28.01.2019

Tips & trends

How to decorate a charming b&b

Researching vintage furniture sellers all over Italy is part of our daily lives and is also an opportunity to travel and discover cities, towns and villages full of surprises. We typically use well known online travel agencies and often try to find accommodation on Airbnb but disappointment nine times out of ten is guaranteed: houses in historic buildings in Italy are often furnished by Ikea and lose all their charm.

Researching vintage furniture sellers all over Italy is part of our daily lives and is also an opportunity to travel and discover cities, towns and villages full of surprises.
We typically use well known online travel agencies and often try to find accommodation on Airbnb but disappointment nine times out of ten is guaranteed: houses in historic buildings in Italy are often furnished by Ikea and lose all their charm.

That's why we would like to advise those who are thinking of opening a small hotel or a b&b with a touch of charm to take some steps in the restructuring phase to enhance the place and make it attractive for a public willing to pay more to rest in a pleasant environment and character.

Rule n.1: LIGHT
Maximize the value of existing windows, avoid blind rooms (not even services), provide different lighting points that create, for example, reading corners, highlight a painting or make the entrance cozy. Never forget the ambient lights that can be easily created with light shades, lights from above or below as long as they are well designed to illuminate the rooms correctly at various times of the day.

Rule no. 2: SPACE
Keep the original cut of the spaces, avoiding corridors, partitions, plasterboards
or any other ploy that would impoverish the environment. Rather, invest in services and if the room is large, increase the size of the adjacent bathroom that today can also become a small living room: this will allow you to give greater value to the room. And if you find some niches try to make the most of it: a sofa bed in a large space or a bookcase with selected readings in a small corner, can characterize the rooms making it very welcoming.

Rule No 3: FURNITURE
Focus on one-of-a-kind items that characterise the individual rooms always with a fil rouge with common areas: a baldachin bed and at its feet a sofa covered in velvet to make the seat pleasant. Or a design armchair with a few cushions and a floor lamp next to it for a moment of rest. A small well-lit desk with a 1950s lamp to check emails. We suggest a few objects but beautiful and functional!

Rule no. 4: FABRICS
Play with fabrics colors: simple chairs with sky seat can be re-lined for a few dozen euros with a colored striped fabric and you will see that they will change appearance as well as value! And then still tends to the place of the cabinets that animate the wall with their movement and make shelves and hangers much more tidy and easy to clean.

Rule no. 5: SERVICES
Guests arrive from busy days and often a shower, a tea or a bottle of water will regenerate them: a nice shower head, a kettle (steel, no plastic!) and a fridge with some soft drinks, are small tricks that will make the customer happy.

Start browsing intOndo and you will find many inspirations from which to start designing your charming bed&breakfast.