A Spokane couple has launched a hospitality venture, Vintage Rentals LLC, which has debuted as its flagship property an ornately decorated private bungalow set in the west central Spokane neighborhood.

Keith Kelley says he and his wife, Kendra, operate Vintage Rentals, which recently acquired the property at the southwest corner of Indiana Avenue and Walnut Street. The couple has named the property Lillie's, after their 15-month-old daughter.

Lillie's is Vintage Rentals' first entry in the travel and leisure lodging market, although the Kelleys separately own nine other investment properties, all long-term residential rentals, Kelley says.

Kelley says Vintage Rentals' target market for Lillie's is vacationers and business travelers who want a luxurious, quiet setting within a few minutes of downtown.

Lillie's, which has 1,100 square feet of living space on the main floor and a basement of equal size, was built in 1930. The ornately decorated and furnished main floor has two bedrooms, one bath, a living room with fireplace, a dining room, and a full kitchen.

The Kelleys have retained the designs and motifs that former owners Rick Magers and David Brickner had artistically created for the interior, exterior, and grounds of the property.

"It was a plain stucco home. I don't think any of the detail was here," Kelley says referring to the original state of the home before Magers and Brickner converted the exterior of the structure and grounds into a Spanish stucco estate with sculptured gardens.

For the interior of the home, the former owners also painstakingly collected antique furniture and fixtures, as they transformed the interior to reflect their interpretation of a European-Moorish style, Kelley says.

The meticulous efforts range from importing custom chandeliers to delicately hand-painting wall patterns. Each room has its own color palate, and no surface has ordinary treatment that might be found in a conventional leisure rental or chain hotel, Kelley says. Even some of the trim work and ceilings are etched in gilded detail.

The front of the lushly landscaped property is bordered by a brawny, yet unobtrusive wrought-iron fence. The structure itself is watched over by masonry sculptures of gargoyles, lions, and noble creatures.

Behind the home, solid masonry walls covered with vegetation surround the lawn and gardens, creating a private courtyard replete with a gazebo, fountain, and garden sculptures.

In contrast to the copiously ornamented main floor, the basement is furnished and decorated rather sparsely. The open basement's main features include a fitness area with cardio and resistance training equipment, a laundry area, and storage space.

The Kelleys have lived in a historic home for two years in the same neighborhood, which is mostly made up of craftsman and Victorian-style homes. They first met Magers and Brickner during a stroll through the neighborhood as they stopped and wondered at the thoroughly manicured low-roofed bungalow, Kelley says.

"We stood outside and admired it," he says. "We were among few people they invited in, and we became close friends."

When Magers and Brickner decided to move to Seattle last year, they approached the Kelleys with the idea of selling it to them for vacation-rental purposes, Kelley says.

"They poured a lot of money, love, and sweat into the home, and they were sensitive about who they sold it to," he says.

Kelley, who is chairman of the West Central Business Association, says he has researched the vacation rental market and believes the property is a viable investment as a unique rental option.

Kelley, also is the director of the Center for Service-Learning & Community Engagement, a small-business advisory unit, at Whitworth University.

The couple formed Vintage Rentals, which late last year bought the property, including all of the antique furnishings, art, and decorations the former owners had collected during the 12 years that they had lived there.

Vintage Rentals currently is raising awareness about Lillie's locally through charity auctions and online through vacation-rental websites.

Vintage Rentals also plans to promote Lillie's to companies and organizations that bring in candidates for interviews for executive positions, he says.

"When businesses are doing executive recruiting, we want them to think of us," Kelley says.

Rental rates for Lillie's run from $150 to $190 a night depending on the day of the week, and Vintage Rentals offers discounts for weekly and monthly stays.

The site, with its private courtyard, is also ideal for small daytime events, Kelley says.

"I think we will market it in this first year to for-profits for business retreats," he says.

Currently, Vintage Rentals has one employee, a part-time gardener, who maintains the grounds at Lillie's.

Kelley says Vintage Rentals plans to include other properties in its offerings.

The next property likely will be the recently restored Nell Shipman Forest Lodge estate, which friends of the Kelleys own and is located near the mouth of the Thorofare that connects Priest Lake to Upper Priest Lake in North Idaho, he says. Nell Shipman was a silent film star, screenwriter, and producer who lived and worked for a time at the north end of Priest Lake before most of the film industry moved to Hollywood from scattered locations.

Vintage Rentals also is looking to include another home in west Spokane at some point.

"We need to figure out what we need to do at one place and look at scaling and capacity before we add more places," he says.

Kelley says that if Lillie's draws enough business, Vintage Rentals might bring the other west Spokane property online sooner rather than later so the company can hire a full-time employee to serve guests at both properties.