Bringing the hotel home

Last month, I wrote about how restaurants can be a source of inspiration for home décor. Need another place to look for ideas? How about hotels?

Hotels have been inspiring residential design for several years. For proof, you only have to look as far as Macy’s—with its “hotel collection” linens and décor—or the Davenport Hotel’s gift shop, where you can buy the same mattresses and bedding guests sleep on in the rooms upstairs.

I was in Portland, Ore., this weekend and stayed at a hotel that will keep my creative juices flowing for months. Hopefully these photos will give you feel for the place.

The Ace Hotel is part of a small chain of hotels that started in Seattle about a decade ago. It’s attractive to young travelers who want to stay in the heart of a city without paying top dollar. That means you might have to share a bathroom if you want to score a deal. (Rooms with private bathrooms are available, too. We got ours for $125 a night.)

The Ace also appeals to eco-minded travelers and this was apparent in details throughout the Portland hotel. There were bicycles to rent. Many of the furnishings and décor in the rooms, lobby, library and other spaces were made from salvaged materials. And a kitschy sign hung in the elevator with a cross-stitched message that read: “If you took the stairs, you’d be there already.”

I hope I’m not the only one who reacts this way, but my heart goes pitter patter when I’m surrounded by new uses for old objects. I’m still wondering how I can get my hands on a Tilt-a-Whirl carnival seat after seeing what Spokane artist/developer Dan Spalding did with some at Zola bar downtown. I’m not sure how they’d fit into the decor of my 1954 rancher, but a girl can dream.

In the guest rooms at the Ace, towels were stored in old metal mesh bins—the kind you probably stored your gym clothes in in your high school’s locker room. The chair at the obligatory hotel-room desk was a plastic-molded piece that might have also been used in a school at one point. In fact, the hotel had a very cohesive “old school” theme to it. The graphic design of its postcards, dry-cleaning sacks, honor bar menu, and other items looked as if it’d been typed on wide-rule paper that’d been in storage since the ‘50s. Even the map above the door that directed me to an exit in the case of a fire was cute.

Another touch I loved in my guest room was what the hotel’s designers did with the wall behind the bed. They covered the surface with pages from a vintage book, then painted a simple drawing of a deer and birds on top of it. The creative and talented Celeste Shaw, of Chaps restaurant in Spokane, did something similar recently in the foyer of her eatery. She told me she adhered the book pages to the wall with wallpaper paste and then covered them with a decoupage medium, like Mod Podge. My husband has given me his blessing to do something similar in our bedroom—as long as I choose a good book and skip the deer—so I might be showing that off here soon. (FYI—if you have commitment issues, try adhering the book pages to a piece of plywood instead of to the wall, and then hanging the plywood on sturdy hooks screwed into the studs behind your wall. Same look/less heartache if you decide to part ways with your collage down the road.)

The Ace has some luxurious touches, including cozy robes and super-soft wool blankets (both of which you can buy in the hotel lobby). But staying at the Ace probably isn’t for everyone. If your time in upscale hotels has you accustomed to walk-in showers that are as big as some people’s kitchens, stepping into a vintage claw-foot tub encircled with a shower curtain might feel claustrophobic.

I sure enjoyed my stay, though. In fact, I literally hesitated when I had to hand over the key (a real key! Not a card with all my personal financial information imbedded in it!) at checkout time yesterday.

“I really don’t want to leave,” I told the desk clerks.

They assured me I could come back anytime. Meanwhile, I’m brainstorming more ways I can get the Ace look and feel at home.

I encourage you to check out the photos on the Ace Hotel’s Web site for design inspiration. Every guest room is different, and my shots were taken frantically during my “15 minutes of free parking” (as the hotel called it, as opposed to 15 minutes of fame).