{ make yourself at home… }

Posted on November 2, 2012 by adair

It’s that time of year when not only do we look forward to gathering with friends and family at holiday time, but we start planning on just how many air mattresses and sheet sets we’ll need to accommodate all our out-of-town guests. Or perhaps we’re trying to decide how to offer our guests the alternative to stay somewhere else, but a motel just seems too cold and impersonal. It can be confusing for all of us…

Which is why the gorgeous and well-appointed rooms of the Olde House Inn are available to solve all the confusion and hassle and let you focus on enjoying your guests { or escaping yourself for a few nights’ stay }.

Last year a family with out-of-state guests secured the House for six days around Christmas. Their guests felt at home, everyone had access to real beds and hotel-quality amenities, and everything was decorated and cozy as could be. Wasn’t that brilliant of them?

We’re currently taking reservations for the five rooms and have holiday openings. Whether you’re wanting a romantic weekend away, a girls’ night out after shopping, or a solution for just where Aunt Josephine is going to sleep… just give us a call.

1. Dell’s Salon: A south-facing room with double bed and dresser with walk-in closet. Shared, non-attached bath. RATES: Up to 2 nights – $79/per night, 3-29 nights – $30/night, 30 nights or more – $300/month

2. The Patrick Suite: A large step-down room with gas fireplace, queen bed, sofa, dresser, attached bath with shower, and walk-in closet. RATES: Up to 2 nights – $139/per night, 3-29 nights – $45/night, 30 nights or more – $650/month.

3. Judges’ Chambers: Smaller room with single bed, dresser, and attached bath. RATES: Up to 2 nights – $89/per night, 3-29 nights – $35/night, 30 nights or more – $350/month.

4. Regimental Quarters: Larger room with queen bed and walk-in closet. Shared, non-attached bath. RATES: Up to 2 nights – $79/per night, 3-29 nights – $35/night, 30 nights or more – $450/month

5. Luggage Room: Smaller room with single bed and smaller furniture. Shared, non-attached bath. Perfect for a child or teen. RATES: Up to 2 nights – $79/per night, 3-29 nights – $30/night, 30 nights or more – $200/month.

Bedrooms are on the 2nd floor with dual access from either the front or back staircase.

Household Amenities: All guests have shared access to the library, living room and kitchen. Cable TV and shared wireless internet available in all rooms. Laundry facilities and kitchenette available on 2nd floor.

We do not allow smoking or pets inside the home and do not allow drinking or inappropriate behavior in common areas for courtesy to other guests.

 

Maybe you’re not worried about where everyone will sleep, but how you’ll ever manage to tackle the mountain of work to be done so that you can entertain friends from work/church/the neighborhood for a Christmas party.

Wouldn’t you love someplace that is beautifully furnished, festively decorated, and just waiting for you so all you’d have to do is show up, have a good time, and never handle a single bit of after-party clean up?

Then reserve our dining room for your next affair or holiday get-together! Whether you want to do a simple luncheon or an elaborate three-course dinner, come make yourself at home with us and enjoy your friends and some delicious food together. When you reserve your date, we will put you in contact with several of our favorite caterers to plan your menu. You and your guests will have access to the first floor bath, as well as the library and living room.

Doesn’t it sound divine? Talk to any of the guests who have come to a catered event with us, and they would be sure to rave over it {and encourage you to experience it for yourself}! The calendar still has dates available, so call to confirm the date of your choice today.

For all inquiries, please call Carolyn at 330.268.4033.

 

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{ chaos recovery }

Posted on January 12, 2012 by adair

Well, it’s all over. The glitzy, over-the-top, hoopla (and sometimes hype) that are the holidays — from mid-October through January 1st. We’ve sung the songs, caught the TV specials, welcomed midnight, redeemed our gift cards and exchanged our gifts. {Aunt Muriel means well… but thank God for gift receipts.} Let’s start counting down to next year, right? If you’re like me, the last thing you want to think about is gearing up to do it all over again without six months of sunshine and possible beach vacation as a breather.

But once it is all over, life seems flat and we can’t figure out why we are so tired. Isn’t it a tad bit logical that after months of preparing, decorating, cooking, ingesting, and reveling we feel like we’ve been run over by Mack trucks and want nothing more than consecutive rounds of long winter’s naps? We’ve gone at a chaotic pace and now we just want a recovery back to day-to-day life. {And a nap or… dozen.}

There are two types of personality when dealing with Holiday Chaos Recovery: Sandy Sweep-It-Up and Diane Drag-It-Out.* {No need to fill out a name tag or take a quiz to figure out which one you might be.}

Sandy Sweep-It-Up’s: This example is rather extreme, and quite possibly rural legend, but I heard tell of a woman who would start taking down the tree and decorations after the last present had been opened. Now I doubt those of you with Sandy-qualities went through such dire straits to close out Christmas 2011, but you wasted little time packing it up the week between Christmas and New Year. Glitter, be gone! Take a hike, tinsel! In a flurry of activity and prep for resolutions to keep a more organized home, you’re now living in a sanitized-jolly-free zone. And with our current winter weather, you’ve got steel gray skies, muddy waterlogged yards, and bare branches outside your window for diverting scenery.

Diane Drag-It-Out: The antithesis to Sandy, Diane is still keeping the tree lit (at least until the neighbors say something) and humming carols under her breath. Taking advantage of all the sales, she’s stocking up on decorations for next year and giving them a trial run around the house before packing them away. She’s even considering keeping one of the artificial trees up and turning it into a Valentine’s Day decoration with paper hearts. Mimicking the reformed Scrooge, Diane sees no problem with keeping Christmas all the year… literally.

Regardless of which end of the spectrum you find yourself, here are some tried and true tips to recover from a chaotic holiday season.

#1) Don’t go overboard.

You can take the decorations down, but you don’t have to take them ALL down. You can leave decorations up, but not all of them until St. Patrick’s Day. After the overload of the holidays, January and February are great times to keep a subtle sparkle and shine around your home. Think cozy fabrics and throws, pillows made from thrift-store sweaters, punches of red, silvery objects with a time-worn patina, candles, mirrors, mercury glass, warm lamp light, apothecary jars filled with silvered ornaments, even boughs of faux pine and evergreen tucked about for a wintry glow that is festive without being elf-tastic. Even a snowman (or woman) would be perfectly in keeping with the season, regardless of your winter bringing you snow showers or rain showers.

#2) Cover your R’s.

Whether your R of choice would be read, relax, research, recreate, resolution or run, every recovery needs at least one. And don’t for one moment think that ‘run’ is somehow a more valid option than relaxing. Life needs margin and space, and if you find that pushing for a personal best 5k time or enjoying a glass of wine in a quiet house, find it where you will. You don’t have to limit yourself to one, but enjoy the R for what it is, when it is. Nothing ruins an activity more than the pressure to hurry up and finish so that you can move on to the next.

#3) Don’t wish the weeks away.

“Oh, I wish it was Thanksgiving…” Remember saying that mid-September and then the shock you felt when it finally arrived? When I was younger, the day after Christmas was awesome because it meant the eight week countdown to my birthday began. January and February passed in blurs of plotting, planning, wishing and crafting a surefire birthday present list. I didn’t mind when I was nine and a great birthday was guaranteed when I unwrapped a JEM doll. {Yes, I realize how much I date myself with that confession.} In my  30s, the scarcity and preciousness of every day, much less moment, has finally sunk in (and without the musical Rent‘s hit “524,600 minutes”). Looking forward to a year full of unknown experiences shouldn’t mean glossing over the day’s simpler joys. Now is just the time to start keeping a journal, and I have some ideas for recording the beauty of your day in a more meaning full way than ‘I went _____, I did ______’.

Splitting your day into segments like this will be far more revealing into what your passions are, what you’re hoping for, and the direction your year is taking. Besides, I’d much rather remember a great conversation skimming through the journal a year from now than the fact that it was gray and rainy and I impatiently want some snow to finally fall.

Whether it’s a holiday, a work hurdle, or an inconvenience, chaos seems to hover at the wings for any entrance it can get in our lives. Yet with a little balance, some deep breaths, and some options, your recovery will be just as marvelous as you are.

Have a sure-fire way to get back into the swing of things after life has sent you for a loop? Spill the beans, my friend! Tell us what works for you in the comments below.

* No offense or insult intentionally intended to any reader named Muriel, Sandy, and Diane, promise!

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{ rainy day joys }

Posted on April 13, 2011 by adair

When I was a child, things were different. Don’t you just love it when someone starts with an obvious blanket statement? But truly, they were. Without access to technology, gadgets, instant-watch movies {or even a VCR}, free time consisted of books, interactive toys, outdoor time, or something ‘constructive’ that stretched mind, muscles or imagination. Growing up in Florida, outdoor time was available to an almost endless degree — until hurricane season hit and day after day of torrential rain sent all the sunbabies into a frustrated pout.

At just such a moment, my mother would pull from her shelf a book of rainy day activities. I can remember how the book smelled and hazy details of the cover design. The steady drizzle outside yesterday made me wish I could put my hand on it from my own shelf. {Hopefully it is stored away with some other childhood things and not lost to time.} It got me thinking about what my choices would be today with a gray, rainy day to spend however I might wish. So I’ve pulled together some eye-candy and some inspiration for when just such a day might find you.

{via Compulsively Compiled}

Is there anything sweeter than a few hours to read a book — classic or latest bestseller — with a cup of tea and raindrops splashing against the window? Can you imagine having a wall full of books from which to chose and an interior THAT lovely? Talk about gilding the lily. Though to be honest, if I had a wall  of built-in shelves {which I’d LOVE to have}, I’d never disguise them with fabric panels. Plus, if you couldn’t pick which book to read, you could always take a few hours to dust, rearrange and inventory your personal library. That is a goal of mine, because I love to lend my books out — but always want to make sure that I get them back.

{via Marie Claire Maison}

There were always little projects in the rainy day book for taking ordinary food staples and getting crafty at snack time. Peanut butter and banana logs with raisin ants, carving faces onto apples, making a homemade fruit juice freezer slush or popsicle. Wouldn’t a rainy day be perfect for adventuring in your kitchen, armed with what you already had on hand, and a new recipe? Foodgawker is one of my favorite sites to search when I want something new, plus it is overflowing with some of the most gorgeous food photography ever. {I do not suggest browsing, however, if you are hungry — it will be self-inflicted torture.} I also enjoy Epicurious, when I want to have other users’ opinion on recipes that catch my eye.

{via Ohio Wood & Iron Works - Etsy}

And check out these awesome recipe hangers from Ohio Wood and Iron Works! When I print out a recipe or get one from my index, I always end up tacking it to my cabinets with a piece of tape. {Classy, huh? But I need it eye-level.} The solution is clearly their custom-made recipe hooks designed to hang over the hardware of your cabinet door. It’s absolutely brilliant.



{source unknown}

Rain falling always makes me crave the creative — a project, a hand-written letter, scribbling ideas for future blog posts in my journal. And with so many incredible online resources, whether you soak up some inspiration or you tackle something hands-on, you’ll be sure that the afternoon was time well spent on something that will feed your soul.

By filling your rainy day with activity you’ll brighten everything around you and before you know it, the sun will be shining again.

What’s your favorite rainy day past time?

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{sprouts and blooms}

Posted on April 8, 2011 by adair

We’ve all been told that April showers bring May flowers, but with fluctuating temperatures and gray skies, the early bloomers such as daffodils and crocus seem to be as confused as we are about what season it is. Regardless of Winter’s last ditch attempts to linger, there is something within us that always starts to sprout and bloom, yearning for color, light, and warmth from the sun {and not extra layers or our furnaces}.

Here are a few of our favorite ideas for adding some spring to your step and your house. Set the trend and sooner or later Mother Nature will catch up with a vengeance, not wanting to be outdone.

1. Get it growing…

Whether it is a bundle of flowers from the grocery, a new houseplant {as all the garden centers start coming to life}, or a gorgeous floral arrangement that will never require you to water it — bring nature and life indoors. I love this simple project from Design*Sponge for making a hanging plant fresh and modern! Click the link to take you to the super simple how-to courtesy of Netherlands-based designer Aura Scaringi.

Wouldn’t it look wonderful hung in a bathroom window {and the steam would help you keep things moist and watered} or along a ledge in a sunroom? Endless possibilities. But whatever you choose, bring some nature indoors.

2. Make your bed and lie in it.

Now is the perfect time to edit through the blankets you have piled on your bed, look at any pillows that need to be replaced, and switch out heavy flannel for something better suited for cool Spring nights. Add a spritz of rose water — I love it’s various uses {in the laundry, skin care, a light perfume} — to a freshly made bed and when you retire for the night, you’ll be dreaming sweetly. Literally.

Also mix and match your bedding. Leave a lightweight flannel or jersey fitted sheet, but top it off with a gorgeous cotton top sheet in a coordinating pattern or color from your linen closet.

3. Switch it up!

Throughout the holidays and winter months, I love to display my collections of sterling and silverplate. I incorporate bits and pieces throughout my house all year long, but when it’s cold outside, there is something about the glimmer and drama of silver, mercury glass, metallics of all sorts. Yet when the days get longer and natural light once again begins to pour in my windows — it suddenly looks a bit muddy clustered in the middle of my dining room table.

Now is the perfect time to switch out one collection and replace it with another – pottery, antique glass jars, whatever it is your heart delights in {and your closets hold}. And while you’re moving things around, edit anything to be consigned, sold online, or placed in a garage sale. You can price it and pack it up and accomplish a lot of the hated prep work for your summer sale.

My collections run far and wide, but I can never say no to vintage ironstone or whiteware — or pottery in these delicious shades of blue. You can find pieces from all sorts of local Ohio makers — Roseville, Rookwood, USA Pottery and McCoy — and even more that are unmarked. They look gorgeous clustered together, as Susan Chevalier shared in her feature for Country Living Magazine.

So there are three simple tips that can be spread out over a weekend to welcome Spring regardless of the wind or weather.

What is your favorite Spring accessory — for your home, yourself or your garden?

Posted in Collections, Style & Flair, Uncategorized | Leave a comment