A stitch back in time...

Have you ever heard of McKay's Corners?  If you (a) live around Chatham, Ontario; (b) sew; (c) aren't afraid of towering, mouldering, chittering bales of ancient fabric, then you might know about McKay's Corners.... an enormous pole barn bursting with material, out on a country road off Highway 401.  Thirty years ago, I shoveled through the stacks for flannel for receiving blankets and velvet for an elegant bring-home-baby-from-hospital blanket.  Twenty-five years ago, I unearthed spandex or my daughter's skating and dance outfits.  Pillowcases, sheer and rich materials for draperies... once even a woollen blend for an unfortunate pair or man's woolen pants, which I just couldn't make Kee wear.  Prices are great, measurements are generous and you just wash the material in hot water water a couple of times to get rid the dead mummy smell.

This time I went in search of vintage cotton prints, to make drapes for the two big bedrooms, slipcovers for the leather parson's chairs in the sunroom and maybe some aprons.

I've found some great old stuff, it washed up a treat, I've got the patterns.  Now the hard part - explaining to my sister who own a fabric store why I got this outsider fabric in my possession....

Groundhog's Day....

.... is my birthday.  And it's been a nice one - schools were closed due to the big storm, so I got to stay warm & snuggly inside.  I've baked bread - buttermilk honey white bread... cleaned the house... rearranged parts of the house... and explored the lovely Sony ereader Kee gave me.  My wonderful sisters took me out to lunch on Saturday.  San gave me a beautiful art candle and fresh flowers, Sue a hip battery-operated pepper grinder - tilt it to grind, and MB a lovely quilt she made herself, plus a ceramic bird feeder.  On Sunday, I went shopping with the GGs in the States and got all sorts of things for the cottage - in the B&B vein of shopping... some cotton quilts for beds, some cute duck-footed egg cups, a small rack for brochures of local spots - wineries, parks, etc.

It's been expensive around here lately.... I went to Chatham last week to - what I thought was to - present our business application, pay the $100 fee and become voila Omstead's On Erie Bed & Breakfast.  Not so fast.  Turns out, this area isn't zoned for such.  The zoning includes only single detached homes and group homes... so, theoretically, I could open a halfway house for pedophiles, sex addicts, anger mismanagement antisocials - but no room at the inn for a couple of birders, oeniphiles or butterfly enthusiasts. 

Puzzling, because just the other side of the harbour, there operated a ranch-style house B&B for many years... I guess, unofficially.

So, "no" I was told, followed by "I'm afraid you'll need a zoning amendment" and "that'll cost you around $1200",  !!!!!  this was followed by a business card of the company that does this.  Off I reeled, across Chatham to this place, to be told, "yes, we can apply for you", "you've a very good chance of the amendment being granted", and topped off with "no, it's not $1200, I'm sorry to tell you - it's $2015"  !!!! and $&*!

And the previous day, I finally broke down and bought a new laptop.  So, last week was a $4000+ week, with very little spend-ecstasy to show for it.

The neighbours will be getting a notice of our intentions..... opposition, while it likely wouldn't be fatal to our plan, would be disappointing.  We intend on going around fairly soon to our immediate neighbours and explaining our intentions:  small operation, no parking/vehicle disturbance on the street, no alterations to the size of the cottage, the quiet clientele our B&B would appeal to, our desire to have an interest/supplementary income as we melt into our early retirement years.  Hopefully, there are no objections to a very reasonable small business operation around here.

I hear the groundhog did not see her/his shadow today.... great!, an early spring is what I need.

details... details.......

So..... met with an accountant today... yup.  Thankfully, a friend, a local guy.... who was very encouraging about the details of the first nutz&boltz of becoming a bed and breakfast small business.  It was a very encouraging meeting - casual, clarifying, positive. 

A lot to think about, gather up, organize.... paperwork on purchases we've made with the B&B in mind, future purchase guidelines, record keeping methods....

Another lane added to my learning curve superhighway.

Did I mention....

.... that we are moving towards opening a bed and breakfast?

As we toured the cottage the first time, I turned to Kee and breathed, wide-eyed, this could be our bed and breakfast.  The two large bedrooms at the end of one wing of the L shaped cottage could be easily - well, theoretically - be made into suites by:  (a) closing off the hall door to the big bathroom and opening it to the bedroom through a doorway made in the closet and (b) making the small junk room on the opposite side of the hallway into a bathroom that opened up to the other large bedroom through it's closet. 

We could have the far corner of the house, with it's bedroom and three piece bath.   Plus, if pressed, the small bedroom would be perfect for a single guest who could share the small bathroom with just us.  The totally windowed sunroom would be great for morning breakfasts, the enormous yard - just wonderful for people who liked to sun a bit, read a bit, relax on a small beach.

We'd market to:  The Birders, The Butterflyer's, The Black History Buffs (Buxton Settlement isn't far away), The Boozers (oeniphiles), The Bikers (pedal & motor), The Boomers (weekend trippers), The Boaters.  The spring, summer and fall on the north shores of Lake Erie are beautiful and activities are endless.

And we'd call it................... Omstead's On Erie.

Doing this, opening this wouldn't be immediate, but it would be on a shared front burner with remodelling.  As we move towards retirement, a supplemental, interest income seems like a great idea.  We know several important levelling things:  we won't get rich doing this; it's not a substitute for a planned retirement income; it wouldn't be steady.

So, as we move through all the renovations the cottage needs anyways, we keep in mind the things a B&B would need - capacity for hot water, bathroom requirements, bedroom set-ups, outside environments, safety features, local governmental requirements...... too, too many minutae to list, but we do have a list that gets added to, crossed off and altered.

I love to cook and feed people, in a social mixing grade, out of 10, we're whatever your average and normal level is - I think we could both welcome guests and maintain a friendly distance.  And when we're done with this cottage - in the future - it would be several things to several buyers:  a home, a great cottage, a bed and breakfast.... what it'll be to us.

So as Kee builds and rebuilds, I outfit, antique and e-buy.... that's the goal:  a calming, friendly, relaxing stay at a beachfront Arts & Crafts, Tudor-Revival, 1930s cottage, on almost an acre of property along Lake Erie, near provincial parks, conservations area, migratory bird  and monarch butterfly routes, boutique estate wineries, historic sites and Lake Erie.

Great, another lane added to the learning curve................ website.

Mortise - a square hole made to receive a tenon and so to form a joint....

I've received the beautiful mortise door locks from The House of Antique Hardware.  These are Arts & Crafts reproductions, genuine repros in every way, from their design, their weight, to their size - the only modern thing about them is the way I purchased them - on the internet - and their price - about $170 CDN each, when all's said and done.  And worth every penny, they are gorgeous!

These first two (I may get two more) will go on the green and blue bedroom doors.... if and when we open as a B&B, I think it's a given that people would want to lock their doors - and so they shall.  Two skeleton keys came with each door, hopefully we can have more made, as I'm sure one'll go missing at any given time.

This week Kee's also put a lock on the hall door of the blue bathroom - this bath is accessible from the hallway and the blue bedroom.  When the blue suite is being rented, the hall door can be locked to provide a complete ensuite, private bath... when it's not, that bath is another bathroom for us, with the small three piece bathroom in our wing of the cottage.

I'll eventually get the same locks for our bedroom and the small bedroom, maybe even the long hall closet.  If we decide to explore the options of whole or partial rental of the cottage, we should be able to lock whatever, wherever we want.