Friday the thirteenth started early at the Atlantic Inn, as most mornings had that week. Something was different from prior mornings, we were working in the kitchen rather than looming over a cleaning cart! See, the second week of February for the Atlantic Inn was quite a doozy this year. It was details week as we put the finishing touches on the foundation that had been laid by dozens of hands throughout the harsh coastal winter. As tired as we were, there was a buzz of excitement throughout the inn as the nearly 100 year old building was preparing to welcome guests to kickstart the 2026 season. It felt even more special than our opening days last August, because through the winter we had placed our own unique touch on the property. Now let’s rewind to how we got there…
When we moved to the Outer Banks last summer, folks prepped us for the winters and the possibility of feeling somewhat isolated. Our favorite horror movie is The Shining, and we would joke about the similarities of our life compared to the first quarter of the movie. We set forth determined to positively fill our time while the Inn was closed. We got books, and hobbies, and had some projects we planned on doing around the inn. What lay in store for us would erase all our worries of boredom though.
January started out pleasantly as we ushered in the new year on Hatteras. Work started on both the underpinning and on the floors when a fabulous crew from Atlantic Flooring spent several days diligently working on the subfloors before installing our beautiful new floors! Those days were easier on us, noisy as they were there was not much work to do when the floors were up. We ended up enjoying our first winter on the island tremendously and used a lot of this time to explore new places in the area and do some of our hobbies.
New flooring, new wallpaper, new bookshelves, new coffe bar, new furniture, all in just the upper lounge!
Once the new floors were down is when our personal sisyphus story began. We would clean the inn, and then some new project would begin that would dirty the whole place up again! Mitch became one with the vacuum, the steamer, or any other various floor cleaning devices he could get his hands on… on one desperate day during the drywall phase of remodeling, the whole Atlantic Inn crew got down on hands and knees and dusted the floor with wet rags. It was a necessary process to get the work done in the building, while maintaining cleanliness that did not pile up and linger.
Meanwhile the resident baker of the Inn, Katie, was hard at work expanding her repertoire of breakfasts and sweets. Since starting the job as innkeepers, our favorite part has been serving breakfast, sweets, and snacks to our guests. We are both cooking/baking enthusiasts, and sharing that joy has been awesome. Katie has loved having an excuse to do more baking, and this year we have a lot of new breakfast items, sweet treats, and other baking surprises for you! Throughout the off-season the Atlantic Inn kitchen was a test kitchen, and Mitch her sampler. One of her new recipes was featured this past weekend, and it was a hit!
Katie's Raspberry Sweet Rolls were a new experiment this off-season, we served them Sunday morning on Valentine's Weekend to rave reviews!
February was more visually impactful than the dog days of January as the place really started to come together. The home stretch began with a fresh coat of paint for a lot of the inn. The lobby, lounge, gift shop, Blackbeard, Windchaser, and upper lounge all were painted. Some of the more cosmetic features were added into the Inn. We had a marvelous cabinet crew come in and install built-in bookshelves, coffee bar, and additions to the breakfast bar. Technically speaking, these men were our first guests of the 2026 season! These fine fellows spent a night at the Inn since they lived 3 hours away and wanted to get right to work in the morning. We also had an HVAC crew crawling around in the attic for a few days replacing the duct work, those guys did some hard work!
New season, new additions to the breakfast bar foundation! We gave the artwork to Holly and Jason this off-season for Christmas, and they liked it so much they wanted to hang it as a centerpiece in the Inn! It was done by a talented local artist, Erika Ziegler. Thank you so much Erika!
Lastly we arrive to the second week of February. The final week, as we prepared to start our 2026 season with a lovely Valentine’s getaway for guests. We lost track of time, space and relativity. We woke up, worked, ate dinner, worked, slept, repeat. Several deep cleans of the inn were necessary to meet our satisfaction. When all is said and done, we easily clocked 60+ hours of work during that final week. We know it would have been a lot more had our most recent hires not pitched in to help. Together, we did major deep cleans of all the guest rooms, common areas, dusted, vacuumed, steamed, washed windows, and so many other tedious tasks that feel like a blur now. Special shoutout to our new coworkers for coming in and stepping up during this final stretch, they did a tremendous job.
The lobby when the Inn was purchased.
The lobby now! We hope you love the coastal vibe of the inn!
As we ushered in the 2026 season we reflected on how much the Inn means to us. We both grew up traveling to the Outer Banks, and those memories are precious to both us and our families. We take a lot of pride when guests come and stay with us, it feels as if we are hosting guests in our own home. When people choose to stay with us, we leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of a refreshing vacation that can create precious memories of their own. There is more to come as we get started with our 2026 season. We are still curating local art for the Inn, and are in the process of adding more to the guest experience. We have a Jimmy Buffett themed weekend in June, and are planning to host concert nights and movie nights for guests and locals alike in the 2026 season. We look forward to hosting you soon, and want to thank anyone who has been a part of our journey that all of your love, support and enthusiasm for the Inn makes all the effort worth it. Hope to see you soon!
- Katie and Mitch, The Innkeepers
This off-season another addition is this fabulous new house coffee from the local roaster Blue Room! We had a really enjoyable experience crafting this for you all (and ourselves!).
A note from Holly and Jason, the owners,
This off-season at The Atlantic Inn was anything but quiet — it was filled with family, milestones, and 53 straight days of transformation. We started with Christmas in Virginia, soaking up time with family and friends. Shortly after, we packed up and headed to Savannah to drop Lex off at SCAD — a proud, emotional, and bittersweet milestone as she begins chasing her creative dreams. Then it was back to Hatteras and straight into renovation mode: 53 consecutive days of painting, building, problem-solving, and pouring our vision into every detail of the inn. This off-season reminded us that The Atlantic Inn isn’t just a project… it’s a family dream coming to life, and we can’t wait to share it with you.
Holly and Jason celebrate a succesful opening weekend.