Animated by the hotel brochures she collected on family vacations, as a kid, Seija Ojanpera “drew small inns with wine bars and walls full of fresh flowers.” A service industry vet since she was 15, Ojanpera decided it was time to embrace her childhood calling when a circa-1909 building (at turns home to the Colonial Hotel and Stone Fort Inn) was up for grabs in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee. After a thoughtful Old Hollywood-style revamp, her 16-room Dwell Hotel opened last spring.
Drawn to the city eight years ago by her friend and now business partner Allan Davis, she fell in love with the growing town’s energy. “It was on the cusp of a culture boom, and you got the sense you could invent something here.” Chattanooga is small, she points out, but “when you are in our little nook,” you feel like “you may be in a larger metropolis. The old Times Free Press building, with Art Deco trim and lighting, is next door. The city council building behind us is marble and grand.” She wanted the Dwell to stand out as the only glamorous boutique alternative to the chain hotels in the area.
Inspired by a photo of the original sign for the Colonial Hotel hanging in the lobby of the Stone Fort, and after poring over historical photographs of the city from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s where she discovered bright boomerang signs and “amazing cars and colors,” she set out to “bring back color and fun design,” she says. The Dwell evokes the same sophistication of yesteryear by emphasizing a midcentury aesthetic; a base palette of black, white, and gold; and elements like milk glass globe lighting, black and white bathrooms with soaking tubs, and gas fireplaces accentuated by whitewashed brick and mosaic tile. But there are hints of whimsy, too. Terra Mae restaurant’s parlor area bursts with color and pattern: Palm frond wallpaper is the backdrop to a blush pink sofa and artwork that drips with teal and grape tones.
Each of the rooms and suites is distinctly colorful and themed, running the spectrum from yellow and brown to orange and green. They are all filled with one-of-a-kind retro furniture that Ojanpera’s interior design partner and friend Laurel Creager assembled from eBay, Etsy, and thrift stores, and swathed in bold, midcentury-inspired wallpaper flaunting patterns from argyle to flamingoes. Vintage artwork is also key, with creations fashioned from brass, Panton fabric, and carved wood. “We know vintage furniture and respect it. This hotel is a take off of everything I have ever known with a Slim Aarons twist,” says Creager. Ojanpera says she and Creager dreamt up the space before she even made an offer. “We had spent the last 12 years of our friendship junk shopping, redoing our own homes on a dime, and obsessing over all things vintage,” explains Ojanpera. When it was time to put the remodel plans to action, “and I couldn’t find [the right] interior designer, we agreed [Creager] would operate as the buyer, the scout, and the negotiator, and I would put it all together.”
To upgrade the Dwell’s architecture, Ojanpera turned to local firm Cogent Studio (the studio she worked with on her luxury retreat center in a mountain home in Georgia), which following two months of planning, completed the renovation in only three months, installing aluminum clad wood windows, demolishing and replacing the wood roof, and retrofitting luxe bathrooms. In the existing restaurant Terra Mae (one of her favorites in the city), 400 square feet of dining and bar space was allotted to the newly expansive kitchen. “We also took what was a sprawling dining area that wrapped around the kitchen and divided it into three distinct rooms for a much more intimate feel,” explains architect Aaron Cole. “An underutilized storage space just outside the kitchen was converted into a private chef’s table, which allows for a very personal dining experience.”
More circa-1950s photographs of restaurants informed the reconstruction by a local furniture maker of standout pieces like mint green and pink banquettes, while two living plant self-watering walls encased in rectangular brass frames flank a colorful art piece. Reinforcing Dwell’s quirky vibe is Matilda Midnight, the petite bar named after a fictional gypsy where cocktails are sipped underneath a ceiling of twinkling lights. “It’s small and sultry,” says Ojanpera. “It’s fun to watch people discover it through the arched doorway.”
