Start With the Airbnb

Yesterday was our 8th wedding anniversary, and planning a special celebration in the middle of a pandemic presented an interesting set of challenges for me/us! (I usually do the bulk of the trip planning.)

Here's the funny thing: I had a whole destination picked out for us and was busily researching what we could (maybe) do there, and just as importantly, where we could stay. Unfortunately my first destination of choice is a pretty popular tourist location at the holidays, so there weren't may options left - in our price range, anyway - by the time I got around to choosing an Airbnb. 

I'm not even sure how it happened that I ended up on a recommendation for the Airbnb I found, because it's not particularly close to my original destination, but somehow it came up. This is the honest truth: I changed our entire trip solely so we could stay at this Airbnb. We have stayed in several great Airbnb spots. We've loved them. Each one has a special story for us. But I think we will be hard-pressed to ever find something with this much raw charm ever again. This one was a gem, and it was worth rearranging every other detail of our trip. 

Though we booked it several weeks ago, before things started tightening again with regulations, I have to say that we both declared if all we could do for the whole trip was come and sit in this beautiful place and look at each other, it wouldn't be a loss at all. The Airbnb was cute enough to shelter in for a few days if we needed to. And if we could have packed up the whole place and brought it back to Grabill with us, you better know we would have. Adorable.

So what IS this place? And where is it? Well, it's in Richmond - Indiana, not Virginia - which most would probably not consider a destination high on the list. But I have to say, it turned out to be quite a fun-filled vacation, and we would highly recommend it. We doubled this as a county tour, and I'm not sure we could have seen all of Wayne County in any less than the four days we were gone. 

The Airbnb is called the Starr Loft, and it is everything you'd imagine about a loft: beams in the ceilings, exposed brick walls, and original hardwood floors with all their charming imperfections. Oh...and did I mention it sits perched above a coffee shop? 

Swoon.

It's in the depot district of Richmond, and we read on some reviews that the trains are annoying. Well, we live in the depot district of Grabill, so we've learned to tune out trains. We heard them throughout our visit, but they didn't bother us a bit. Sometimes we could hear coffee beans grinding downstairs or footsteps in and out the door, but all in all, the noises weren't at all distracting. And just wait until you SEE IT!! (Let's just do that now, shall we?)

Roscoe's is the coffee shop, and those four windows with white trim above it were our beautiful loft. We did have to tackle a bunch of stairs to get up there, but...workout, right?

(They mentioned if stairs weren't your thing, this might not be the stop for you...and we see why!) 

The stairs open into this massive open living/dining/kitchen with the windows overlooking the street. Breathtaking. 

The dining table (which we never used) was right at the top of the stairs.)

You can see a curtain in the back there, which is the "door" to the bedroom. I'll show you that in a minute. But first I'll swing around and let you see the living area that was on the other side. 

This was taken from the top of the stairs looking back toward the street. Amazing, right? That chandelier! And the little Christmas tree! And the drop cloth curtains! And the brick walls! and the beams! 

Just to the right of the Christmas tree was this daybed with a trundle. We didn't use it either, but it was cute! The TV was just to the right of it. 

The couches were deep and so comfortable. And so was that egg chair over in the corner!!

More deep, comfy couch love. 

And all this opened into a SWEET kitchen with a huge island. (We ate at that anytime we ate in.) This is taken from the window by the daybed, so you can see how it all fits together. 

Fancy fancy!

Ahhhhh that SINK!!!

And then there was this simple and beautiful bedroom. Not gonna lie: that bed was super comfy. This is our first trip since owning a weighted blanket that we haven't brought it along, and the covers were weighty enough that we slept perfectly soundly the whole time. 

The view from the bed looking out. 

Now...are you ready for the bathroom?

You're not...I can promise you. But prepare yourself!

Look at the SINK!!!!!!

And this TUB!!!!

And Ryan was super excited about the rain shower head (or whatever it's called) in the shower. 

Do you see now why this was worth choosing as a landing point, and planning a trip around it??

I'll tell you more about our trip in the coming days and you'll see we had plenty of adventures, but honestly we were back at the Airbnb by about 5:00 - or earlier! - every night and were perfectly happy to stay there and enjoy the amazing atmosphere. 

(Oh! And bonus: our stay came with 2 breakfasts AND 2 lattes every morning. All we had to do was run down all those stairs and zip into the next door over and tell the baristas we were staying upstairs. That may or may not have been another selling point.) 

As a precaution, we did re-sanitize all the surfaces when we arrived, though I know Airbnb has some pretty strict policies for owners to make sure they clean well. We loved our stay, and we would absolutely recommend this stop for ANYONE - especially those who appreciate character and atmosphere!