My wife and I had a wedding and thought it would be nice to stay at a B&B in Santa Rosa. This is the creepiest place I have stayed in.

Issue 1, "I only accept cash": We rang the doorbell and I handed the ederly lady our credit card. She says, "I don't take credit card I told you that on the phone". My wife and I do not stay at places that accept cash only and do not make reservations at places that accept cash only. I did not have cash so I went out to get some. I arrived back at the bed and breakfast. She greeted me with this statement:

"Oh good you are back. My accountant is upstairs and he is very mad at me for not collecting your money. I need the money".
This made me feel uncomfortable.

Issue 2, Breakfast: She changed our breakfast time about 3 times according to what was convenient to her. She even knocked on our door to tell us breakfast was ready even though it was 9 and we were slated for breakfast at 10. Fortunately we were up and we were hungry, but I could see where this would not have worked out.

During breakfast she entered the dining area and made the following statements:
"I once owned horses you know"
"I haven't had a day off in 10 years"
"How do you get your kids to drink water?"
"You know my daughter dropped dead in the kitchen last week? She was my best friend"

I was scared by the breakfast experience.

Issue 3, the doorbell. I reserved a room for my parents and I hope they forgive me. They arrived and rang the bell. She ended up yelling at them for using the second bell instead of the first. My mother explained the first bell didn't work. She responded with "oh, you need to ring that one though".

Issue 4, The dog. She has a large black poodle. The poodle stands over the balcony and barks aggressively when you come in and go out. It frightened me.

Issue 5, Dirty Rooms. The rooms look fine at first glance. My mother lost her contact and I assisted in the search for the contact. As I was crawling on the ground I noticed how dirty the carpet was. It was gross.

I considered leaving after the first night.

The reviews in this page are dead on. She did, however, serve us breakfast but assumed at first that we weren't going to have breakfast. It was only after we said, "well, this is a bed and breakfast, isn't it?" that she decided to make us breakfast. She also told us that our breakfast will not be served until 9:30 a.m. We preferred an earlier time, but decided it was okay to have it at 9:30 a.m. Then in the morning she tried to push it to 10:00 a.m. In any case, the breakfast wasn't that great. It was very greasy and it felt like a rock in your stomach after several hours that morning.

And yes, the neighborhood was kinda sketch. And yes, the rooms were all in the basement.

Our biggest complaint is that she said she doesn't take credit cards, and she tried to place the onus on us and tell us that she told us so over the phone. This was not the case. We would not have stayed there if she doesn't take credit cards, and the information on the web said the B&B would take credit cards. Anyway, we didn't want to search for another place to stay, so we decided to just get cash from an ATM and hand it over. And then she assumed that we would not want change back. After all this frustration, we promptly wanted our change back.

She didn't seem all there like the other review said. When we walked in she said, "We don't take credit cards. We only take cash or..." and paused for a long time, and said, "We only take cash or..." She kept stopping herself mid sentence until she finally got herself together and said, "We only take cash or checks."

The rooms were actually fairly comfortable. The water in the bathroom takes a while to get hot, but it was adequate.

She also said that she was not well because her daughter died a few days earlier of a brain anuerism. The place is really creepy and the lady the runs it is even creepier. I don't know how old she is, but she did say she has 13 great grandchildren, so she must be up there.

Not sure if she should be running the place. We felt like we were in the movie Misery.

The Pygmalion House looks great when advertised on the Web. However, there are some issues that seem to signal impending doom for the house as a viable b & b.

My wife and I rented a room at the house for one evening, a Sunday. We had a nearby wedding to attend, and needed a place which had a more flexible check in time than the hotels situated a couple of blocks from the house. And, it seemed romantic to stay in an old Victorian.

The rate we were quoted was honored, so unlike the previous review, we have no complaints there. The neighborhood was a little sketchy, although it does appear to be undergoing a bit of gentrification. Even so, we have lived in similar neighborhoods in the past so we were not intimidated. It did seem strange that we were the only people staying there, and the breakfast schedule (it is a b & b afterall) was scribbled out. This prompted us to depart as soon as we got up in the morning, leaving only enough time to hand over the room key to the owner.

Another odd thing is the fact that she thought we had decided to not stay for the night. We are not sure why she thought this as we told her we were off to a wedding for the afternoon and evening. Perhaps she has some sort of sensory perception powers, because we certainly discussed grabbing our things and heading to a hotel as soon as we saw our room. We were in a hurry, so we ended up staying.

The room was very dated, even for Victorian decor. It was nice to have a bathroom in our room, but being in the basement (all guest rooms are in the basement) was a little creepy. The house is large, so it feels odd being the only people in the house besides the owner, who was largely recluse.

Oh yeah, the house is literally right next to the freeway.

Overall, I would not recommend this place if you are looking for a quaint b & b. If all you require is a bed, and a shower, it should fit your needs. The house is a nice example of a Victorian, and it does have (or did have) potential to be a warm, cozy place to stay while exploring the wine country. However, I think the owner should consider hiring a small staff to handle the day-to-day business, including someone to make breakfast, or at least offer up some store-bought pastries and coffee. Without the breakfast, it's really only a b, not a b & b.

I reserved two rooms for me and a couple I was traveling with for the night of July 3, 2004. I was quoted a rate of $106. My friends got to the inn first and was told the rate was $119. They were also informed that there would be no breakfast as the owner was "all alone." My friends called me on my cell phone to tell me. They also said the place was on a seedy street and that several police cars were around as something had just happened nearby.

When I called the owner to ask abou the room rate increase she said it was because the man in the couple was large and she said he would only fit in the king sized room. I said that was fine but that I was quoted $106 (he and his wife sleep just fine in a queen bed at home). When I asked why no breakfast would be available, she said that her oven wasn't working. THEN she told me that her mother had died a few days earlier ?!? When I asked why she didn't call me (and I had just spoke to the woman the day before and she never mentioned this) she said that she called some but couldn't possible call everyone (There are six rooms in this place, and I had 2 of them). I find this hard to believe, as the woman is in her 70's. THEN she tells me that she is just going to not rent for the day, and she hung up on me. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE AT ALL. I think the woman may be too old to conduct this type of business anymore alone.