Couple’s only

I organized a couple’s getaway weekend with my squad of close girlfriends, my husband’s oldest friend, and my brother/sister in law.  I found this amazing unique rental called Adeline’s House of Cool which is located between Montello and Green Lake Wisconsin.  The house sleeps up to 12 people and was less than an hour drive from Deforest/Sun Prairie.   I created an event with a poll on which weekend worked best for the majority of the invited couples.  The Facebook event page gave us an easy way to communicate the details and plan the meals.  We ended up with five couples going and we rented this six-bedroom mansion for the weekend.

As the anticipation for the trip got higher, memes and hype up comments were posted on the event’s page. This is the crew we hang with throughout the year.  In the summer we take an annual family camping trip, we watch the 4^thof July parades together and usually attend each other’s kids birthday parties.  We rarely get together without our children in tow.   Then last year we enjoyed ourselves at the Friendsgiving party James and I hosted.  Next, I had the moms over on a Sunday afternoon for a motherhood celebration with  Cinco de Mayo Theme. That turned out to be so much fun.  This time when the topic of a weekend cabin rental came up for couple’s only, we were all in.

Planning a Couple’s Retreat

We divided up the meals and assigned two couples to collaborate on breakfast and dinner for Saturday.  We opted to order pizza on the first night to keep it simple and allow ourselves time to ease into the vacation without the task of cooking/serving.  Knowing that each couple would be arriving at separate times, this seems like the easiest solution.  That didn’t turn out to be the case.  The property is a bit remote and the local spot recommended Tucked Away said they didn’t do carry out pizza until after 9 pm when we attempted to place the order. Although this foiled our plan a bit, we were able to get a surplus of pizza and the party went on.

James and I were the first of the couples to arrive at the house after driving through Amish country.  We passed two Amish men riding their horse and buggy, I may have snapped it to my story and gave the fellas a friendly wave. Sorry, not sorry!  If you decide to rally up your friends and rent this sprawl, use the google map version of directions as opposed to the iPhone maps version. The iPhone maps directions will take you to a closed road in the middle of a natures preserve.

Adeline’s House of Cool

Each couple got lost in their own way navigating to find an artistic home.  The last couple was shaken trying to find their way on the dark winding roads.  All of this was of course apart of my master plan for this couple’s retreat.  Getting the adrenaline pumping.  Let the adventure and bonding begin on the car ride.  Taking us out of our heads and into the weekend.

My name was written on the mailbox when we approached the grand entrance.  You can send out a free postcard from their vintage collection of naughty options.   A large charming red rug spreads the large entrance that says Adeline’s House of Cool.  A thick velvet rope hangs down and when James pulled on it, cowbells began to ring.  I should have known that the house would be super cool from the way Brian the smooth-talking, brilliant owner who will give you all the tips to having a great time before your arrival.  He was informative, flexible and willing to let us check in early and check out late.   You can tell that he wants you to be wowed, and no detail is spared. The amount he had to have put into buying all the cool shit!

Five Star Rating for all the details!

Shortly after we arrived and rang the bell Tom started a log fire for us and opened the hot tub cover. He gave us some cool background on the property and an extended run through of the house’s workings and features. A jack of all trades, he spends hours polishing and perfecting all the trivets for this magnificent home.  We were blown away, so much detail is tucked into every corner it’s something you must see.  It gives you the feeling that you rented a closed motel above a bar establishment.  There is a glamorousness to the rental from the moment you walk in.

The deposit for the property reflects that and is a bit high for this rental compared to the ones we have held in our past but that is completely understandable since the owner has invested so much into adding artifacts that fill every nook of this home.  There are so many items that can be lost or damaged. Yet we felt the winter rate was very reasonable.  We had five couples and paid $150/night plus $200/each towards the security deposit. Our sixth couple couldn’t make it or it would have been an even bigger steal.

The only critiques I have is that there are only 2 full bathrooms plus a gentlemen’s half bath in the 6-bedroom mansion.  Therefore, you must tier your showers in the morning.  No big deal for us but the ratio for newer rentals are generally higher so I’m calling it out. Neither bath or hot tub towels are provided for guest something I also felt okay with if it helps keep the rental rates down.

Rental Features and Amenities

I don’t want to spoil the wonder of this place and give you all the secrets but know that there is so much room for play here.  Little pranks can be made on friends.  Plenty of outdoor and indoor space, slot machines, pool tables, board games, cards, dice, surround sound and a pinball machine. Every bedroom has access to the wrapped around porch that has large rocking horses, swings and benches.   A fireman’s pole goes from the upstairs wraparound porch down into the screened in breezeway. The breezeway leads to the private room with the 20-foot hot tub enclosed.

The bar is on the main level off the kitchen and a huge wooden dining table sits center the foyer. Perfect for setting up appetizers, the Bloody Mary/mimosa bar.  An old-school jukebox lights up plays classic hits from Ray Charles, Elvis, and Chubby Checkers.  The bar area was decked out for Christmas with a tree and accents hanging from the ceiling.   My girlfriend April picked our ugly sweater party theme and it was the perfect fit for the atmosphere.  You would have thought I purposely picked my tipsy elves sweater with Santa working the stripper pole, hundreds of dollars raining on him, so I could pose on this rotating pole in the breezeway but I seriously had no idea!  It had me believing in the magic of Christmas.

Love my squad!

At one point, I looked around and felt so happy seeing all these people I love connecting with their spouses, laughing, we were legit slow dancing to old school R &B hits.  My godbrother Tony, who I grew up with was playing middle school dance DJ.  The ladies were all belting out lyrics to our favorite songs and flashing back to our middle school dances.  It was a much-needed break for us all from parenting, a cozy chance to catch up as girlfriends and a hack of a party all night until we finally hit the hot tub and started dipping off to our private suites.

This place is so perfect for a large group, couple’s retreat and I love traveling Wisconsin and uncovering rentals with the wow factor.  Adeline’s House of a Cool gets my full five-star rating. The keeper has stocked the kitchen well; my bed was comfortable and the sheets smelled good.  There was space to spread out and spaces that felt intently intimate.  There were so many surprising and interesting artifacts that I had to write the review immediately upon arriving home as to not forget to mention all the cool details.

All the feels plus a little bit of the creeps!

Each of us honing in on different features we liked about the home.  There were a few people that felt the house was weird like we were being watched. Understandable creeped out by some of the art hanging in the house, like the tethered picture of Jesus in the bathroom and the freaky angry clown staring at the bed in one of the couple’s room.  The floorboards were creaky as anyone walked the hall at night and other random sounds went off around the place.  There were two separate people that thought they heard someone walking in their room at night and rumors of a ghost spread.

The house of cool was built 24 years ago according to Tom and its’s intention was always to be a rental property. You can tell that so much thought and intention was built into the home.  With vines crawling over eves ways, lions flanking stone stairs leading to the grand lawn which is surrounded by arborvitae.  Rusted Mariachi Band members salute you in the back of the property leading to the boat dock.

The way one area flows into the next.  How creative and on point with creating an experience is this guy?  We all loved it, we loved getting a chance to connect and chill before the holidays.  Can I just say?  I love this squad!  I was in heaven the entire time.  Pairing the trip with the holiday season left me feeling very blessed to have these friends and family.  It was dreamlike with content for the value of each of these relationships.  In short, I had the time of my life and was just trying to hold onto the moments.