Decorah House • Bright, sunny, walk downtown!

Superhost

Entire guest suite hosted by Paul And Nathan

3 guests
1 bedroom
1 bed
1 bath

Paul And Nathan is a Superhost

Superhosts are experienced, highly rated hosts who are committed to providing great stays for guests.

Great location

100% of recent guests gave the location a 5-star rating.

Great check-in experience

100% of recent guests gave the check-in process a 5-star rating.

Every booking includes free protection from Host cancellations, listing inaccuracies, and other issues like trouble checking in.

Welcome to Decorah House, a private and beautifully renovated stay on the second floor of our historic brick house in a quiet neighborhood just five blocks from downtown Decorah. The space is bright and full of natural light and filled with plants. The apartment sleeps three, has a beautiful bathroom with tiled shower, and a lovely front living room and kitchen. Walk to Pulpit Rock Brewing Co, La Rana Bistro, Impact Coffee, Oneota Food Coop, Hotel Winneshiek, Vesterheim and so much more.

The space
We've put five years of hard work into this amazing house and we're excited to share it with you! We're two guys in our 30s and love Decorah. Whether you're here to visit one of the breweries, trout fish, mountain bike, visit your kids at Luther, or just trying to unwind, we think you'll love everything about Decorah and the house. In addition to welcoming travelers to Decorah House, we've welcomed guests to our other overnight rental Trout River Log Cabin for the past eight years. We know what it takes to be exceptional hosts and we'll do everything we can to ensure you have a great experience.

The Decorah House stay occupies the second floor of our 1850s brick house. The apartment, including the entrance and heating and cooling systems, are completely separate from our part of the house. We've taken covid seriously from the beginning and want to ensure you have a safe and enjoyable experience.

The space is bright and full of natural light, and sits perched overlooking the Oneota Valley. The unit consists of a large living area with adjoining kitchen, a spacious bath, and large bedroom. The bedroom has a queen bed and there's a queen size blow up mattress to accommodate a third or fourth person. Paul has restored old buildings going on fifteen years. He eats, sleeps and breaths old buildings, architecture and design. We've put so much work into making the space just right, and we think you'll agree.

In the main living space you'll find two orange barrel chairs with accompanying hand made shaker style walnut end tables, a sugar maple butcher block dining table made from flooring from a local landmark school, and Persian rugs. The floors are beautiful reclaimed doug fir from a catholic priest house that was recently demolished. All the woodwork, the butcher block countertops and tables, maple cabinets, maple vanity, shaker end tables (basically everything you see) were all made by Paul in the second floor of our garage workshop. During the day Paul's a high school industrial arts teacher and teaches several furniture making, design and construction classes.

The kitchen has a high quality European brand stainless steel gas range, small refrigerator, and deep-basin stainless steel sink. The kitchen is stocked with quality cookware. We also supply organic coffee and a french press. The kitchen is pretty small, but adequate for light cooking.

The bedroom is spacious and overlooks the forested bluffs of the Oneota Valley. And to boot there's a spectacular 200 year old bur oak tree that sits right outside the bedroom windows. The bedroom has a firm queen bed, a reading area, and clothes closet. A third or fourth person can be accommodated on a queen size blow up air mattress. Linens and bedding are provided.

The spacious bath has a floor to ceiling subway tile shower. The bathroom flooring is Marmoleum, a traditional petroleum free, linseed oil-based linoleum invented in Britain in the early 1850s that's made to look like marble. The hand made vanity is sugar maple with a white oak butcher block top. Bath towels, Nature's Gate shampoo, conditioner and body wash are provided.

The house was built in the early 1850s by Decorah's original founding family, the Days from upstate New York. When their son Claiborne built the house a few years later, the village of Decorah wasn't more than a few log houses and a saw mill. Claiborne was the entrepreneurial type, serving as Decorah's first postmaster. He also owned a lumberyard and built several houses around town. Today it survives as one of the few remaining structures of the period. Ever since Paul was a little kid he's had his eye on this house. And when it came available, we jumped at the opportunity to buy and restore it. Of all the buildings representative of Decorah's early settlement period that remain standing, this house is probably the most intact and best preserved. It's an incredible piece of local history.

Where you'll sleep

What this place offers

Kitchen

Wifi

Free parking on premises

Central air conditioning

Luggage dropoff allowed

Hair dryer

Refrigerator

Record player

Select check-in date

Add your travel dates for exact pricing

Guests

1 guest

4.96 out of 5 stars from 283 reviews

Cleanliness

Accuracy

Communication

Location

Check-in

Value

Where you’ll be

Decorah, Iowa, United States

If you've never visited our little corner of the world you're in for something special. Decorah is undoubtedly the hippest small town in all of the midwest. No, we're not joking. From its nice downtown with a few good restaurants, Luther College, two breweries, abundant parks and trails, a historic hotel and a full-sized food coop, to its placement in the bottom of a bluff-lined valley, Decorah has so much to offer. Most rural midwestern towns are on the decline. Decorah isn't and doesn't feel like that. Sure it's quirky and has its host of problems like any other place, but the difference between those places and here is that we have a big community of people who are working to make this place vibrant and strong. We're two guys in our early 30s and feel totally comfortable living here.

Be sure to check out the many parks and hiking and mountain biking trails within walking distance of the house. Lining Decorah's north side is the Van Peenen Park system, an area that has helped catapult Decorah to the forefront of regional mountain biking and outdoor recreation. Or perhaps kayak and canoe the Upper Iowa River with one of the many local outfitters.

The house sits in a residential neighborhood a few blocks east of downtown Decorah. The area tends to be quiet and is safe, and we have great neighbors. All the streets in town have sidewalks and cut curbs.

We're located a few blocks from the fair grounds and race track. Races are held Saturday nights during the summer and start at 6:30 and end at 9:30. With the windows closed the noise isn't too bad.

Hosted by Paul And Nathan

Joined in January 2014

434 Reviews
Identity verified
Superhost

We're Paul and Nathan. We live in Decorah, Iowa. Decorah's a pretty great little town if you've never been. We run Trout River Log Cabin, a historic log house stay located on Paul's family farm six miles east of Decorah. We also have Decorah House, a guest suite located on the second floor of our totally cool and mostly restored 1850s brick house. Paul's a high school industrial arts teacher, furniture maker and succulent freak, and Nathan's an urban planner, prolific reader and excellent cook. We have a kitty Ethelbert, a hound Mabel and a red heeler named Bobo. We love to travel, backpack out west, and spend time outside.

We're Paul and Nathan. We live in Decorah, Iowa. Decorah's a pretty great little town if you've never been. We run Trout River Log Cabin, a historic log house stay located on Paul'…

Co-hosts

Nathan

During your stay

The time you spend here is your own. We go out of our way to make sure the space is ready to go and is super clean and inviting. Most people show up wanting to disconnect from it all, and we encourage you to do so. We leave most interactions up to the person staying. If you want to stop down to say hi, please do so. But alternatively if you want to chill and savor your own time, that's perfectly fine, too. We've hosted guests at our other rental, Trout River Log Cabin since 2013, and really love the experience of meeting new people and sharing our wonderful community with them. Since listing the cabin on Airbnb back in 2014 we've achieved excellent reviews and have maintained Superhost status over the entire period. We know what it means to be great hosts.

The time you spend here is your own. We go out of our way to make sure the space is ready to go and is super clean and inviting. Most people show up wanting to disconnect from it…