I’m not a writer, so I can’t have writer’s block. I’m not a blogger, so I can’t have blogger’s block.  But I’ve definitely been having trouble coming up with the topics and the energy to write anything. I think it all started in June when my dog, Hummer, passed away. Since then, I began working at Eagle’s Nest Foundation and July and August have been pretty busy months at the Inn. Between being depressed about losing my baby and dealing with the summer crush as well as a new job, I feel like I haven’t had the energy or inspiration. You’d think that with all the summer action around here, I’d have no problem coming up with interesting topics.

But I can’t think of ANYTHING that I want to/feel like write about!

I’m sure I could blog about the new piece of flooring in the kitchen I had done last week ($1600 later and it’s only 1/4 of the entire kitchen floor space). Or, I could talk about the Family Reunion Cruise I just returned from (I probably will share that soon). There’s also all the fun summer activities that took place in Asheville or the cool fall lineup, including the Flower Carpet at Biltmore and Octoberfest (another beer festival). There’s a wedding at the Inn this weekend that could inspire me to write and another one the first weekend in October that I’m preparing for. Lastly, I could always talk about my super sister, Jessica, and her admirable battle with breast cancer these past six months (another probably will blog).

There are definitely lots of topics to write about. I just need to find my mojo and get back into the groove.  I’d really love to hear from anyone (professional writer, blogger, or novice) what tips they might like to share with me and the general public about how they deal with the infamous “block” that invariably happens.  What can/do you do to get past it?

Well, it’s been a month since I set a few goals for the Spring. Following is the list:

1. repair the “roof” of the gazebo which collapsed under the weight of the first snow we had in December.  After assessing the damage, I’m confident that with some new wood arms, I can repair the ones that broke.
2. replace any dead plants and bushes around the patio areas and in containers. Plant new plants in the pergola area to continue filling it in as a garden area.
3. replace some rotting wood around the front porch roof and outside the bay window of the dining room.
4. build a small 4X6 vegetable/fruit garden outside the kitchen on the edge of the pergola/garden area. I would like to start small with a few vegetables and fruits and expand from there.
5. research the feasibility of building and stocking a small chicken coop enclosure to provide eggs for cooking. This may not end up being a goal, it’s just an idea right now and I want to look into whether this is even something the city of Asheville will allow me to do.

At this point, I’m about 95% complete with the first goal of fixing the gazebo roof. My father and stepmother visited for a few days and they did a lot to get it repaired (actually, they did most of the work). I replaced one broken wood arm and my dad was able to get all of the arms up and back into their holder. The one casualty of the damage was to the canvas. When the roof fell, the canvas ripped in several places so it did not go back into the holder along with the arms (see photo).

As such, I had to staple the canvas to the tops of each arm. Unfortunately, it does not look the same and there are some rips and gaps. However, being the creative person that I am :0), I am going to attach more fabric to the underside of the arms so that nobody has to see the damaged canvas. By the time my readers come visit, the inside canvas should be up and I’ll be sure to make it look decorative so that it will appear good as new.

One goal – check!

I have begun working on goal #2 of replacing dead bushes and plants around the patio and garden areas and in containers. Today was the first day of warm weather and a free afternoon. I have started by pulling out dead stumps, cutting back bushes, branches, and dead grasses around the patios, gazebo, and front porch. On Friday, my landscapers start again for the year and will be cleaning up debris and leaves so that I can fully assess what needs to be replaced. I am really surprised that most everything I planted last year is coming back, given the cold, snowy winter. Some plants that I thought for sure were dead are sprouting leaves and buds. I may not have to replace as much as I had thought, but I anticipate completing this goal (or being close to completion) by the end of April.

Goal #3 is getting looked at on Friday.

I have the materials list for goal #4 and hope to start building the bed by next week; and to start filling it in within the next 2-3 weeks. I plan to start with tomatoes, peppers, basil, and mint and will go from there.

I have not even begun to look into goal #5. That will definitely be last on my list.

The good thing about publishing goals is that it’s not enough just to post them on the wall for me to see. By showing them to my readers, I feel more motivated to work on them.  Sharing goals with others means that more than one person is thinking about them, and not wanting to disappoint my readers, I am determined to accomplish them.

Once this dratted winter is finally gone, there will be some projects that I plan to work on around the Inn. Until the days stay warmer (40s and above), I can’t assess the entire property, but there are some things that I know will need to be done. Over the Winter, my major project was repainting the downstairs and upstairs common hall areas and stairway. The previous color is what I call salmon. I changed it to a light vanilla on the first floor and one shade darker on the second floor. With the exception of a patch of wall going up the stairs which I cannot reach, this has been accomplished. The unpainted patch will have to be done by a professional who has the proper scaffolding. I am quite pleased with the results. You can see the salmon pink color still on the wall in the first photo as a reference.

Now, I’m compiling a list of goals to accomplish during the Spring season. So far, here is what I’ve got:

• repair the “roof” of the gazebo which collapsed under the weight of the first snow we had in December.  After assessing the damage, I’m confident that with some new wood arms, I can repair the ones that broke.
• replace any dead plants and bushes around the patio areas and in containers. Plant new plants in the pergola area to continue filling it in as a garden area.
• replace some rotting wood around the front porch roof and outside the bay window of the dining room.
• build a small 4X6 vegetable/fruit garden outside the kitchen on the edge of the pergola/garden area. I would like to start small with a few vegetables and fruits and expand from there.
• research the feasibility of building and stocking a small chicken coop enclosure to provide eggs for cooking. This may not end up being a goal, it’s just an idea right now and I want to look into whether this is even something the city of Asheville will allow me to do.

Spring is a short 3 months so I think this list is a good start and should keep me busy.  I will post updates and photos as I go along. I would love comments and advice from anyone with experience in any of these areas or things you experienced when working on a similar project yourself.

S. Lorraine Norwood, MA, RPA
Senior Associate
Manager, CRM/NEPA Department
Terracon
2855 Premiere Parkway, Suite C I Duluth, Georgia 30097
P [770] 623-0755, ext. 304 I F [770] 623-9628 I M [678] 372-3770
slnorwood@terracon.com

I’m happy to report that we’re coming down the home stretch on listing the marvelous Blake House on the National Register of Historic Places. Ann Swallow, the National Register Coordinator with the State Historic Preservation Office, has completed a second review of the nomination and supporting documentation.  She has requested some additional information and research, and once this is done, the nomination will be reviewed by the Certified Local Government before heading toward an April deadline for submittal to members of the NRHP review board who meet in June.

As you can see, there are a lot of hoops to jump through to get a property on the National Register!  Before we got to this point, we had to take measurements of all the rooms, windows, and doors, and note whether any architectural changes had been made and when.  Tracking down dates has been very difficult.  We have records from the Buncombe County Tax Assessor and the Deeds Office, but nailing down some subtle and not-so-subtle changes to the house is impossible due to the death of previous owners.  Fortunately we have newspaper clippings, diary entries, old photographs, and archival documents.

One of the most interesting things to come out of the second NRHP review is Ann Swallow’s happy “accident” at finding an exact replica of the Blake House in an 1842 book of house plans called Cottage Residences by Andrew Jackson Downing.  It’s amazing to think that in the 1850s, the Blakes had access to a book of house plans, much like modern consumers have access to plans in “Southern Living” or other architectural books and magazines.  Downing’s drawing of “a cottage in the English, or Rural Gothic Style” is a dead ringer for the Blake House down to the kitchen wing on the rear and the bay window off the parlour.  Downing designed the cottage for what he called “internal convenience”.  By that he meant that there are “many families mainly composed of invalids, or persons advanced in years, who have a strong preference for a plan in which the kitchen, and at least one bedroom, are upon the same floor with the living rooms, and in which there is little or no necessity for ascending or descending stairs; an exercise which, though of little consequence to the young and robust, is of all others the most fatiguing to the infirm, or those in delicate health.”

We’re not sure if the Blake family had a member in delicate health who needed the downstairs bedroom, but that’s part of the additional information which we hope to dig up in the next few weeks.  We do know that at some point, the downstairs bedroom was turned into a doctor’s office for Dr. Frederick Blake, the son of Daniel Blake, a rich South Carolina rice planter, who built the house.  The Blakes were a fascinating family who had ties to Charleston, South Carolina and Hendersonville, North Carolina.  More details and hopefully good news about the nomination in our next blog.

Added by Leslie:

This NRHP nomination has been very long and arduous I’m sure for Lorraine and her team. They first started in July 2007 and so I am very anxious at this point for a resolution.

I have the book that Lorraine mentions above and have taken a few photos so that you can see the similarities. The Parlour and Library are now the Inn’s Dining Rooms, the Bedroom is now the Inn’s Parlor and the entrance from the parking lot, the Kitchen is the Inn’s Rose Room which was my Gift Shop before that and the Labrador Landing Pub when I bought the Inn. Lastly, the Closet & Pantry are now the Inn’s Breakfast Room so you can see they are one room and are closed off from the Dining Room/Library on the other end which used to be open.

This book is available to guests so you will have to check it out when you come.Enjoy the photos!

2010 has already been busy and we’re only a week into the new year.

First off, the weather has been a real downer with temperatures in the teens and single digits for at least a week.  And, we’re expecting some more snow this weekend (January 8 – 9). It’s a real challenge keeping this old house warm, but it forces me to be creative. The second floor is no problem since heat rises, but the first floor (thank goodness there’s only one guestroom on the first floor) is another story.  The pipes under the original house always seem to do okay, but the pipes under and in the kitchen never fare well.  Last winter we had 3 burst pipes. So far this year, I’ve seen one tiny pinprick leak in a pipe that’s been topped off. The next couple of days will see temperatures higher than freezing so it remains to be seen if there are any issues.

While the weather outside has been truly frightful, I’ve been keeping busy, taking down holiday decorations. I pace myself so it takes a good week to get everything down and packed away.  Everything outside is finished and all but the Parlor and two guestrooms have been packed away. I hope to get that completed today and tomorrow.

At the same time, I have been making some changes to two guestrooms: the Rose Room & the Magnolia Room.  As soon as the changes have been completed, I will update the room photos and descriptions.  The main changes involve switching the beds between these two rooms.  The king/twin beds that were in the Rose Room have been moved up to the Magnolia Room and the queen bed from that room has been moved downstairs to the Rose Room.  The main reasons for the switch are 1) the Rose Room is a handicap accessible room and the king/2 twin beds were just too high for someone in a wheelchair and 2) with a queen bed in the Rose Room, there is more floor space to maneuver around if a guest is in a wheelchair.  Also, with a the king bed in the Rose Room, it had to be configured such that is blocked off half of the built-in bookcase and I simply hated that.  Now with a queen bed, the bed can be moved to a different position and the bookcase can be used fully. It looks so much better. I’ve also been installing bedside wall sconces on both sides of the bed, changing the curtains into a roller shade on the door and adding a painted window to the transom above the door. Just small adjustments that make a big difference.

I should have photos of the room changes within the next week so check the Rooms Descriptions Page (under Rooms & Rates) to see what I’ve done.

Lastly, I’m working with a previous guest, Angela McKeller, to put together a fabulous culinary weekend during the weekend after Memorial Day. Angela won a recipe contest I had a few years ago and since then, she has written her own cookbook and hosted her own cooking show, among other things.  Angela lives in Atlanta so she will be coming to the Inn and working her magic for a few days. We’re still working on the details, but this will be an all-inclusive package with demonstrations, cooking classes, accommodations (if desired), and tie-ins to the Asheville community (possibly Biltmore or Asheville Food Tours). It is shaping up to be a fun time so definitely check back often for more details.

Over the past week, I have been making some changes to the Sycamore Suite in the Carriage House. It has always been set up mainly for families, with bright colors and multiple beds.  I have decided to move towards a couples orientation, but still allowing for families.

I have left the living room and kitchen area the same, but have made changes to the bathroom and bedroom.

The bathroom had been brightly painted in blue and green with an underwater theme.  It is still decorated with fish, but the walls are now a bright white with gold flecks in the paint to give it a little sparkle.

In the bedroom, I replaced the two double beds with a king bed, new mattresses, and new bedding.  I also painted one wall in peach, keeping the other three walls yellow.  Also, there is a new flat screen TV hanging on the wall.  The room feels much bigger.

There is still a sofabed in the living room and we also have a toddler bed and rollaway bed in the closet for children. However, the plan is to make the Suite a romantic option. There are two things left to do to accomplish this goal: 1) set up an electric fireplace in the bedroom to provide a romantic ambiance and 2) replace the tub in the bathroom with a whirlpool tub.  The fireplace should be finished quickly; the whirlpool tub will take a little time.

In the meantime, potential guests can check out more photos and a full description of the Suite on the Rooms Description Page.

One of the things I love about Asheville is the willingness here to barter for services. I have bartered for landscaping and other services in the past few years and it has worked out well.

While I have personally sewn the curtains in the three original guest bedrooms on the second floor, I am looking for help to make curtains for my two dining rooms. The windows throughout the house are not standard and are rather large, so it would take me years to sew curtains. And since I don’t use a sewing machine (I had one, but couldn’t figure out how to use it), I hand sew everything.

I am looking for a competent seamstress who could sew curtains for me and in exchange, I would not only put up the person for the amount of time it takes for the project, but I would also invite that person to bring a friend, partner, etc. to stay with him/her during the length of their stay.

Breakfast would be included each morning of your stay and the only time restriction would be that the stay would have to take place in January or February (Sundays – Thursdays).  I will, of course, provide the materials and we have plenty of space to work on the project.  I don’t have a sewing machine so the person would have to bring one.

You can view the dining rooms throughout the website and on our Virtual Tour to get an idea of the size of the windows.  If you think this is something you would like to take on, please send me an email.  We’ll communicate from there.

So I’ve decided to do some upgrading on the Magnolia Room.  Of all the rooms, I’ve probably done the least to this room so far.  In 2007, I did have the shower replaced as well as replacing the the bed with another queen bed and a new box spring.  Oh, and I had a ceiling fan installed last year.  For the most part, the room has remained the same since I bought the Inn in 2006.

I receive so many requests from people for separate beds and while the Lilac Room has a king bed and a child’s bed, the Rose Room has a king bed and a full-size futon couch, the Azalea Room has a king bed and a daybed, and the Sycamore Suite has 2 full size beds and a queen size sleeper sofa, I think I can get two beds in the Magnolia Room.

This decision really started because I plan on replacing the queen bed in the Holly Room with a new bed.  What I decided to do was to move the queen Victorian bed from the Magnolia Room into the Holly Room.  Instead of getting another queen bed, I’ve decided to get 2 twin beds which can be put together to make a king bed or separated into twins.  This means that the room will fill two needs and that means happier guests.

I may have to downsize the furniture in the room to make it all work and I’ll have to move the location of the bed, but I’ve taken the measurements and it can work.  It also means new bedding for both king and twin size beds and new mattresses, blankets, etc.

I’ve already gotten the twin beds from a new antique store in the Biltmore Village called Reunion Antiques and am having them sandblasted and powder-coated so they will be just like new. This shop has only been open for a month, but as soon as they have a website, I’ll post a link to it. The owner was extremely helpful and very willing to take offers (unlike some places) and she is arranging to have the beds done up nice for me. I can see myself spending a fair amount of time at this place.

I anticipate that with a king/twin bed option, this will become a more popular room. I’m on a mission now and should have the changes finished within the next month. So exciting!

Some innkeepers will pick one room each year that they update or renovate, but I find that too difficult because things come up throughout the year that need to be fixed or I see something that I want to add to a room or an idea I see in a magazine that I’d like to try and sticking with one room just wouldn’t work. Besides, with seven rooms, that means each room only gets renewed once every seven years. So, I update as something comes to me. I have also found that as I start a small project, it quickly escalates into something bigger. Take the Lilac Room for instance….

What started out as simply switching a heavy bulky TV for a newer flat screen, turned into needing to repaint the room. Here’s how it happened.

I decided to take out the 26″ TV that was housed in an entertainment center and replace it with a 26″ flat screen that I could put on the fireplace mantle, thus taking the entertainment center out and making more space in the room. Simple, right? Not so. One of the benefits of having the TV on the fireplace mantle is that the cable cord would be much closer to the cable jack. Where the TV was in the entertainment center meant that I had a 50′ cable cord that ran from the cable jack, up the right side of the mantle, across the mantle, down the left side of the mantle, along two short walls, around the molding of the bathroom door, and along a portion of another wall to reach the TV. All of the cable cord was in cord covers so you didn’t see it hanging out. Well, when I removed the cord cover from all over the wall, especially around the bathroom door area, it took off a large portion of the paint. Of course, I had not thought of this and realizing that I had guests coming to stay in that room in a few days, I took as much of the paint chips as I could to Lowe’s and matched (or thought I had matched) the paint perfectly. In fact, when the chips sat on top of the paint sample, there was no difference. NONE! Not so when I put it on the walls.

You know, I really knew in the back of my mind that it wouldn’t be an exact match because who knew how long the paint had been on the walls (certainly more than 3 years since that’s how long I’ve had the Inn), but I guess I was hoping for a miracle. Anyway, it was very obvious that the new paint is just slightly lighter than the original paint. So, I went back to Lowe’s and bought 2 gallons and decided to repaint the walls. I started seeing all the dings and scuff marks on the walls as I was painting them so this turned out to be a good thing because the walls look refreshed.

In addition, I wallpapered a section of the wall behind the bed to give the walls a little pop and I built a topper between the tops of the windows. I used some of the left-over material from the daybed bedding, some of which I had used to extend the curtains since nothing in this house is standard sized. Without the entertainment center (I subsequently sold it on ebay), the room feels even larger than it already is. I’m lucky that I have larger than normal rooms, and the feel of this room works even better with the TV on the mantle where guests can watch it either from the bed or from the armchairs at the end of the bed and in front of the fireplace.