I stayed here with my best friend and fellow writer for four days of writing retreat. It had exactly what we wanted: lots of comfy seating in the living room, a bedroom and bathroom for each of us, a gas fireplace, a quiet neighborhood, and proximity to good dining.
Arrival/check-in was seamless (we picked a code for the electronic lock ahead of time). While there were several small maintenance issues during our stay, Lynne was responsive and helpful. My Subaru Outback fit comfortably in the garage, although depending on whether anyone was parked on the other side of the driveway, I was nervous getting in and out.
We loved the sunken living room with the extra light and a beautiful view (depending on the clouds, you can see the mountains beyond the city). There was plenty of room for us to spread out all of our writing accoutrement, and we greatly enjoyed the fireplace. The kitchen was roomy enough for both of us to prep breakfast or lunch at the same time. As you can see from the pictures, the upstairs bedroom and bathroom are gorgeous, light-filled, and spacious. The other side of the duplex were quiet as promised, only occasional footsteps could be heard.
The Safeway three blocks away has parking and a pharmacy; there was also plenty of parking on the side streets in the "restaurant district" four blocks the other direction. We loved Voila! Bistrot—it was the perfect ambiance and food for two friends eating without husbands and kids for a change, but would also work for a romantic dinner (as evidenced by the couples there).
Since your experience depends on your expectations, here are things you should be aware of:
- SO MANY STAIRS. We were prepared for this, have good knees, and could use the exercise (ha), so it wasn't a problem. But considering the second (one-queen) bedroom downstairs is 34 stairs away from the kitchen/dining room, I did find myself trying to plan my trips up and down carefully. The kitchen, dining room, and half-bath are the only rooms that are on the same level; all the others are between 4 and 13 stairs apart.
- It's more like staying in a hotel than someone's house. On the plus side, there's no detritus left over from previous guests; on the down side, there are no helpful surprises left from previous guests. No random spices (salt and pepper and sugar for the coffee were there); no Tupperware, saran wrap or foil; no quirky mugs of different sizes. The property managers are professional and efficient so everything is coordinated, but there's nothing extra. (I'm sure I could've asked for more, but it wasn't that important.)
- The upstairs rooms are MUCH warmer (especially when you run the fireplace as much as we did ;) ), even when we set the furnace fan to "always on." If I hadn't had a space heater, the second queen room (lowest down) would've been too cold for me, and I would've had to steal an extra blanket from another room as there was only the one comforter on the bed. In the summer, this is probably a benefit (and a room a/c in the living room would keep you comfortable upstairs).
- The sinks in the upstairs (master) bath, while stylish, are very tall. At 5'7", we found it awkward to wash our faces; if you're much shorter, you'd need to work around it or use the downstairs bath.
- The pillows are soft and the mattresses are quite firm. Towels were soft and plush!