Today we’d like to introduce you to Dawn Stutzman.
Hi Dawn, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
From bakery/restaurant to running a short term rental business in Southwest Michigan, our main goal is to give people a secluded, quiet, destination to be refreshed and rejuvenated.
Hospitality runs deep in our families. Grandparents and parents who shared home and hearth with many. They were know for their culinary skills as well as the art of great conversations.
Indiana was our home state, but in 1996 we moved here to Southwest Michigan. We settle on a 120 farm in Cass County. Running a restaurant/bakery was not in our original plan, but we enjoyed it and learned to know so many people in the community. Our Apple Fritters became know far and wide and are still talked about years later.
When facing our retirement years we begin to dream of what we could do to continue using our hospitality giftings to make people feel valued and cared for.
Short term Rentals were becoming quite popular and since we had also had experience owning and operating a bed and breakfast in Indiana we decided to try it. In 2018 we listed our first STR. Creekside Cottage was our first. Bakery storage building turned fully furnished tiny house. Complete with everything you need for your stay. We added a screened in gazebo and a hot tub and it quickly became a 5-star STR. Next, we completely gutted and transformed a park model unit into The Bungalow. We added a farm stock tank pool. Also a 5-star! Then, came the real deal. We relocated a grain bin that was a part of our working farm to a quiet secluded area and The Grain Binn was born. We brought in a crane to move it across the field and sit it down at its new location. We hired a designer to help us with the details and the uniqueness of building everything in a circle. We could not be happier with the results. Farm grain bin turned into a Lux one and half story, two bathroom, full kitchen, with laundry, living room with fireplace rental.
We provide the coffee, the snack basket, and fresh cinnamon rolls for our guest’s breakfast as well as anything else you will need to make your stay pleasant.
All our rentals are close or sitting on the banks of Christiana Creek. The wild animals and birds are frequent enjoyment for our guests. We provide a good cup of coffee, a nice snack basket, and our famous whole wheat cinnamon rolls for all our guests.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
We haven’t had too many obstacles. The community and inspectors were all helpful and very easy to work with.
Building the grain gin into a house was interesting as there were no blueprints for that.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Short term rental designer
Contact Info:
- Website: https://creeksidecabinns.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creeksidecabinns/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Creeksidecabinns/
