Family-Based Business

Establishing the Ambiance in a Bed and Breakfast or Farm Vacation Home

Harold H. Alexander

"A romantic Victorian mansion and carriage house."
"Country charm and farm-home breakfast"
"Newly restored 1881 Second Empire Home."
"Elegant turn-of-the-century breakfast on a wicker-filled porch."
"Bedrooms filled with lovely antiques."
"Sunny guest rooms overlooking the river."

Who could resist these descriptions of bed and breakfast and farm vaction home locations? Each offers something unusual and memorable—an experience different from the average motel or hotel, a chance to "get away from it all". There are truly elegant bed and breakfast and nostalgic farm vacation home opportunities available throughout the state.

It occurs to you that, since your home and its furnishings have been admired by friends and acquaintances, perhaps this might be a good way to supplement your family income. And it could also be a pleasant experience. After all, there are a couple of rooms upstairs that are empty most of the time.

The more you think about it, the more excited you become. Immediately you think of a dozen or more things that must be done before you can welcome guests. The rooms need to be fixed up a little—new wallpaper, perhaps, or new bedspreads. That sticking dresser drawer must be fixed. The bathroom should be modernized. You begin to look in magazines, visit antique shops, drapery and wallcovering stores. Before long, you're so immersed in details that the once-clear picture of how you might turn your home into a family-based business has gone completely out of focus.

Develop a Plan

Planning is the key to any successful project. Regardless of how attractive, interesting, or unique your home is now, it will undoubtedly need to be adapted for its new use as a business location. Analyze your assets. What do you have? What more will you need?

Is your home located where you'll have a good opportunity to attract guests? Why would guests like to stay in your home? What makes it unique or attractive to prospective guests? Will the structure need to be altered to function well for you, your family, and guests? Will you need additional furniture? Should you refurbish the furniture, interior, or exterior of your home? Do you have the time, money, and skills to accomplish what is needed? And finally, are you emotionally prepared to have strangers stay with you and your family?

Let's look at these questions and consider some possible answers. Priorities should be established early in the planning process. Some changes may have to wait, or may not be accomplished as soon as desired or while other changes are in progress. What can wait and what must be done before any guests arrive?

1. Is your home located where you'll have a good opportunity to attract guests?

While Minnesota has more than 10,000 lakes, a wide variety of scenery, interesting locations, and abundant recreational opportunities, there are still areas that may not be attractive or just do not draw tourists and travelers. If your home happens to be located in an area without interest, you may not want to spend the time and money to establish a business that caters to travelers. Perhaps a business based on local needs and customers would be a better idea.

However, if your home is isolated and difficult to find, but the location offers some unique scenery, recreation, or simply the opportunity to "get away from it all", then your home may be suitable for a bed and breakfast or a farm vacation home business.

Development of this publication was a cooperative effort by Community and Natural Resource Development, Home Economics, and Agriculture.

2. Why would guests like to stay In your home?

Analyze why you think paying guests would find your home a place where they'd want to stay. Is it warm and charming? Do you and your family make them feel welcome? Are the beds, food, general ambiance of the interior and exterior surroundings of the type and quality that make people want to stay there?

There's a lot you can do to make people feel welcome. It goes beyond a ruffled sign or a hand shake. Do some play-acting. Enter your home as if you were a stranger. Have family members greet you. Go to your guest room and stay in it for a night. What do you need that is there, that is not there? Is the bed comfortable? Is there adequate seating, a place for a suitcase, a place to hang your clothes? Does the room smell fresh and clean? Does it look fresh and clean? Is the bathroom nearby? Is it private or does the family have to share it? Is it easy to find "your towels"? In the morning, is breakfast served in the guest room, dining room, or kitchen? Is the food served in an attractive way? What has been done to make it attractive? And is the food good?

3. What makes your home unique or attractive to prospective guests?

Every home should be a unique environment. It should reflect your family, the people who live there, through its architecture, furniture styles, and accessories. Your home should reflect the geographical area in which it is located. And your home should exude a sense of shelter and warmth, an overall feeling of security, happiness, and serenity.

Your home does not have to be a mansion; nor does it need to be old, ornate, or of historical importance. But it does need to be different and special, a place that will be fondly remembered. It's not unusual for guests to return again and again to favorite bed and breakfast or farm vacation home locations and develop long-lasting friendships with the owners.

First and foremost, the guest room and bath, as well as the rest of your home, must be attractive, comfortable, and clean. The amenities that travelers need and appreciate should be available. Besides the bed, include an easy chair, adequate light for reading in the chair and in bed, a bedside table for glasses, books, medicine, etc., clean linen, an extra blanket, clean towels, and adequate storage space for clothes, both in a dresser or chest and in a closet or wardrobe. Extras, such as a full-length mirror, fresh flowers or growing plants, some recent magazines, a small selection of books, fresh fruit, and a bedside container of ice water will all be appreciated. Room-darkening window shades or draperies for those not wishing to awaken early will be welcomed.

The bedroom does not need an adjoining bathroom. Guests who stay in bed and breakfast homes are used to sharing a bath with the host family. However, the bathroom should never be unavailable for long periods because of extended family use. Have some air freshener and a separate soap and towel supply for guests' use.

You should determine the "look" you want to have in your home and in the guest rooms. Analyze the furniture and accessories you have, along with the style of your home and its interior architecture. Today, there are many variations from which to choose, and certainly one does not have to have the same period of furniture as the architecture, or even the same style of furniture in a room. Mixes of styles are actually more reflective of our lifestyles. In some guest homes, bedrooms are decorated differently. It's a matter of your and your guests' preferences. Overly decorated homes and rooms may be tolerated, or even appreciated, by some guests, but it is safer to avoid too many ornate or cute accessories.

On the other hand, Individualism is strongly recommended because your home should reflect your taste and interests. Personal items placed in your home and even in the guest rooms are very appropriate. Your guests may pay for the privilege of staying the night or longer with you, but they are houseguests, not clients. A bed and breakfast or country vacation home is a more personal experience.

4. Will the structure of your home have to be altered to function well for you, your family, and your guests?

It's extremely important when considering a bed and breakfast or farm vacation home facility to check all applicable city, county, and state building and health codes with local inspectors. (See Minnesota Extension Service publication CD-FO-3225, "Starting a Bed and Breakfast or Farm Vacation Business".) Usually, little structural remodeling is needed to adapt a private home for a bed and breakfast business, but it's good to know what is or isn't needed early in the planning process.

Apart from what the codes require, you may wish to make minor alterations to insure guest and family privacy. Perhaps removing a doorway between a guest room and an adjoining family bedroom would provide more privacy for both. Additional clothes storage may be needed in a guest's room; this would be especially useful if guests were staying longer than one night. To provide additional space for eating breakfast, a wall may have to be removed between the kitchen and pantry. (When any wall is to be taken out, be absolutely sure that you are not removing a supporting wall; if not certain, contact a qualified architect, builder, or engineer.)

5. Will you need additional furniture?

One important point cannot be overstressed: Regardless of the type, antique or new, the bed must have a top-quality mattress. There are many ways to adapt or refurbish existing furniture, but there can be no substitute for a good mattress.

Image: Table Set You may need additional furniture, such as a comfortable chair in the guests' room. To provide adequate lighting, you may need to acquire additional lamps. Does your breakfast table have enough chairs to seat your family and your guests at the same time? It's often expected that the host or hosts will visit with their guests during breakfast and, preferably, eat with them, too.

When selecting additional furniture, especially when purchasing new pieces, consider strong construction and upholstery fabrics that are wear- and soil-resistant and compatible with what is already in the room. The whole ambiance of a room can be destroyed if something new or different stands out. When guests enter a room, they should experience a total effect, not focus on individual pieces.

If you expect many guests, investigate contract-grade furniture. Today virtually every style, type, and scale of furniture is available in contract-grade, which is of sturdier construction than that manufactured for residential use. It is not always found in local furniture stores, but can generally be ordered by them or through interior designers or architects. In appearance, contract-grade furniture is nearly identical with the more available residential-grade, but being stronger it will last far longer before it must be discarded or refurbished. It can be more expensive, but in the long run it may prove to be less costly.

Always purchase the best grade of furniture you can afford. Furniture comes in many grades and prices—not always related to each other—so check carefully the construction and sturdiness of any potential purchase.

6. Should you refurbish the furniture, Interior, or exterior of your home?

Your home and its guest rooms should be not only comfortable, but also a visual delight. The ambiance should be distinctive and pleasant. Of course, not everything will be new, nor should it be. On the contrary, quite often the most memorable bed and breakfast homes are older and are often filled with lovely old furniture.

However, you realize that your home does have some details and furnishings that could be improved. Replacement is not necessary or possible, and if it were, the new might not go with what you already have. Careful attention to refurbishing is necessary.

Don't introduce anything that's not in character with what's already there. Consider color, for example. Current fashion colors are beautiful, but they might not be compatible with the colors now in your home or guest rooms. They also tend to date a room, going out of fashion as rapidly as they came in.

Rather than create a whole new color scheme, try introducing a slightly brighter, fresher hue that harmonizes with what you already have. One trick is to introduce a lot of sparkling white to enliven a tired color scheme. Perhaps instead of using colored bed and bath linens you might try pristine white instead, particularly with sheets. The freshness of the white may be all that is needed. The addition of other white touches will also enhance the other colors and textures.

Image: Bed If the finish on your furniture is dull and cloudy, don't immediately run for the paint and varnish remover. Original finishes are much more desirable and the furniture is more valuable when they're left intact. Try cleaning wood furniture with a mixture of alcohol and paint thinner (test first). You may find that when the accumulated polish has been removed, all the surface needs is the addition of a well-polished thin coat of wax or oil. The furniture will glow with only an occasional waxing, not more than two or three a year. Remember that in America a hand-rubbed look is more admired than a slick, shiny finish, and seems much more compatible with older furniture.

Mix your woods and surfaces. Natural-colored, transparent finishes can be mixed with painted surfaces, and have been for centuries. Even a few nicks, scratches, and discolorations add a warmth and charm not found in new pieces. Let your furniture reflect its age and experience. Some of the most charming rooms are those that appear to have evolved through the years rather than having been put together all at one time.

Not every fabric in a room must be the same. On the contrary, mixing fabric patterns is one of the signs of a good designer. They should, however, be compatible in some way. There should be some elements that are similar, such as the colors or pattern motifs. Of course, a plain-colored or textured fabric can always be mixed with a pattern.

Accessories frequently make the room. They provide the character in a home. They should always be objects and devices that add interest and need not be expensive to be interesting, tasteful, or decorative. A beautiful shell or rock can be just as effective as an expensive vase or sculpture—and far less costly. Personal needlework projects, such as decorative pillows, crewel, or Crosshatch pictures, are good additions. Accessories can change the gender of a room; without changing the furniture, draperies, or bed coverings, just adding a few of the right accessories can change a room from masculine to feminine, or vice versa.

7. Do you have the time, money, and skills to accomplish what is needed?

Do you have the time to do all that you plan to do before you begin accepting guests? If there is a time limit, decide which projects are most important. A good rule of thumb is that whatever is going to be done will take twice as long as you think it will.

Frequently, guests are interested in what you are planning to do. Your home should never be finished, because you and your family are always living in it and it should reflect the ever-changing lives of those who live there. Consequently, if your home is being or is about to be remodeled, but this work does not inconvenience or affect guests, they may be very interested in what you are doing. An unfinished guest room can provide a topic for considerable conversation.

Do you have the money to accomplish what you want to do? While money is not the sole criterion for additions or adaptations to your home, changes can be costly, especially if you do not have the skills to do all or part of the work yourself. But careful planning can often reduce costs. If the entire project is carefully thought through and all necessary steps are clearly defined, costly changes or alterations can often be minimized or eliminated.

Do you have the skills to accomplish what is needed? It can be tremendously satisfying to do the work yourself. Major construction is often beyond the skills of most of us, but there are many smaller jobs that can be accomplished by even the most unskilled hands. Care, teamwork, a little expert guidance, and the ability to ask the right questions can do much to eliminate a lack of deftness or capability.

8. Finally, are you emotionally prepared to have strangers stay with you and your family?

The owner of a successful bed and breakfast or farm vacation home enjoys meeting new people. If you or the members of your family do not like talking with strangers, perhaps these businesses are not for you. There is a lot of personal contact involved. It is the hallmark of bed and breakfast and farm vacation home businesses. You must be friendly, open, and informative. You must show that you like and welcome your guests, even if it's been "one of those days". The days will be consumed by your guests and the details of keeping the home attractive.

Although you are pleased with your home, are you willing to share it with others? Are the furniture and furnishings in your home so precious to you that you will be worried if strangers use or possibly damage them? How would you react if something were broken or stolen? Accidents do occur, and it must be admitted that there are individuals who take things that are not their own.

You must also ask yourself questions like: "Will I allow children and/or pets to accompany guests in their room?" "How will I handle an undesirable guest?" "Will this new use of my home affect my family and its way of life?" "Will having additional people in the home prevent my family from entertaining and enjoying our home as they do now?"

It is important to know whether you have met the expectations of your guests. An evaluation form left on the dresser in the guests' room prior to their arrival and left with the host upon departure, or given to guests as they depart with an addressed, stamped envelope for mailing, will assist you in determining how well you have succeeded in making their stay comfortable and memorable. It is often by recommendation rather than advertising that bed and breakfast and farm vacation home businesses get their guests. And it is always wonderful to have guests return.

Harold H. Alexander Is an Extension Specialist and associate professor In the Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel, University of Minnesota, Twin Odes.