel free to email me if you have further questions... I'd love to know where you're located!
=)
Kk..

We stayed at a B&B recently and they had the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located. Very smart!! (They have a guest room in a carriage house at the back and a second laundry room in the main house basement.) The laundry room didn't adjoin any guest rooms, just storage closets. No dragging stuff up & down the stairs.
Having something fun in each room is a great idea. Too much clutter is not a good thing though.
.

the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located.

What about the noise? That would worry me (as an owner)
.

the laundry room on the 2nd floor where most of the guest rooms are located.

What about the noise? That would worry me (as an owner)

We just got the Samsung front loader (on sale!) and they are amazingly QUIET. Those would work.
RIki
.

We also got the Samsung (on sale also) ! I love the song it plays when it is finished.
.

I have the Samsung too, but I'm not happy withe the dryer for sheets. For towels and regular clothing it's fantastic. But don't you find that it turns a set of sheets into a "sheet cigar".....just a big log of tightly wound sheets? What am i doing wrong?
.

I have the Samsung too, but I'm not happy withe the dryer for sheets. For towels and regular clothing it's fantastic. But don't you find that it turns a set of sheets into a "sheet cigar".....just a big log of tightly wound sheets? What am i doing wrong?

I either get that or I get the sheet ball- everything wadded up in a giant ball. The outside sheet is dry, the rest is just as wet as when they went in. So, I run the cycle for 20 minutes, take all the sheets out and put them all back in again. Dryer balls didn't work. 2 sets at a time.
This eliminates 75% of the problem.
I don't have room to wash one set of sheets at a time. I also don't have the patience! On a busy day, I do 5 loads of sheets. Do not want to expand that to 11 loads. So, I yank the sheets out of the dryer, cursing the whole time, and throw them all back in again and hope for the best. It doesn't help that my dryer is stacked on the washer and it's way over my head. Tiptoes to turn the machine on.