Where ’80s Miami and Victorian grandeur collide.
by Domino Magazine
When Stephan Watts first landed in Wilmington, North Carolina, it was peppered with traditional bed-and-breakfasts in stately Victorian homes. Many were a little stuffy and hadn’t been renovated since the 1990s. Still, he fell in love with the historic coastal town and went house shopping on a whim. That’s when he stumbled upon what is now Dreamers Welcome, a whimsical, light-filled boutique hotel (think: ’80s tropical vibes) opening this week.
“We wanted to create a merger between an Airbnb and a traditional bed-and-breakfast,” explains Watts, who gut-renovated the property in just nine months with his partner, artist Roy Delgado. The pair’s first hotel, the Dreamcatcher, opened in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 2013. “We had no clue what we were doing back then,” says Watts. Now with more than half a decade of hospitality experience under their belt, the pair’s second project feels all grown-up—and it’s chock-full of wallet-friendly design solutions.