Sneak Preview - the NEW All Decked Out

We've been working on some changes at All Decked Out for several months. Now these changes are starting to happen. So here's a BP (before pictures) preview of what we're doing.

First, the 'yellow' walls are almost gone. For the past few weeks, our neighbor, Joyce, has been painting all the main areas - the family room, stairs to main floor, the whole main floor area and the stairs to the upstairs bedroom. It is now going to be "Sugarcane" - a Laura Ashley color by Valspar. Click here to look at a swatch. (We're not painting the bedrooms, as they were just done about 3 years ago.) We haven't seen it. But Ingrid, our wonderful cleaner called me today and said, "You're gonna LOVE it. The rooms look so much bigger!"

Now that the painting is done, we are going to Gatlinburg on Monday to order new carpet! If we can pull it off, we're going to replace ALL the carpet in the WHOLE HOUSE! We're not sure of the color yet, but we'll post it as soon as we finalize it.

We also plan to make some other changes. One of the biggest will be to replace the white leather sectional in the main room. It's almost 15 years old and, while it still looks good, it needs some help structurally. We'll check out the stores in the Gatlinburg area next week. But we also know there are furniture sales in Hickory, NC next weekend - only 20 miles from home. We know what color we want (hint - it's not white or yellow or green or purple or orange or brown), and we know what fabric we want (hint - it starts with an M or an L).

The whole place will have a theme and we know you're gonna like it. We'll give you details as they become available. If everything goes well, we hope to post some pictures and more details by Tuesday night or Wednesday. We think you'll agree with us that All Decked Out is really going to be ALL DECKED OUT!

Snow in Gatlinburg

Since we've been talking about snow, I'm passing along a few pictures I just received from our granddaughter, Lindsey. She took these during the Christmas Snow when we were together at All Decked Out.


This was the side of All Decked Out, looking down to the road below the cabin.


The view of Mt. LeConte (after the snow stopped), looking out the top floor bedroom window.


One more - this time from the Queen Bonus Room window at Smoky Mountain Tower, looking out the driveway toward our neighbor.

Nice pictures, Lindsey. And beautiful scenery, too. Hope you'll come and enjoy it!

Just a quick update

It's been over a week since we last posted. But we had to fly to Seattle for the funeral of a very dear friend's daughter. Then we got stuck out there because we were supposed to fly back through Chicago and, well, they got a little snow. I know you've seen lots of pictures, but here are our Chicago grandkids (Kyle and Lindsey) in their back yard:


Goodness - that's even worse than Gatlinburg at Christmas! And these kids were there, too!

Now, back to Gatlinburg. If you're a Facebook 'liker,' you know we didn't make our goal of getting 100 people to 'like' us. But we still posted a deal there. If you didn't see it and want to know more, go to our special Web site page - www.SmokiesRentDirect.com/FB86. There are only a few days left to take advantage of this deal. When you wake up on February 16, it will be gone!

Part 2 - "It's so CLEAN"

I just talked with Ingrid to get a little more information that I didn't include in my earlier post. You remember that I mentioned Ingrid's husband, Bob, and her "family" - but I couldn't remember the names of the rest of the family.

Ingrid and Bob have three girls who help them in the business - Kristin, Racheal and Victoria.

Also, in my last post, I talked about bathroom cleaning. But here's a picture of Kristin cleaning the bathroom at Smoky Mountain Tower. That's right - she's cleaning the floor the old-fashioned way - on her hands and knees!


And on this particular day, she also remade the beds.


So you can see, Y US CLEANING is truly a family business.

One more thing. Ingrid told me today that she's looking for a few more cabins to clean. We never know who's going to read these posts. If you happen to own a cabin Sevier County, TN and are looking for cleaning/property management help, call Ingrid at 865-582-1330. Be sure to tell her that Dave sent you!

Of course, most of you won't be in the market for Ingrid's great services. But the next time you stay at Smoky Mountain Tower or All Decked Out, you will know why they are so clean and well cared for!

"It's so CLEAN!"

We hear that a lot. "Everything was so clean when we arrived at ..." (Fill in the blank - Smoky Mountain Tower or All Decked Out.)

People ask us - "How can you live in North Carolina and still manage two cabins in Gatlinburg?" The answer: we have some great local people who work very hard to provide you with clean cabins in which everything is working. So we're going to begin telling you about some of these wonderful people.

The first one is our local property manager and cleaner - Ingrid Nelson. She and her husband, Bob, along with the rest of their family, own YUSCleaning. "Why us?," Ingrid asks. "Because we take such good care of our owners' properties!"

She's right. Whenever guests leaves our cabins, Ingrid has somebody there within minutes to collect the linens and check everything out. Usually, the cabin is totally cleaned the same day. This is especially true on a "turnaround" - when one set of guests leave in the morning and another set arrives the same afternoon. Can you imagine cleaning your entire house - 8 rooms and 3 bathrooms - making all the beds, cleaning all the bathrooms, doing all the laundry and getting everything ready for "company" in just a few short hours? Bob and Ingrid do this every day - 7 days a week - for us, as well as a number of other cabin owners in the Gatlinburg area!

We took a few pictures not long ago to show the kind of care that Ingrid takes in cleaning Smoky Mountain Tower. She starts by totally cleaning the kitchen - even under every burner on the stove.


She checks every drawer in every bedroom to be sure nothing was left behind.


She strips all the beds and remakes them, taking the dirty linens home to wash.


She makes sure everything is dusted and all the floors are vacuumed or scrubbed.


That's not all. She and her family put fresh soap in the kitchen and bathrooms, replace any burned-out lightbulbs, totally clean every surface in all the bathrooms (sinks, tubs, toilets, mirrors, etc.), and drain, scrub and refill the hot tub with fresh water.

That is why you always find a clean cabin when you arrive - because of Ingrid and Bob's hard work and dedication to giving you the best possible Smokies vacation experience. And that's not all. Ingrid has her cell phone with her 24/7. While we don't encourage people to call her outside of normal business hours, she's almost always available in case of emergency. How's that for dedication and service!

Thank you, Bob and Ingrid and family. Because of you, Smoky Mountain Tower and All Decked Out are among the best cared for cabins in Gatlinburg!

Facebook

Even though this post was made through our SmokiesRentDirect blog, chances are you are probably reading it on Facebook. Depending on who you listen to, Facebook is the number one Website - certainly in the US and probably in the world. It seems to have surpassed Google. One estimate I read recently said that 25% of all Internet clicks are on Facebook.

So we're trying to do more with Facebook. For that to happen, we really need your help. Will you please consider doing these three things on Facebook:

-"Like" us, so you can keep up with all the news through Facebook.

-Suggest our "SmokiesRentDirect" page to all your friends, so they can also like us.

-If you have stayed in Smoky Mountain Tower or All Decked Out, please post some photos to our Wall or share your favorite memories from the trip.

Thanks for helping us get the word out!

What do guests think?

If you've stayed at either of our Gatlinburg cabins, you know that we typically send a follow-up email asking our guests to fill out a survey about what they liked, as well as what we can improve. We also ask them to submit a review to a couple of our advertising Web sites.

We, too, are "guests." For some of our vacations, we go online and find a suitable vacation rental. Guest reviews play a big part in helping us decide on a particular property. So we know how important these reviews are to property owners.

If you don't mind a little bragging, I want to share with you a review that was just submitted by a guest who stayed at Smoky Mountain Tower about a week ago:

We had a great time in the mountains. The cabin was wonderful and the weather was super. We have stayed at Smoky Mountain Tower before and it is perfect for our family. There are things for the kids to do, plenty of space and great views. It was clean, well stocked and ready to go. I recommend Dave any time someone asks about a place in Gatlinburg. Thanks Dave!

In addition to the online reviews, we periodically publish comments left in the guest books at both our cabins. You can find them on our Web sites. In fact, I'll make it easy for you - just click on the cabin name below and it will take you right to the testimonials page.

All Decked Out

Smoky Mountain Tower

We are continually trying to improve your experience at our cabins and these comments help us very much. Several of the changes we're making right now at All Decked Out came from guests' suggestions.

Please keep the comments coming - either here, at our various advertising sites, or in our guest books!