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necessary for the B and B customers provided the answer. Among the decorations in each room are vases of cut flowers, and Camille said that she always particularly enjoyed that part of preparing the rooms for guests. “I wanted to have them year-round, without having to run out to the store to get bunches for the weekend.”
Last summer, she began arranging small bunches of cut flowers from her garden for a group of customers around the county. “It seemed stupid to stop in the winter, and then have to renew my customers in the spring.” So, she found a wholesaler in Richmond who will de liver every day, and another enter prise was bom, “which has developed into a full-fledged floral business.”
At the same time, Pat was working with a local builder doing custom building work. He has been in the construction business for years, "always fascinated by carpentry, by seeing the entire project come together.”
When he was laid off when work got slack, “I decided not to let myself get into that predicament again - I would rather get put in that predicament by myself,” he joked.
So, he decided to pursue, as he put it, “more creative work.” He had some experience doing “primitive” graining work on doors in townhouses, and has seen a good bit of that work done by others, including the faux bois done at The Inn at Little Washington, “the work of a real professional.”
So Pat began to research the art of decorative painting, including faux bois (the technique of painting surfaces to resemble a stained, rather than painted, wood surface) and faux marb (a similar technique used to simulate a marble surface). “It’s a matter of seeing painting as decoration rather than necessity - an ornamental touch.”
As the research progressed, so did his talent, and he is now doing one-man restoration and decorative painting jobs, “only jobs which I can do myself. It’s too much hassle to keep employees busy.” His work so far has included recreations of furniture and marble columns, as well as smaller wall decorations.
Pat added that he is working toward doing wholesale renovations of older houses, working for people who want to recreate wonderful old homes.
“It’s a lot of work,” he admitted, “you’ve got to have a love for it. But, I like to work for - with - people who have that love and desire to restore old homes.” Meanwhile, back at the house, Camille sees both the bed and breakfast and floral busi; ness burgeoning. She’s doing more*, and more flowers, and she and Pat; are working on plans to increase thespace in the house.
“It just keeps evolving,” she said, leaving the visitor to wonder what might happen down the road.
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