Westerly - Carpenters briefly silenced their power tools as hard-hatted visitors picked their way among the Weekapaug Inn's first two floors on a day in late August.

The historic hotel's long-awaited reopening was little more than a month away, and the top-to-bottom renovation of the place was far from complete.

But on the upper two floors, many of the inn's 27 guest rooms and four two-bedroom suites were nearly done, each featuring vintage furnishings and fabrics with distinct colors and patterns. Braided rugs cover painted hardwood floors. Antique doorknobs bear a hand-rubbed finish. The rooms are remarkable, as much for what they lack as what they offer. While the bathrooms' marble floors and towel racks are heated and the tubs raised on stages so soakers can gaze out high-set windows, the sleeping areas are noticeably devoid of TVs, phones and coffeemakers.

It's all by design.

"We have 36 TVs (in storage), and we'll bring you one if you want one," Antonia Korosec, the Weekapaug's general manager and innkeeper, noted during a tour, pointing out the cable jack in a wall.

An intercom system links each room with the inn's front desk. On each upper floor, a pantry in the hallway provides coffeemakers, refrigerators, ice machines and a selection of complimentary snacks and beverages. The inn's hoping the arrangement will encourage guests to leave their rooms in the morning and interact with each another.

As for TVs-on-demand, the idea is that the inn's surroundings and available diversions will obviate the need for electronic entertainment. For one thing, guests will have the views of Quonochontaug Pond and the Atlantic beyond to occupy them.

"We're hoping they'll unplug," said Michelle Wade, a spokeswoman for the property.

The Weekapaug will reopen Oct. 7, embracing year-round operation for the first time in its history. Many believe its renovation, a $25 million undertaking begun in 2010, will return the inn to even greater glory than it enjoyed in a heyday that began at the turn of the 20th century. Originally built on the beach in 1899, the inn's first incarnation was wrecked in the Hurricane of 1938. The Buffum family quickly rebuilt the inn in its current location, reopening in 1939. It closed in 2007, the year it gained a listing on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2010, it changed hands.

Langdon Wheeler, a Weekapaug resident who heads an investment firm, has partnered on the Weekapaug project with Charles Royce, the hedge fund founder who purchased, renovated and in 2010 reopened the Ocean House in Watch Hill. The Weekapaug and the Ocean House - about five miles apart - will operate as sister properties, sharing management, staff and facilities.

The Weekapaug will employ about 45 people year-round, with some coming over from the Ocean House at the end of the summer season, according to Korosec, herself an Ocean House transplant, as is the inn's executive chef, Jennifer Backman. The inn's work force will double in the summer.

Renovating the Weekapaug has been particularly challenging at times, Korosec said, because of requirements related to its historical status. Inspectors from the Rhode Island Historic Preservation and Heritage Commission marked, measured and photographed original construction and furnishings before the renovation work began and have regularly returned to monitor the project.

"We kept about 20 percent of what was here," Korosec said. "It's the same footprint as 1939, with all new inside. We tried to keep existing pieces."

While checking the foundation in the area of the inn's main restaurant, workers discovered large boulders that had to be dug up and removed. The boulders, arranged in a semicircle, now form an amphitheater on the inn's back lawn, a likely spot for the revival of the inn's Thursday night clambakes.

In addition to the renovation of the main building, the Weekapaug project includes construction of a new bathhouse and renovation of Fenway Cottage, which houses the inn's fitness center, exercise room and three guest rooms on a second floor. Outside, a 78-foot swimming pool has been dug, an old shuffleboard court is being restored and a bocce court is in the works.

The inn, so long a treasured icon in Weekapaug, an enclave of about 250 homeowners, many with some link to the place, has inspired an outpouring of input during the renovation. Many a local has recalled the exact shade of the original's dark shingles and red shutters or the precise layout of its second-floor lobby.

"It's a whole community building this," said Korosec, who's been leading weekend tours of the construction site for months. The sessions have typically attracted more than 100 people, she said, with many locals participating every few weeks to gauge the work's progress.

Despite the considerable work to be done at the site, an open house there Saturday was expected to draw several hundred people. Moreover, said Wade, the property spokeswoman, 200 room nights have been booked, as have 60 restaurant reservations for Thanksgiving Day dinner.

"And we don't have a menu yet," she said.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com

BUSINESS SNAPSHOT

Name: Weekapaug Inn, 25 Spray Rock Road, Westerly, RI 02891

Ownership: Langdon Wheeler, managing member, Weekapaug Inn & Cottages LLC

Innkeeper: Antonia Korosec

Rooms: 31, including four two-bedroom suites with full kitchens

Rates: Off season, from $225; peak season (mid-June to mid-September), from $550. All room rates include breakfast and complimentary snacks and beverages on each floor

Website: www.weekapauginn.com

Phone: (401) 322-0301