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Well here they are. Pictures of the (mostly) finalized bedrooms/suites. I say “mostly” because we haven’t put the final, finishing touches to each room, nor have we hung the artwork throughout the house. That comes next.
Click on each picture for a detailed description.
We’ll be interested to hear your feedback.
With just one week to go until our Open House, today marked a great milestone – the delivery of the majority of the furniture that will make The Croff House a memorable experience for all of our guests. You can now get a real sense of what each of the rooms will feel like to our guests.
It seems so long ago that we chose each piece – bed, chair, table – for each room. That it all works together so well and creates such a warm, welcoming environment is remarkable. We have hired a professional photographer to take the pictures for our final website. Until then, our non-professional pictures will have to do.
Every day we take one step closer to completion of the renovations. Then we move on to the “detailing” of The House (cleaning all the door trim and baseboards, refreshing the floors after 6 months of construction traffic, etc.). Painting is going on, tiling is coming to completion, and the plaster work is finished. As we look forward we can see the end in sight (or is it just the beginning?). As we look back we see what tremendous progress has been made.
Things are starting to take shape and you can get a sense of what The Croff House aesthetic will be in terms of color and design.
A GREAT bathroom
Peck Bathroom spa showe
The finished bathroom in Peck
Glass mosaic wall and subway tiles in the Traver bathroom
Glass mosaic and subway tiles
Chase Suite bathroom painted
Traver bathroom painted
Fireplace in the Esselstyn Suite
Chace Suite fireplace framed
Chace Suite fireplace with ceiling fan
The second floor main staircase
Looking at the Dining Room medallion through the Living Room
Dining Room medallion close up
Edmonds shower
We finally have some warm(er) weather to thaw out from a snowy and bitterly cold period. Now things are just wet.
Things are moving very quickly at The Croff House and we have posted both on our website and Bed and Breakfast.com that we are planning to open on schedule Friday, April 10.
We are in the tiling/plastering/priming/painting stage and while it is fun to pick out colors it becomes daunting at times – so many colors, so many options. Narrowing it down gets easier once you put everything together. Most of the interior furnishings and lighting has been purchased and are awaiting the okay for delivery. Some items have already arrived, and currently reside in the living room (which we now lovingly refer to as “the warehouse”) of our house.
Artwork and furnishings
More of the same
Bedding, carpets and window treatments
We are pleased to report that the renovations to kitchen, though not a guest area have been completed.
The existing stove and new
Looking into the kitchen
Looking into the rear garden
Plastering wil be completed by February 13 and tiling completed by the 20th. Painting has begin in earnest this week.
Shower stall in the Peck Guest Room
Shower tile in the Traver Guest Room
Shower floor in the Traver Guest Room
The shower stall in The Chace Suite
The shower stall in the Chace Suite
The fireplace in The Chace Suite
Fireplace in the Esselstyn Suite
The shower stall in the Esselstyn Suite
The shower stall in the Esselstyn Suite
We expect to begin taking delivery of all of the furniture and carpets the week of March 2 and the stair runner, which will be last to be installed will be laid the week prior to opening.
The week of April 6 – our Grand Opening – will be very exciting indeed. On Thursday, April 9 we are hosting an Open House for all Columbia County Chamber of Commerce members as well as all the merchants along Warren Street to introduce The Croff House officially to the business community. The Open House will be preceded by a formal ribbon cutting ceremony on the step of the inn.
April 10, our Grand Opening date, coincidentally corresponds to the original date of the inauguration of Willard Place in 1872. So once again it is an auspicious date for Hudson and the neighborhood.
As 2008 drew to a close and 2009 began progress continued at the inn.
We were very excited to get our online reservation capability up and running. Guests can now check our availability and book a reservation on our website. We have already taken several reservations for the upcoming summer, which means we need to stick to our timeline in order to open as planned. On a snowy Sunday afternoon we went furniture shopping and purchased all the furniture for the Dining Room, Library and Living Room as well as several occasional chairs for the guest rooms. All of this was in addition to the beds which were ordered previously.
Hudson was hit with several snow and ice storms slowed but we forged on. The goal was to get the plumbing and electrical “rough-ins” completed and inspections passed. As the better part of the old paint and wallpaper were being removed we also needed to address the plaster damage that, over the life of the house, had never really been properly repaired. Plaster work began with some minor and some major work in all areas of the House. Some sheetrock walls were put up as well, especially in Edmonds, giving a good feel for what the final room will look like.
Over the next two weeks we expect a great deal of progress including the application of an eco-friendly soy-based insulation for both temperature stabilization and sound buffering throughout the house. Installation of the high-efficiency “on-demand” hot water systems and sheetrock for each of the showers is also planned for the next few weeks.
Below you’ll find the latest pictures of the progress mentioned above. Check back in a couple of weeks and I’m sure you’ll see even more.
Before talking about the progress on the renovations, it is very exciting to announce that The Croff House website now has the Inn’s room availability/booking engine online. This is great because right now The Croff House is the only B&B in the city of Hudson to offer online reservations – and we’re not even open yet!
Progress on the renovations continues at a fast pace. Gary, our electrician, feels his work will be ready for inspection by Christmas. Tom, our plumber, and his team are also moving forward quickly. The first two parts of the plumbing aspect, removal of the old pipes and the installation of the new, is essentially complete. Now the hot and cold water lines will be run to each guest bathroom and the installation of the “on-demand” hot water system begins. Then the system gets inspected and, assuming The Croff House passes inspection, the walls are “closed up” and the finishing work begins.
We have a great team of tiling, insulation, and finish carpentry experts at the ready once both the electrical and plumbing inspections are completed. We have selected all of the bathroom tile and are happy to report that all of the bathroom fixtures have arrived and are awaiting installation.
So progress continues.
This past weekend we purchased most of the bathroom fixtures for all of the bathrooms, including five spa shower “towers” which include a shower head and multiple body sprays, much more than just a traditional showerhead. These showers will be a fantastic amenity which we hope our guests will enjoy. Additionally, the soaking tub for the Esselstyn bath arrived this week. At sixty seven inches long, it offers a wonderful space in which to luxuriate with our aromatherapy bath products. We are in the final stages of selecting the glass enclosures and tile design for the showers. Each bathroom is designed to best meet the unique qualities of the space including decorative tile and flooring, fixturing, artwork and window treatments. Our intent is that the bath is not simply a room, but an inviting and integral part of the guest room.
Our first guest room begins to take shape. The framing of the entrance wall/shower wall was completed, including the room’s hall closet. Thanks to the renovation the room boasts a new 14 foot vaulted ceiling, giving the room more space and light. The Edmonds Room, named after John Worth Edmonds, a prominent New York judge in the 1800’s, is the only room located on the first floor and offers a queen-sized bed, comfortable seating, ample closet space and lovely views of the rear garden. The bathroom features a walk-in shower and backlit stained glass window that welcomes guests as they enter the room. The Edmonds Room is a very warm and welcoming space.
Today marks the first day of construction, starting with the Traver and Peck bathrooms on the second floor, each being about 45 square feet. Both will feature glass enclosed showers with multi-head shower systems and custom tiled walls. As with all bathrooms in The Croff House these will offer our premium aromatherapy bath products, plush cotton/bamboo towels and robes and guest amenities. Once the work in these bathrooms is complete our plumber and electrician will begin the installation of the bath fixtures and lighting. Construction will continue on the second floor in the Chase Suite and Esselstyn Suite bathrooms. Both larger at 91 and 66 square feet respectively, these bathrooms will feature larger showers and spacious soaking tubs. We expect construction to continue for the next several months.
Demolition began on the first floor with the expansion of the bathroom in Edmonds, the only bedroom on the first floor. In addition the area where the powder room will be located was also gutted, and the removal of the old radiators, radiator covers and bookshelves also began. More extensive demolition is needed on the second floor as one bathroom is added (Chase – one of two suites), one bathroom is expanded (Esselstyn – the other suite), and 2 bathrooms are reconfigured (Peck and Traver). Once the demolition is complete, which we expect to last until the end of October, we can begin work on the interior of The House starting with the installation of a heating and air-conditioning system.
The Croff House is the newest Bed and Breakfast in Hudson, New York. The House was originally the home of Hermann Esselstyn (pronounced essel-stin), a prominent lawyer in Hudson during the 1870s and was designed by G.B. Croff, from whom The Croff House gets its name. The house originally had three floors, but the third floor was destroyed by a fire many years ago. Renovations began October 6, 2008 and are planned to continue until March, 2009. The Croff House Bed and Breakfast is scheduled to welcome guests in April 2009. We will be posting updates regularly, so check back often.
