Built in 1896 and extensively remodeled in the late 1980s, The Audubon Inn is a National Historic Landmark hotel that takes its name from the French-American ornithologist and painter, John James Audubon.
In 2014, the new owners of The Audubon Inn asked us to quickly pull together a concept guest room that would suggest French heritage and establish the direction of the remaining rooms. The project — which involved a partial renovation of the bathroom – presented a creative and fiscal challenge. SO: with little time and less money, we painted over heavy shades of hunter, navy, and burgundy in a soothing, neutral palette of tan, gray, and ivory, and selected broadloom carpet with a textured, geometric design. For treatments on the tall windows, we placed a rush order for custom solar shades and for Roman blinds fabricated in a floral pattern on a linen ground. New case goods, lighting, and accessory items were shipped in from a variety of on-line retailers, as was the new vanity stand with marble sink, the Venetian glass mirror, and the new wall sconces.
Each room at The Audubon Inn is named for a particular bird species that can be seen in the nearby Horicon Marsh. Thus, our “Sandhill Crane” concept room was decorated with a reproduction of Audubon’s famous painting, as well as with enlarged prints of contemporary photos created at the marsh by Milwaukee art photographer Jarrod Erbe.
