On “Home Town,” Erin and Ben Napier usually help people renovate single-family homes. So, they’re in for a big challenge when they agree to renovate an inn.
In the Season 7 episode “The Buzzard’s Roost,” the Napiers help Keri, a past client featured in Season 3, renovate an old boarding house connected to her family’s furniture store.
Keri wants to turn this second-story space into a four-room inn with room themes based on different cities along the Crescent Line railroad.
This line “starts in New York and ends in New Orleans, and it makes this crescent moon shape as it comes down,” Ben explains. It’s a great theme, as this famous train runs right by this inn.
Creating four different rooms (and bathrooms) with four different themes is a lot of work. Erin even calls the renovation the “biggest project that I think we’ve ever been a part of.” But in the end, the inn is an adorable spot and a promising new business.
Read on to find out how Erin and Ben pull off this massive project, which is full of lessons that might inspire a few changes around your own abode, too.
Choose exterior colors that have an established style
Before: This structure was built in the 1900s.
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Before Erin and Ben get started on the renovation, they tell Keri that they’d like to give the inn a different exterior color. Keri plans to one day build a bar underneath the inn, so Erin suggests painting the whole left side of the building a darker shade to distinguish it from her family’s furniture store on the right.
With Keri’s approval, Erin goes ahead with the plan. She’s careful to choose colors that don’t look too brand new, but she also doesn’t want the aged paint to look too intentional.
“I want to know which of these golds, when against the black paint, feels most authentic,” she says. “We don’t want it to feel super distressed in a phony-baloney sort of way.”
After: Erin Napier was careful to choose colors that didn’t look too bright or new.
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She adds that she wants the new inn and bar’s sign to “look like it’s 10 years old on Day One, not 25 years old.”
When the gray exterior color is done and the new sign is finished, Erin’s happy with the slightly aged look.
“It’s a fade, not a distress, and that’s what I was after,” she says.
It shows that choosing colors for an old building can be tricky: A structure doesn’t need to look its true age, but bright, bold colors might seem out of place. It’s best to choose colors that seem a little weathered for a comfortable, timeless look.
This shade of gold looks slightly weathered.
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Save old fireplaces, even if they don’t work
Before: This space was filled with old fireplaces.
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The rooms in the inn feature a number of fireplaces. Erin and Ben know they can’t keep the features as is, but they do want to preserve the look.
“There’s all these fireplaces that are in the building,” Ben says. “They are this really cool thing that tell the story of what the building used to be, and so I like the way we’re patching them up. You won’t be able to light a fire in them, but they look cool.”
After: Erin and Ben Napier preserved the look of these fireplaces even though they were no longer functional.
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When the rooms are done, the fireplaces add a special historical element to the rooms, while also serving as a unique decorative piece.
“It does give the room this visual weight,” Erin says.
Even new features can look classic
This New York subway tile is clean and white, and it fits in well with the historically inspired inn.
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Erin and Ben want to make sure they make this inn reflects its historic roots, but there are ways to incorporate some shiny new features that look classic.
“When we’re trying to find what this common thread is through all these rooms, it’s a richness that you find in history,” Erin tells the head of her design team, Amanda, during a design meeting. “Historic color is never clean, bright white. Then there is an exception though. You do see it in the New York subway.”
Erin incorporates clean, white subway tile into the New York bathroom’s shower. It’s a smart addition that makes this bathroom look clean and welcoming while also looking classic.
Get playful with tile colors
The New Orleans bathroom: Tile colors have gone in and out of style for decades.
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Erin wants to make all of the rooms look authentic based on their city theme (Laurel, New Orleans, New York City, and Birmingham). So, along with Amanda, Erin tries to choose finishes that reflect the feel of each destination.
When it comes to the New Orleans room, Erin wants to incorporate a mauve-pink tile, which she calls “French Quarter pink.”
Amanda likes the choice, saying, “To me, the perfect combo with that pink is always a green.”
The pink color ends up looking great in the New Orleans shower, especially since playful hues like this were often seen in older buildings.
When the room is finished, Keri is impressed with the color choices.
“All of this goes together so well,” she says.
Hardware can change everything
The Napiers wanted the Birmingham room to look industrial.
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Ben and Erin want to give the Birmingham room an industrial look, so they incorporate metal everywhere they can, from the bed frame to the cabinet hardware.
While incorporating iron might seem like a simple change, Ben says, “A piece of hardware, a drawer pull, can change a piece of furniture.”
Old sewing machine spindles make this average bookshelf seem extra special.
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He proves how a simple piece of hardware can make a big difference when he adds sewing machine pulleys to the bottom of a nightstand. The wheels, which act as legs, make this simple nightstand one of the coolest parts of the room.
Ben shows how swapping out simple hardware can make a big difference. Plus, he shows how easy it can be to incorporate historical pieces in a new design.
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