8 minute read
Tiny Spaces, Big Experiences
It started as kind of a crazy dream,
and honestly, it still is one. As far back as 20 years ago, Robert Patton-Spruill was into the idea of tiny houses. He even bought the prototype for an early one called the Tumbleweed House. He parked it in his Boston driveway, and it provided a place to stay for relatives, area veterans, and locals who were without homes. But this was way before tiny homes were in vogue, and in terms of creating a rental business, “there was just no way to market it and get it happening,” Patton-Spruill says. However, in 2007, something amazing happened. “We got really lucky,” he says. Patton-Spruill and his wife Patti Moreno are the owners of New England Sweetwater Farm & Distillery in Winchester. At their home, Patton-Spruill, who is also a film producer, director, and a now-retired film professor, started creating footage of Moreno while she was gardening. “We were able to parlay that into a pretty big gig working for HGTV,” he explains. The couple’s first job was shooting the major TV network’s giveaway homes that they create each year. “We would see what some of the best designers in the country would do, and we would photograph it in detail,” Patton-Spruill decribes. Not only was it incredible to get the inside scoop, but the job was also quite lucrative. That’s when they decided to open the distillery, which produces handcrafted spirits that capture the flavor of the region. “In the process of doing that, I just started to have a lot of fun building stuff,” Patton-Spruill says. He and Moreno put up tourist cabins at their farm and just kept going. They bought a building in Keene where they tried spinning it into a rental and experienced success. Not long, the property two doors down, a 700 squarefoot home, went up for sale, and they grabbed it. They also acquired a waterfront property with two 400 square-foot cottages in Orange, Massachusetts. So what suddenly enabled them to launch these tiny rentals? Airbnb. The company’s niche has been a perfect match for Patton-Spruill’s original dream. “Airbnb’s real place in the world isn’t replacing the hotel experience,” he says. “Airbnb at its best is really about providing experiences.” So that’s what he and Moreno, a professional designer, aim to create with each of their tiny rentals. “We look at each project and think: What experience can we deliver that might be unexpected?” he says. For example, take one of their first projects, the Writer’s Retreat, a 400 square-footer. The duo transformed the inside with salvaged barnboard and attached an upcycled metal roof on the ceiling. Patton-Spruill says they focused on using materials that would “harken to another age.” They also searched for an exceptional desk and created a little deck so guests would be able to write outdoors. “We filled the place with as many books as we could reasonably get in there,” he says with a laugh. And it worked. “We keep exploring new and cool themes, and that’s really fun,” he says. There’s also the Handerson House in Keene, a historic property that he and Moreno approached with care because it was one of their earliest attempts. “We didn’t want to change a lot off the bat,” he says. The house was originally built by a man named Phineas Handerson, one of Keene’s first lawyers. “He was known as the happiest man in town,” Patton-Spruill says. The Handerson family intermarried with the Faulkner family, and both “did amazing things throughout Keene and all around the world really,” Patton-Spruill notes. For instance, Barry Faulkner, born in Keene in 1881, was one of the foremost mural artists of his generation. His murals can still be seen locally at Keene State College, the Historical Society of Cheshire County, and Bank of America at Central Square in Keene. A downtown mural depicting Faulkner was also painted in tribute to the talented artist during the Walldogs festival in 2019. With so much history, Patton-Spruill and his wife decided to go for a classic New England feel in the house, though they did branch out a bit in the carriage house above the garage. “Patti’s from New York City, so we said. ‘Let’s build a New York-style loft in here,’” Patton-Spruill says. Decorated with art by Banksy and other statement styles, it became quite a fun stay that guests really enjoy. Around the corner, the Airbnb adventures continue at a unique property with four single-family cottages in the back. Patton-Spruill had his eye on the place for nearly two years, repeatedly approaching the owner before he agreed to sell. After much thoughtful renovation and inspiration, it is now home to several individual Airbnb stays. “They look like really small, vinyl-clad, old New Englander cottages. But on the inside, we turn them into this whole new thing, and that’s what’s fun about it,” Patton-Spruill says. One is The Art Gallery, which comfortably sleeps six people amidst a plethora of art books and gallery walls.
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Tiny Spaces Big Experiences
Big Experiences
by Caroline Tremblay
Top: View from the ‘Writers Retreat’ Airbnb. Right (top to bottom): Kitchen and dining room at the ‘Carriage House’ Airbnb. Bedroom at the book-filled Airbnb ‘The Book Nook.” Bedroom at the art-filled ‘Art Gallery’ Airbnb. Photos courtesy Alejandra Spruill and 360Monadnock.com
Around each corner, guests come upon works by Murray Ngioma, the photographs of Joey Kolbe, signed prints by Shepard Fairey, and Moreno’s own fiber art. “Deek Diedricksen came and ‘deeked’ up the kids’ room too!” the description says. Other featured art is in the style of Picasso, Basquiat, Keith Haring and Banksy. Hop over to the second cottage, and you’ll find The Rocket Ship stay, which Patton-Spruill says “is named after a piece of sculpture a friend of mine built out of a ‘57 Cadillac.” The remarkable rocket hangs above the living room. “Really I bought a house for a sculpture,” Patton-Spruill says with a laugh. While each place has its own great story, perhaps one of the best goes along with the most recent cottage they tackled, The Book Nook. A few years ago, a problem arose at another property Patton-Spruill and his wife own on West Street in Keene. Home to a former bookstore, the property was being vacated because the owner was moving into assisted living. But her family was trying to figure out how exactly to clear out the thousands of books inside so they could end the lease. They happened to approach Moreno on her husband’s birthday. Little did they know that each year, as his gift, she would buy him a few used books. This year, she had a better idea. She gave the fretting renters a lump sum to turn the store over to her with the books still inside so she could surprise Pat-Spruill with the entire collection. >
“I basically got like 7,000 books — huge collections of New Hampshire history, sports books from the 1950s, everything,” he describes. And then came the next great idea — to build the ultimate book house as an Airbnb stay. From the bathroom walls to the kitchen cabinets, there are titles stuffed Corner view at the ‘Art Gallery’ Airbnb. Photo by 360Monadnock.com everywhere. “Where are you going to rent a house where you can read all day and all night and not get through half a room?” Patton-Spruill poses. The Book Nook is officially listed now and ready for people to enjoy, whether they’re work-from-home folks checking out a new locale or people hoping to move to the area and renting in the meantime. The world shifts and changes, Patton-Spruill says. But whatever their reason for travel, the people landing in these Airbnb stays are in for a unique Monadnock Region experience.
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