Grayson House Bed and Breakfast

07/28/2024

Published by Kelly W Steel
After picture of the kitchen, after my magician hubby did his magic.
The flooring had to be torn out after the AC in our private suite (which is adjacent to the kitchen and breakfast room) decided to dump copious amounts of water all over the hard wood floors. We had nothing but floor joists showing. Some of which were pretty bad (100+ yrs) to the point he and a man helping him fell through the floor in two spots, neither of them were hurt, just a few bruises. While awaiting a friend/former employee to come install a new floor, we had plywood pieces "covering" some areas of the main cooking part of the kitchen so I could (sort of) navigate very carefully on pieces of scrap plywood and tippy toe balancing on floor joists. Oh, my husband also had to add three new floor joists in the floor and a supportive stack of blocks in order to support a ceramic tile floor. Ohhhhh I forgot to mention that while we had no floor in our kitchen and all was open to the atmosphere we had what we lovingly knicknamed "SNOWMAGEDDON" The temperature dropped to 9 degrees and we got 12 inches of snow... no floor... brrrr! Fortunately, we have three fireplaces and 4 furnaces which helped a little bit along with long johns. We picked out tile and had it installed by hubby's friend while his wife and I visited. Since we needed to replace the tiles falling out on the counters and it had no backsplash, we had a local granite artisan install new counters and my super talented, jack of all trades husband installed hand painted k***s on all 93 cabinets and drawers in the kitchen along with custom hand painted tiles for a backsplash. He also found me a six burner gas stove with a downdraft vent and had a gas line run so I didn't have to use the ancient electric stove! As a finishing touch my husband installed under and over cabinet LED lighting, some additional decorative trim, and a wine glass rack over the peninsula. I directed the removal of the plastic vines and the addition of the decorative ceramics on top of those cabinets to finish it. I LOVE my kitchen!!!

07/27/2024

The kitchen of this house was in sad shape, the tiles were falling off the counters, the oven didn't work properly, there was a ceiling fan/light fixture directly over the stove which speaking of the stove, wow, what a nightmare! I learned how to cook and spent most of my life cooking on a gas stove. This was electric and not all of the burners worked.....soooo needless to say the first BIG project was a complete kitchen redo. Before

07/27/2024

We thought the front yard needed a little bit of "tweaking" so by the magic of a handy hubby we had flower beds made along both sides of the front walk way and planted a hibiscus in a pot because we live in North Central Texas and it can get below freezing so we had to be able to move it indoors during the few days of really cold weather we get some winters.

07/27/2024

Once upon a time we used to just point the car in a direction and drive to see what was out there. Explore the area a bit by driving around and just looking. We found this beauty in all her decaying splendor. We just stopped the car and looked....We kept coming back over the next several months and noticed a small for sale sign. After much discussion (not as much as you may think) we decided what we wanted to do. This is a picture of our first look. Can you blame us???

07/25/2024

This is from 4 days after we moved into The Old Lady. We were just renting untiI our house in Houston sold. We couldn't start any of the renovations but we wandered around and made plans. Three things I learned about really old houses was :
1. They make funny noises.
2. They have lots of stairs.
3. They have doors everywhere.

07/25/2024

Getting soooo close to opening! I like to think of of this grand old girl like a very old woman who's family decides to take care of her. She's needed more work than anticipated and it's taken time to get it all done correctly, to get the right people in to do the work needed, plus a vast amount of personal work and loving care (I think of it like someone holding Great Grandma's hands and saying "come on GG, you'll feel so much better once you get this done). More details of specific accomplishments the family has done for Great Grandma to come.

04/21/2024

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show and Annie Oakley were a big deal when this house was built!!!

03/01/2023

Here's a tidbit.......... Little Big Horn happened 10 years before Grayson House was built.

Battle of Little Big Horn, Memoirs of Chief Red Fox (1870-1976) .
"I was six years and fourteen days old at the time of the Custer fight. As it was told to me by my father Chief Black Eagle and my mother White Swan, the sister of Chief Crazy Horse….We left Pine Ridge [Reservation] the eight day of May 1876. Arrived in Montana about June the fifth. My people expected truble they divided up into three different villages. In case of attact they would not be caught in a trap. They knew Custer had left fort Lincolm for the Little Big Horn. Chief Gall and Chief Two-Moons sent word to my uncle Chief Crazy Horse that they were on their way to join him in case of truble with Custer they hatted him for the killing of the fifty three old women men and children and for burning their village several years before [This is a reference to the battle of Wash*ta River, Nov. 27, 1868] and he R***d Black Kettle fourteen year old daughter she gave berth to a boy who is known as Yellow Hawk that they claim is his son from that attact….
On Sunday morning June 25th 1876 Custer…divided his forces into four grupes send Reno to attack my people from the southwest of the Big Horn River. Benteen from the northeast. Godfry and McDugal with the supply train….He told them he would…make the attact at four oclock….About 2 PM…we heard shots fired later we were told that my father and Chief Standing Bear had blocked Captain Benteen from crossing the river. Ghost Dogs, and Crow King had blocked Reno and his men Stinking Bear had Blocked Godfre and McDougal.
About 3 oclock Custer appeared and my uncle Crazy Horse rode out and then retreated like they were afraid. Custer came riding on then. Chief Gall came out to the left side of Custer and Two Moons and his Cheyenns came to the right of Custer. When Custer seen this he started his charge then he dismounted, placed his men on high grounds his horses placed under senteries the Indians made a curcle around him then rode their horses accross the circle kicking up durt [to] stampead his horses. Then the Indians made their attact. Custer bugle sounded for the sentries to bring the horses but they had been killed his bugle sounded for retreat but…most of his men and horses were killed. some said he was the last one to die but that not true. Captain Kegho was the last man to be killed and his horse Comanche was the only horse alive….my people said no one knows who killed [Custer] or when he fell. they say the battle lasted forty minutes….the Indians had better guns than the soldiers good horsemen and knew the country and planed how to fight the battle…."
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12/22/2022

Best laid plans of mice and men as the saying goes. We had planned a "soft" opening in early November or December but this lovely old lady just keeps on giving. So a few more hidden gems need to be fixed and finished up. I am hesitant to put a time frame on it but hopefully soon our soft opening will happen. Merry Christmas everyone!

12/09/2022

Christmas is just around the corner and Grayson House Bed and Breakfast is getting all dressed up. The pillars are wrapped and the luminaries are being placed now.