At The Liberty Rose, a bed and breakfast located at 1025 Jamestown Road, it’s all in the details.
When innkeeper Sandi Thompson purchased the property more than 30 years ago, it wasn’t in bad shape, but there wasn’t a whole lot of character or charm.
Even so, Thompson recalls beating the realtor to the property for the initial showing in 1985, and having her offer ready by the time the realtor arrived.
Renovating the home, which was built sometime around 1929, was a bit of trial and error, Thompson said. She remembers one humid day working in the house when they put in an air conditioning unit and ended up blowing a circuit.
But as an interior designer, Thompson was up to the task.
“Because I was in the design business, I had access to really incredible things that don’t show up in the stores much,” Thompson said. “I think every wall has been wallpapered twice by now.”
Even though Thompson had special access to to-the-trade-only décor, she made sure to incorporate special treasures and artifacts into the décor.
“When you have a B&B you have to do things a little out of the ordinary so people are interested in coming to stay there,” Thompson said. “But being in the design business all these years have just sort of given me a quirky edge.”
The result is one-of-a-kind space, where no detail has been overlooked.
Some of the artwork on the walls was created by Thompson’s son. Some items were salvaged, like the flooring in one of the bathrooms. And some of the objects have meaning that guests might not necessarily pick up on, like many of the pieces in The Dora room, one of Thompson’s favorite spaces.
The Dora is a guest room named for the late Dora Armistead of Williamsburg, who ran the first guest house in Colonial Williamsburg. Many artifacts from Dora’s guest house, an old Victorian originally located near the Capitol, are now in that room at Liberty Rose.
“That’s why we dedicate that room to Dora,” Thompson said. “If the guests stay in The Dora, they get to sign Dora’s original ledger.”
Since opening the B&B, Thompson has hosted countless travelers in the four guest rooms. Some even come to elope, getting married in the parlor or in the gardens.
Overall, getting to know the guests has been an amazing part of the gig, according to Thompson.
“They live these great lives and we get to hear about them,” she said.
