There is always a beautiful lady to greet you in the spacious Entry Hall. She is French and alabaster fair, with flowing locks and a proper French reserve which belies the warm hearts of all who live in this gracious home. "Mademoiselle," a marble bust, was found in a French junkyard in 1962. On the opposite wall is a mural adapted from a Fuchs-DesFosses wallpaper design and created by daughter of the house, Delia. The accompanying book by Delia and her sister Amanda is called The Avian Biographies of the Edenic Chronicles. These lovely found and created objects set the tone and style at the Chatelaine, where beauty may cost nothing at all, or may require the total commitment and labor of pure and loving hearts.

We have three feline companions in residence: Lily, a short-haired brindle domestic; Vinnie, and Ceilidh, long- haired brindle Maine Coons, who are barred from Guest Rooms.

The Chatelaine is a Smoke Free Environment.

The Guests' Sitting Room is a shell of soft color filled with deep sofas, enveloping chairs, and luxurious hassocks. The western window is a frame for nature's masterpiece, a flaming sunset softened by lacy evergreen boughs. Accents within the room itself are lovely objects in clear and beautiful shades of Garnet, Persian Blue and Belleek Pink, each one worthy of a page in a book. Guests often say they must return again and again to really focus on all the delightful "things." Though formal and dignified, the room makes "manners" a pleasure.

The adjoining Dining Room, with its strongly patterned paper, is a frame for the heirloom furnishings which showcase a vast collection of china and accessories for the breakfast feast. Though the repertoire of menus is varied, the changing china settings help to create a unique morning experience. A handmade shell-topped Corner Cupboard holds court, but another large Cabinet houses delightful choices for the lucky guest who often gets to choose the china of the day. The centerpiece is usually a walnut tiered stand holding part of our assortment of eggcups, ranging from a ceramic tuxedo egg, to yellow pottery chicks, or a silver chick and wishbone holding its own cracked eggshell. Whimsey prevails at the Chatelaine and breakfast is fanciful, lighthearted and gay.