This was a hard review to write! The home is absolutely stunning, but our family experienced such a large amount of unfortunate difficulties, and I feel like I have to be honest about our experience.
First, the photos are accurate and the home is stunning. So beautiful it didn't quite feel 'cozy,' but we were constantly wowed by the details and historical aspects (the hardware!). The kitchen is a dream and the master bath is especially luxurious. It is absolutely a designer home and the photos are exactly why we chose it.
However, we stepped into the home to find a smoke alarm on the 15 foot ceiling beeping *very* loudly every 5 minutes, with no ladder in sight. I contacted Charles and told him the problem. He asked if someone in our party could get it off the ceiling, and I reminded him of the ceiling height. He said he was trying to get someone to help us but after an hour and a half of waiting, my uncle decided to stack two dangerously wobbly tables on top of each other and carefully get up there himself.
Next, we found the television did not have a remote. When contacted, Charles asked me to continue to search the house and I promised him it was nowhere to be found. He said the previous guests threw a party and must have taken it. There was no offer to replace the remote during our stay, so our family of 9 did not have use of the television for our two nights/three days there.
Thirdly, one guest was unable to make up a couch for themselves because the home did not have one single extra blanket. There were lots of extra sheets and pillows, but the only blankets in the home were the thin ones on each bed. The listing says it sleeps 9, but it did cannot if there isn't bedding for 9 beds. Two guests drove home because there weren't enough beds. Extra blankets makes sense even if you don't need to use the couch, because the home is hard to heat and was pretty chilly (we all wanted more blankets). When I asked where the extra blankets were, Charles told me that there weren't any because the previous guests who threw the party destroyed them. There was no offer to replace them during our stay.
The listing also promised a bathtub and when we arrived to see there was no bathtub, I told Charles the listing was inaccurate. It was updated.
Next, the listing fails to mention that the home sits on the light rail tracks. There is a train crossing guard directly in front of the house, and the bell rings as the train passes through every 20 minutes from 6am to 11pm. We wish we knew this ahead of time, and I suggested that Charles include it in his listing. By the time of this review, literally at the last possible day, it is unmentioned in the listing.
And lastly, the bedroom off the living room is listed as 'opens up' to the living room. We took this to mean it would also close, but discovered the pocket doors are blocked from closing. It's more like one big room, one side with a couch and television, and the other with a double bed. It is not a separate, private bedroom. The listing should describe this bed in a 'common space; with the 'sofa bed' (not a pull-out, just a couch).
I was very specific in my messages about all of these issues, and suggested updates to the listing. Charles last message to me said he would see how he could rectify this for me. A week later, I received a 'refund' for less that 6% of our total paid for two nights. This did not satisfy me in the slightest.
I appreciate how responsive Charles was during our stay, but none of the issues were actually resolved. If there was an attempt to replace the remote or the blankets, or the description of the listing was updated to include the train tracks or fourth bedroom/living room combo, or an actual refund, I wouldn't feel the need to be so specific here.