Before and After: Les Fleurs Suite

The rear of the house

I say it on this blog and I say it in person when people check in: our inn is a work in progress.  Come back in a year and you'll recognize the place, but it will be subtly different.  For the better.  

We've been redecorating a few of the suites, as well as making additions to the curios in the lobby and hanging new artwork here and there.  This post is about Les Fleurs Suite, which is located on the ground floor.  It still has a queen bed, but it's a different queen bed, now.

The old bed in Les Fleurs Suite

The old bed in Les Fleurs Suite was the only queen sized bed we had.  It was a beautiful bed, and it was the reason we called this one the "honeymoon suite."  Not to make the story too complicated, but when we started refurbishing the B&B we moved the bed from Les Fleurs to Clio and we recently decided to replace the bed in Clio with another queen.  The bed in Clio was a beautiful antique but it was full sized.  We sent it off to the craftsmen and they made it a queen.  They did a very nice job and we moved it back to Les Fleurs.  Have you got all that?

The new bed in Les Fleurs Suite

They don't carve headboards like that anymore, at least not very often.  The craftsmen did a beautiful job. The bedroom has a different vibe to it now.  It is just as romantic and just as fitting for a honeymoon or a romantic getaway.  We really do keep a beautiful boutique inn, if I do say so myself.  We are very proud of it.  When we change something, we strive to make it for the better.  

I like to fret and fritter over how much things cost.  Not that I'm cheap, mind you.  I prefer to think of myself as frugal.  Frau Schmitt likes to say, "Any money we spend on making the B&B better is an investment that will make people happy to stay here."  She is usually right about these things and she is right about this one.

The old couch in the sitting room

We only rent two-room suites.  When you reserve a room at La Belle Esplanade, you get a bed room, a sitting room, a private bath and a private balcony.  Since Les Fleurs Suite is on the ground floor, you get a private porch.  Nobody complains about the view.  

When we bought the house, we inherited a lot of antique furniture which we kept.  The couch in Les Fleurs was one of those pieces.  It wasn't very comfortable.  Nobody complained.  After all, how many chances do you get to lounge on a hundred thirty year old couch, but we never really cottoned to it.  So, this spring, we upgraded into something a bit more moderne.

New couch in Les Fleurs Suite

That's real leather upholstery on the love seat.  Velvet on the chair.  I was sitting in a red leather chair when I took this picture with my phone.  It's kind of swanky.  The tabletop is antique white marble. 

So, if you reserved a suite on our old website, be warned: you may not be getting the rooms you expected.  Our inn is a work in progress.  You won't have anything to complain about because every change we make is with an eye toward making things more comfortable.  Home is where the heart is.

Frau Schmitt and I have stayed in exactly one bed and breakfast in our lives, aside from our own.  It was nice, but the owners had been in business for a long time.  Their heart wasn't in it anymore.  They were done, winding down.  We are winding up. We are enthusiastic about making the best experience we can for you, our guests.  That is why you choose a B&B over a chain hotel, isn't it?  Let us do our job.  For us it is a kind of serious play.  You wouldn't want to stay with us if it was only a job.  A job is what the folks at the Holiday Inn have.

Speaking of Holiday Inn, this is what it is like, for us, to run a B&B: embedding is disabled by request.  Click this link to see what I'm talking about.  In New Orleans, every day isn't like Mardi Gras, but every day is like the 4th of July.  Say it with firecrackers.

If you are thinking about visiting New Orleans, we know a very interesting place where you can stay.

A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.
P.S.  I alluded to it above, but we have a new website.  It is labelleesplanade.com.  See you there.