The Big Blue House!

As we were on our way from Canyonlands to Salt Lake City, Utah, we had a conversation about where we would stay once we got to the city. We have friends who've had AWESOME experiences using www.AirBnB.com, a website where people list rooms for rent in their homes, so we decided we'd look into it, and boy am I glad we did, because we ended up renting a room here, at this gorgeous 1903 fully restored historic home, minutes from Temple Square in the heart of Salt Lake City!

The couple who own the house were soooo welcoming to Aaron and I!  It was our first time doing something like this and weren't sure what to expect... but the BEST hosts!  We sat around together talking about travel, life, careers, photography, family, dogs you name it!  They welcomed us into their home as if we were their own kids, which was so special!  The wife, Sharon, loves to garden and has beautiful flowers growing up the side of her home!

Okay, so here's the tour!  First of all, this house used to be divided into 7 different apartments at one point in time - SEVEN!  When the two of them bought it in 2010 it was bare bones and was actually in the process of being restored... but everything you see from now on is ALL THEM!  They chose every single detail of the home and I was IN LOVE!  I sat here, on this couch quite a bit, blogging and catching up on e-mails with Aaron and even tried my hand at the piano a few time! 

This staircase was probably my favorite part of the whole house!  At the middle, just past Cleo the cat, it splits and curves to the right and the left, depending on which direction you wanna go! :)

... and here's our room - "The Big Room", as they call it!  They actually have 2 different bedrooms available on www.AirBnB.com on the 2nd floor, and we had actually rented the smaller one for $50 a night, but when we got there she upgraded us to the big one ($65 a night), for free, because no one had booked it yet - SCORE FOR US!

Not only was the bed THE MOST COMFORTABLE bed we'd slept on in 5 years, the balcony was HUGE with a perfect view of the mountains, there were two white hotel robes hanging in the closet for us, Cleo (their kitty) hung out on the bed with us both nights, there was a giant flat screen TV, and there was a full coffee bar set up on our dresser!  I felt like we were in a 5 star resort!

The bathroom was spacious, clean, and stocked with fancy shampoo, conditioner, hand wash, lotion and even a hair dryer!  Sharon didn't forget ANY details when she designed this bathroom for her house guests!

As if that wasn't enough, Sharon laid out a FULL breakfast for us every morning: artisan bagels, fresh fruits, homemade zuchinni bread, fresh orange juice, yummy coffee and tea, and delicious granola!  They actually both sat with us for breakfast both mornings, which we loved (traveling can be lonely sometimes)!!!   They were such a neat couple! I'm kicking myself that I didn't get a photo of them to post!

Oh, and I can't possibly leave out Fenix!  He's the sweetest old lab, who I just absolutely adored!

I'll get to more of what we did in Salt Lake in my next posts... I just thought this place was too awesome not to have it's own post!

Thanks again Sharon and Steve... and AirBnb!