What is a brag book anyway? Google says it’s a photo book a grandmother would use to show off their beautiful grandchildren, which we could certainly do, hence the bragging portion of its title…or it’s a professionally bound book used to show off the skills of a potential employee in the interview process. It’s a means of differentiating yourself from the competition and displaying your accomplishments.  After a year of diligent work towards remodeling the motel, we have a product we are ready to show off. We are like proud parents, just waiting to pounce on the first person to ask, and we would like to show our progress.  

Our new sign has been installed and looks amazing. We are so grateful to the generosity of the City of Maupin. Without their help, we would have paid a great deal to get a company out here to install it or we would have chanced destroying the sign trying to raise it ourselves.

With the help of two city employees, their lift truck and Glenn, a friend from town, we raised the sign into its place and made the connection in less than a couple hours.   Its small towns like Maupin that make us realize what a gem we have being located so far from the big city.

Our heating and cooling system has been completely replaced with the most up-to-date, energy-efficient, and streamline product on the market. Our friends at Damar Heating and Cooling completed the project over the last few months.

Each unit has its own thermostat and remote, and can be adjusted to the guest’s personal preference. We have one unit in each room and two units in our two bedroom family suites. The Deschutes Motel was one of the first in Wasco County to go ductless, and we anticipate energy rebates to offset the costs of such improvements.

Visit Damar at: http://damarheating.com/

Before the remodel:

After:

We’ve received our new shipment of Serta Queen beds. We are adding them to our queen rooms before those rooms open back up to the public and we’ve been replacing the Family Suites queen beds one at a time.Our remodel is moving along. We are on schedule and should have our Queen suites open by late February. We have replaced the counters with granite, the flooring with commercial carpet and SnapStone porcelain tile, the beds with Serta Comfort mattresses, and switched to 32″ Flat Screen TVs. We’ve also added new curtains, table and chairs, new GE microwave and minifridge, and a new coffee maker to each room. We’ve also purchased lovely blue quilts for each room and think our design theme will be a treat to our longtime guests as well as our new-comers.

More photos to follow at the reopening of the Queen Suites.

Don’t forget, you can follow us on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Deschutes-Motel/151616934881379

Some might say that a sign tells a story and a picture is worth a thousand words. Our signage has been telling the Deschutes Motel story for over 40 years. In its prime, the Deschutes Motel was owned and operated by the Woodside Family, a very well known and loved bunch of folks, that gave the motel its history and legacy in this small community. 

When my husband or I meet new people in town, they typically ask about the Woodside’s or they share their knowledge or experience with the family that built rooms on the top of the hill, with the best canyon view in town.  

Today, we met with a sign company that wanted to work with our new business to bring a new look to our location. When we bought this business, we fully intended on staying with the “look” of the old signage and we enjoyed the retro-feeling. As a part of marketing a new business and showing others that you’re serious about improvements, you must carry the same committment to the outside of the buildings.  In the spring, when the snow subsides and the weather warms up, we will be painting the exterior of the building with Eggnog yellow. And now, coming in January, we will replace our old sign with new, upon approval from the city.

We are elated to see these changes, and feel confident that slowly but surely, hopefully by the Stonefly hatch, we will have remodeled rooms to share with the public.  Stay tuned…

Dave and I were up early, having our coffee at 5am, and full of anticipation on our first day of business. We moved some of our creature comforts into the motel’s house, and started taking over. It’s not easy to jump into someone else’s established business and “take over.” These shoes were well worn and now we try to fill them. Sometimes a fresh new look, with untrained eyes, is exactly what growth desires.

As Dave and I learn the motel business, we hope you’ll bear with our mistakes and help us make necessary corrections. Our goal is to provide our new hometown community with a product we’re proud to show off.

After sending our very first customer, a cattle rancher who was looking for a room with TV and a shower, to exactly what she asked for, we have a growing sense of pride. I intend to share about our remodeling adventure in the next 6 months, and hope to see y’all at our Grand Reopening “Open House” when the time comes.

Thanks for all the support and well wishes from friends, family, and our new community.

Dawna North

We are very excited to announce new ownership and major renovations of the Deschutes Motel!