Johnston's Inn, Georgetown Road, Paris, Kentucky Part 2

Last week we toured the main rooms of the freshly remodeled 1782 Johnston's Inn in Paris, Kentucky, and wondered if its character had been cleared away along with the cobwebs. When it was last sold in December of 2021, it was bargain priced in "as-is" condition. Now it's a picturesque short term rental/wedding venue that may or may not be for sale again.

I found some historical photos that give us clues as to how the "as-is" was. This one is labeled as the end of the main dining room:

{1934 photo source}

I believe it's the same room used as the living room in 2021:

It's currently unfurnished and the window on the right appears to be gone now:

This photo shows us the old kitchen fireplace (and extremely low ceilings):

{1934 photo source}

It wasn't shown in the 2021 listing, but it's since been incorporated into the new living room, thankfully with a higher ceiling:

The last historic photo is of the detail of the mantel in the old tavern room:

{source}

Since it wasn't working then, it isn't much of a surprise that I can't find it now. But, we can get some inspiration from it, which you'll see in a minute.

In the meantime, here's another photo we can match, the downstairs bedroom suite. It used to look like this:

After its remodel, it looks like this:

It now has an attached sleeping porch and two adjacent fabulous bathrooms:

By the way, have you noticed that all the new lampshades are still wrapped in protective cellophane? 😀

Upstairs are three more bedrooms and two more bathrooms. The house is 5,846 square feet.

This is where the bride posed in the inn's new promotional photos:

{source}

This bedroom would be pretty if it were wallpapered like the other bedrooms, like this:

{source}

The fourth bedroom is currently a sitting room, and this is where we could use some of that "as-is" inspiration that the beams are already providing:

If it were mine, this would become the new old tavern room:

Like the ship of Theseus, it would have a new version of an old thing that had always been there. (Which would mean it's the same old inn? Obviously, I'm not much of a philosopher.) The wall color is Benjamin Moore Tweed Coat. 

The tavern room conveniently has its own bathroom...

and enclosed rooftop deck, perfect for bistro tables:

It sits above the new dining room and patio space...

with a view of the new barn:

But since it's December, maybe I should be showing you the views in winter, instead:

{source}

The Conestoga wagons might not be parked in the yard like they used to be during the inn's 1700 heydays, but there is a buggy in the barn...

which proves the inn still has some old character that fits in perfectly with all the new.

It doesn't seem to be a current active listing, but can be found here and here.