“We wanted to create a fine property reminiscent of the European boutique places we had stayed in while traveling there,” explains hotelier Jeanie Shufelt of the Chanler, a historic mansion-turned-hotel in Newport, Rhode Island, which she recently took over and renovated. “We felt that Newport didn’t have enough upscale accommodations and we thought the Chanler would be a great entrance to the city as it is approached from Middletown.”

But that was easier said than done. The entire property was in disrepair. So she and her husband planted more than 5,000 plants, trees, and shrubs where there once was a parking lot. They completely gutted the building to take advantage of its majestic Cliff Walk views and to make the interiors more luxurious. They replaced the slate roof with a new one to preserve the character of the building. They fixed the 1970s extension and added a colonnade as well as individual entrances to the guestrooms. And they reduced the number of rooms but enlarged the bathrooms.

It’s the guestrooms that set the property apart. Each of its 20 rooms is designed to reflect a different historical period or theme, from the Federal with a full canopied iron bed with a federal-style valance and the Colonial outfitted with an antique colonial mantel with handpainted tiles and wide planked flooring, to the Gothic Suite with an antique chandelier and lanterns, a purple marble bath, and a gothic grating enclosed Jacuzzi. But Shufelt didn’t just place period-appropriate furnishings-she thoroughly studied each theme to make sure the guest had a complete experience. “I wanted to be sure that it would be obvious from the moldings and the architectural details which period I was trying to emulate,” she explains, adding that she scoured New England antique stores and the internet for just the right fittings, and serendipitously found pieces on their travels. “We wanted each room to offer the guest a unique experience so they would want to stay again and again.”

Her favorite: the English Tudor room. Originally two small rooms with no view and a small bathroom without a tub, it’s now one of the largest, thanks to the fact that they had to make it bi-level to hide a four-by-four-foot “bump” made by the previous owners to allow for headroom in the stair. They used antique oak flooring in the new raised bedroom area, added a Jacuzzi surrounded with Tudor-like grates, installed custom linenfold paneling made for the wall of built-ins, hung a painting of Henry VIII over the antique fire surround, and placed Tudor-style sconces, pewter doorknobs, and stuccoed walls throughout. “So, from one of the worst rooms we created what is now considered one of our signature rooms,” she says.