A little catching up to do....

Welcome to  our latest adventure: The Indiana Inn

We purchased this 110 year old home in October 2016 after looking at many options in the 

Coeur d 'alene area.  Why would we purchase a really old house in need of some really major repairs?  It is a good question and one I have been asking myself a lot lately.  

Balin and I decided that we were going to start a business for vacation rentals.  Let me introduce myself as the Chief Operations Officer of Strickler Properties.  

I've heard it said that one should do what they love - I love houses and creating beautiful spaces both inside and out.  We're doing what we love, running a business creating beautiful spaces that provide vacation housing for people.  Balin enjoys building and running a business and I enjoy the creating part and being hospitable.   I think it's going to be a winning combination.

One of the babies of Strickler Properties is a house near the river in Coeur d 'Alene and it's 70% booked for summer already - in February. (I love people that plan ahead and get their housing for June in January.  My kind of people)  The other baby is Indiana Inn.  She's got 5 one bedroom apartments in her and charm in and soon to be out.  As you can see in the following before pictures not much had been done to her in the last, say, 15 years, and that was just what you could see.  Once we started taking apart bathrooms and looking at plumbing - well - string does not hold cracked plumbing together very well.  Apparently though it does a decent enough job as there were no major water leaks throughout the house.  Our contractor took apart a wall the other day to replace the tub plumbing and found that the drain pipe was connected to anything...literally dumping down the interior wall of the house.  We've been fixing things as we find them though you can't fix everything when you have a fixed budget.  I liken it to my life - I just don't have time or energy to fix everything that's wrong with me at one time...I do what I can with the budget of energy I've been given and then when the emotional budget increases, I can address some of the issues that need the most work.  My motto for me and this house is "A beautiful thing is NEVER perfect. Amen

516 E Indiana when we purchased it.  From a far it looks pretty good.   Get a little closer and you start to see it's warts.

The front porch has all sorts of potential for charm.  Just imagine a couple of rockers and a glass of wine.
Sadly the front porch was a disaster once we got under the decking.
Within the first week the budget was already way over. 

 

I've had multiple people ask me if I was going to take the picket fence down as it is dirty and somewhat cheap looking.  I'm not going to take it down, I'm going to use it as a foundational piece for a spectacular garden.  

The house lacked any insulation and the windows, though cool, are original.  Second item not in the original budget, blowing in insulation and new windows.  An then look at the siding next to the porch roof.  Wow.  Pretty bad.  My painter assures me that they can make it look pretty good.  That's not going to happen until July when the weather is warm enough to paint.

The hallway going up through the center of the house.  It has such good bones but it had carpet everywhere, dried flowers that needed to be thrown away 20 years ago and dirt everywhere.  

Old mailboxes hastily hung don't make for an inviting entryway.  I have an idea for those boxes.

Each apartment has a living area, bathroom and kitchen.  Some have more architectural charm then others, but everyone has great potential.  

The bathroom for Unit 1.  It's in pretty bad shape. I'm sure once we start we'll find it's in worse shape then we think.

Unit 3 was inhabited by a very nice young man, but charming it was not.

Unit 3 bedroom

Unit 3 - same room as above painted, new windows and bedding.  (more pictures coming)

Unit 3 kitchen.  

Unit 4 was in the best shape.  This is a picture of it's living room.  The original windows are charming but you literally could feel a breeze through them.

Unit 4's kitchen has potential, just not in it's original state.

The cabinet bases were in good shape, just a bit outdated doors.

Unit 5 came furnished as such.  We took as much of the furniture as we could and repurposed it.  I used a lot of Annie Sloan Chalk paint and the results were pretty amazing.

Here's the almost finished version of the living space in Unit 5 (pictured above).  Paint, furniture and lighting make all the difference.  It's really an adorable space and it's already got 3 bookings.

In these remodeling projects, I really don't have a  lot of skills to offer. I'm horrible at constructing anything - seriously.  Balin doesn't allow me to wield a drill in our own house as I often "eye ball it" which tends to leave a couple of holes around the final "perfect" placement of said object.  

I'm coming more and more at peace with what I am good at.  I can paint.  I can buy furniture and items to pull a place together.  I can design and install kick ass gardens.  

For everything else there's Steve the Contractor and Laura the "make it happen" girl with a drill.  I don't think I could have done this project without Laura.  She's just amazing with a  paint brush, a drill, a saw's all - she can do it all.  

One night I asked Balin to come and help me by putting IKEA furniture together and to hang some stuff.  Man, I thought by the end of the night that maybe going into business with him was a bad idea.  He was so grumpy.  He is not going to be the "fix it" guy.  It could be that he had worked all day at the office and was tired and didn't want to be bothered with hanging mirrors, hooks and breaking down cardboard boxes.  :) Laura loves doing exactly all those things.  And she's nicer in the process too.

One of the things about this project was the need to do the decorating on the inexpensive side.  I needed to find cute solutions that didn't cost very much as most of my budget was being spent on less exciting things, like plumbing.  I went to the dollar store and bought inexpensive frames, painted them with Annie Sloan chalk paint and put a copy of a free picture from Graphic's Fairy in it and Voila! Inexpensive yet cute art.  

We were able to save all the cabinets by putting on new cabinet fronts & pulls.  Amazing difference!  The laminate top was a "soapstone" look alike for a fraction of the cost.  The sink, faucet and light were all new too but the stove and fridge we were able to keep.  When you're updating kitchens and bathrooms in multiples, it pays to keep things simple and save as much as you can.  I love the blue walls with white and polished nickel accessories.  

Unit 2's got furniture - it looks so lovely in the space.  Now to add the pizazz!

Unit 2 is finally done!

Unit 4's living room.  They all kind of look  alike I have to admit.  When I first started this project I thought I would do every unit in a different theme.  That became too overwhelming so I purchased a few items I loved, Ikea slip covered couches set the stage for all the rooms.  

If you saw my Three Bear's Cabin, you'll remember this amazing floral print!  I found this chair at a  thrift store for $30.  I couldn't pass it up as the fabric brings back so many memories.  Not everyone loves it - but it just makes me smile.

This project has been really fun, but really, really tiring.  Balin has been a huge support often taking the kids to school so I could go to work around 6am.  I would come home for lunch, run a few errands for the project, pick the kids up at 2:45 and then come home for the afternoon/evening routine.  A couple times a week I would head out after eating dinner and work until 9.  With heading out of town on Friday afternoons to go skiing and coming home Sunday, things were pretty busy.  There were many times when I would look around at all that needed to be done and get pretty overwhelmed.  It was a lot of work.  My contractor Steve was plugging away but it just never seemed to end. We had a target date of being launched of January 15th - but that date came and went.  It's looking like it'll be closer to March 1st.  We're getting there - it's looking amazing!  I can't wait to have guests staying there.

(Update 4/1/17: I've finally finished the four apartments - and I have guests booking almost daily.  We have one more unit which needs to be on line May 21 as I have guests coming to stay for 13 nights.  I have to say that our goal was to replace Balin's income with this.  I think I will die from exhaustion if we try to do that.  The amount of effort to make a livable wage is exhausting...and Balin provides far more than a livable wage.  I am so thankful for all the work he does to provide for his family - I definitely have a higher appreciation for his job.)

Our beloved Stanley went home to be with Buddy and Grandpa.  He was such a good dog and we sure did love having him be part of our life.  

With the winter in full swing, we headed to the mountains to take some turns every weekend.  It's so nice having a pass and a place as we don't feel like we have to "get our money's worth" of a lift ticket.  Though something tells me if I actually penciled the numbers out for what it costs us to ski and stay, I would make everyone ski quite a bit more.  

There was plentiful amounts of snow this winter, which made for lovely walks.  I even took out my Christmas present of X-Country skiis on to the lake, which was awesome.  The lake was frozen up into late March - though by the end of January we were ready to be done with the snow at home.

Funny story.  When we moved to Liberty Lake I had promised the kids 2 kittens (bargaining chip for good behavior = bad parenting).  They got TJ and Mr. K.  About a year ago TJ disappeared and we figured he got eaten.  Then one morning in November of this year, I went out to do something on the front porch and there was this waif of a kitten on our front porch.  He was so skinny and malnourished and apparently had been in some sort of accident as he had a wicked limp.  I immediately fed him and then took him to the vet later that day.  We named him Woofles and found out he was about 3 years old, was neutered and had been neglected.  Our entire family was aghast at how someone could have abandoned this little guy.  His growth was stunted due to malnutrition and he looked like a 10 week old kitten. We brought him home and gave him food and love and he soon became a very affectionate cat.  A month or so into having him Perrin made a comment that he had the same markings as our cat TJ who got eaten by the coyote.  Days passed and it became clear to all that this was TJ.  The timing, the markings, his being neutered, all pointed to his true identity.  It turns out that he wasn't neglected but had chosen to leave the protective covering of his home and family to play in the big, scary, food-scarce world.  It didn't go so well.  From then on Woofles aka TJ, didn't stray far from home.  As it goes for many animals in the Strickler family, one of Perrin's friends fell in love with him and asked if she could have him.  We joyfully agreed and sent him home with her family shortly thereafter.  It was a happy ending.

Perrin had an accident at school 3 weeks before mid-winter break.  She fell running backwards and broke her arm.  Can I just say how thankful I am for insurance?

In the midst of working, fixing broken arms, Balin being out of town a bunch, we threw in training the dogs.  Piper in particular was out of control so we brought in a professional.  Chaun came to our house every week and helped us with basic commands and even more complex ones.  It was made such a difference with the dogs - I'm looking forward to spending more time training them this spring.

Ice skating on the lake is no easy task.  With bumpy ice and wobbly skates, it takes a certain amount of courage to persevere.  We didn't last long.

For Christmas this year my sister's family, my mom, Loretta from Uganda and our family met in Orlando to spend the week with Harry Potter!  Universal Studios Orlando was pretty amazing - and I"m not a huge amusement park fan.  We stayed at the Portofino, which looked like the town we stayed in July.  Staying at the hotel we were able to get early entrance to the park so I was getting up at 6am EST (3am PST) to go play in the park.

Perrin in Harry Potter world.  It was pretty stinking cool.  Also kind of fun since we had just been to England a couple of months before - looked like the real thing.

Butter beer - pretty good.  The castle was amazing and the ride inside fun!

Loretta is our new friend from Uganda.  Through mutual friends in Seattle, she got a scholarship to study at Seattle Pacific University and is pre-med.  She wants to get her medical degree and then head back to her country to practice.  A couple of times a year my mom has her down to hang out with her in Phoenix - or go on a trip to Orlando.  Not a bad surrogate grandma.

The hotel had a sweet pool and it was 80 degrees while we were there.  That is my kind of vacation.  We went to Disney World one day.  It was so crowded - so crowded.  We stayed for 3 hours and then everyone was in unison that we needed to go back and play in the pool.

When we got back from our delightful vacation, we headed straight up to the mountains where we celebrated Perrin's and her best friend's birthday with a girls sleepover.  Perrin had Davy and Nohaemi over to stay and I had their moms - it was perfect.  I think it's been requested to do it again next year!