Inside the Grand

As promised, here are all the pictures of the inside of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.  It was probably some of the most interesting interior decorating I have ever seen.  A couple of quotes from the interior decorator that describe what their vision for this hotel was... 

"To shock you, without clashing."

"The wall paper is like wrapping paper and all the ceilings are like ribbons and bows.  If you had a choice of a plain birthday present and a colorful one, 100 % of the time you will pick the colorful one.  It's like it's your birthday and we are giving you a present."

Needless to say, it was a fun place to look around!  Their main motif was the geranium.  Everything circled around that little flower.  Most of the public areas were done in geranium red and green.  Even the soap, shampoo and conditioner that they supply for you in your room were geranium scented.  EVERYTHING is centered around geraniums!

The dinning room is located right off the lobby.  It is a stunning room done in peach, aqua and green.  It is a HUGE dinning hall, it just keeps going and going and going!

Back in the main lobby, if you head all the way to the back from the front door, you are lead to this beautiful little sitting area.  Through those white double doors is the ballroom ...

Which was done with an oriental flare ...

To the right of that little green and red sitting room are the stairs that lead you downstairs.  The lower level consists of shops, cafes, meeting rooms and sitting areas.  The walls are all lined with articles and pictures of the history of the hotel.  It was fascinating too look at all of it's famous moments.  Five U.S. Presidents have visited the Grand Hotel, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford (raised in Michigan), George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. The hotel also hosted the first public demonstration of Thomas Edison's phonograph on the porch and regular demonstrations of other new inventions were often conducted during Edison's frequent stays. Mark Twain also made this a regular location on his speaking tours in the Midwest.

I know this is so hard to read, maybe if you click on it you can see it a little better ...?  Anyway, I include it because a.) the Grand is obviously listed on here and that is cool and b.) UTAH made the list!!  The Stein Erickson Lodge in Park City is second from the bottom on the far right column!  That was a little bit of a surprise, go Park City.

Let's jump in the elevator and look at the rooms we got to stay in!  There are 385 guest rooms in this hotel and no two are the same, every single one is different!  It was fun to walk the halls and try to peek into the ones with their doors open to get a glimpse of all the fabulous decorating!

The hallways were so loong!  660 feet long to be exact. They had little sitting areas spread throughout the halls to give them some character.  This was my favorite little sitting area on my floor.  Those lamps are just the coolest!

There are 12 named suits scattered throughout the hotel.  My room was right next door to the Somewhere in Time suit.  I thought that was pretty special seeing as that movie was the whole reason we were there!  There were pictures related to the movie above the couch that was next to the door.  The one of Richard and Elise kissing was painted by Jane Seymour!  Who knew she was an artist as well as an actress.

And here is my room!!  It was such a cosy little room.  When you walk in the door you walked up a couple of steps to get to the main part of the room.

This was the view out of my window.  Breath taking isn't it!  Since I was facing the front of the hotel, I could here the clip clop of the hooves of the horses as carriages made their way to the front entrance of the hotel.  It really felt like I had been transported back in time!

And here is my bathroom!  When the light was on, a pink glow would take over the blue hallway.  It was BRIGHT!  It made putting on make up fun in the mornings ...

And here was my parents room.  What a peaceful little room it was.  The light green was so pleasing.

And here is their little bathroom

If you continue up in the elevator to the very top of the hotel you would be brought to this charming little room.  Here you could order drinks and enjoy the view of the entire island from the windows the lined all four walls of the room.

The layering of all the different patterns never ceased to amaze me.  I thought this room as so magical in the fact that it had sparkling, glitter table cloths, stars in the carpet and a circus tent ceiling.  What an imagination the interior decorator had.

Every night we would receive chocolate mints on our pillows tucked away in these adorable envelopes.  As I'm sure you have noticed, staying in this hotel was like being in a magical fairy tale, it was beyond belief, I was surprised by it's color and creativeness at every turn!