Martha Rial, Post-Gazette Above: Mehard Manor B&B is a formal and elegant retreat in Mercer County. Below: The six bedrooms at Mehard Manor are decorated with period antiques and reproductions. Click photos for larger image. More information An open house will be held from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at Mehard Manor, 146 N. Pitt St., Mercer. Information: Rod McClelland, RE/MAX Real Estate, 724-662-5520.

For some travelers, there's nothing more relaxing than a visit to a bed and breakfast. But what would it be like to be the innkeeper?

Lucille and Jerry Carlson could tell you. When they retired 10 years ago, the Mt. Lebanon couple bought a 5,800-square-foot Adam Colonial in downtown Mercer, spent six months renovating and redecorating it and then opened it as the Mehard Manor Bed & Breakfast.

Today, the 15-room B&B regularly hosts travelers from as far away as Virginia and California in its four romantic guest rooms, each decorated with period antiques, Waverly wallpaper and elegant four-poster beds.

"The nicest people come to B&Bs," says Lucille. "And Mercer is a wonderful walking community."

"It's fun," agrees fellow innkeeper Judy Focareta, who owns The Main Stay Bed & Breakfast on Main Street in historic Saxonburg, Butler County. "I've enjoyed every minute of it."

It is, however, time to give someone else a chance. Both the Carlsons and Focareta have decided to put their inns on the market. Mehard Manor B&B (www.mehardmanor.com) is priced at $525,000 by RE/MAX Real Estate Consultants. The Mainstay B&B (www.mainstaybnb.com) is listed by Northwood Realty Services at $349,900.

Mehard Manor, which is nestled on a lushly landscaped corner lot a few blocks from the center of town, has rooms that run between $75 and $85 a night. Built in 1913-14 for Samuel Mehard, a prominent Mercer County attorney and judge, it is one of Mercer's grandest homes, with eight fireplaces, molded plaster ceilings and wainscoting throughout. But there are also some modern touches, including central air on the second and third floors and a gourmet kitchen with cherry cabinets and a built-in Jenn-Air range.

"It's a grand old house," says Lucille. "They don't make homes like this anymore."

The first floor holds a formal living room with crown molding, six-over-six double-hung windows and a gas fireplace. A set of French doors leads to a windowed solarium with a red clay tile floor and brick fireplace with a gas insert.

A formal library features mahogany wainscoting and crown molding and built-in bookcases with glass doors. There's also an enclosed porch with a red tile floor that was made with architectural elements from a mansion in Youngstown, Ohio.

An open staircase leads to large, open hall with a sitting room overlooking the backyard. Each of the second floor's two wings contains two bedrooms with private baths. Originally servants' quarters, the third floor has been converted into the owner's living space, with two bedrooms and a full bath.

Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette Above: The Cook Homestead Bed & Breakfast in Cooksburg, Forest County, is a Victorian famhouse surrounded by a lush state park. Below: The Main Stay Bed & Breakfast in Saxonburg, Butler County, is a casual English Country home with a bright parlor and large front windows. Click photos for larger image. More information The Main Stay Bed & Breakfast, 214 Main St., Saxonburg, will hold an open house from 1 to 3 p.m. next Sunday. Information: Joyce Hutterer, Northwood Realty Services, 724-295-9090. For more information on the Cook Homestead Bed & Breakfast, Route 36 and River Road, Cooksburg, call Vivian Aaron, Gates & Burns Realty, at 814-226-5131.

The Main Stay is a little less formal, with painted wood floors, stenciled walls and exposed original beams in the roomy "loft" apartment. The two-story house was built in the 1850s for the Aderhold family and has changed hands only a few times in the last 150 years.

Focareta, who has run it as a B&B for seven years, has listed it as a turn-key operation (most furnishings included), with a 1,000-square-foot retail space that's currently used as a coffee/antique shop. Its four rooms go for between $80 and $105 per night.

Decorated in English Country style, the home features lace-dressed windows and lots of soft floral fabrics. Two of the four guest rooms are in the main part of the house; the other two, including a suite with a fully-equipped kitchen, dining area and sitting room, lies above the coffee shop and is accessed by a private entrance off the garden.

The home's casual style is best expressed in the airy front parlor, which is brightened by two six-over-six windows with extra deep sills. The soft yellow walls complement painted wood floors and cream-colored upholstered furniture; a woven blue-and-green hydrangea area rug adds a punch of color. The library across the hall is equally soothing, with pale lavender walls and natural hardwood floors.

The dining room has new pegged oak floors and cheery floral wallpaper above white wainscoting. A pineapple-shaped candelabra hangs over the oval dining table.

The kitchen features a vintage Chambers electric stove that works "beautifully" and three Chambers gas burners. Green-and-white polka-dotted wallpaper and stenciled cabinets lend a country feel and perfectly accent the red clay tile floor. A back door leads to a small stone patio overlooking the gardens.

The second floor holds two guest rooms with original wood floors and a full bath off the hall. One room has a four-poster bed with matching armoire and mauve-colored trim; the other has soothing, pale blue-gray walls and a queen-sized iron bed. A small connecting room, painted in a whimsical rabbit theme, has a trundle bed and leads to a private bath.

The two guest rooms above the retail space are a little more private. The rear room has a nautical feel, with white-painted furniture and seashells, and leads to a small deck overlooking the back yard. The larger suite has a skylight in the bedroom and a wicker daybed in the living room for children or extra guests.

While the inn would easily be converted back to a single-family home, Focareta hopes someone will continue to run it as a B&B.

"If you like other people, it's a great job," she says. And Saxonburg, she adds, is a wonderful town.

"There's a real feeling of community, with local parades and festivals," she says.

But what if you'd rather view nature than smalltown traffic? The Cook Homestead Bed & Breakfast (www.cookhomestead.com) in scenic Cooksburg, Forest County, is also on the market, offered for $499,500 by by Gates and Burns Real Estate.

This 15-room Victorian farmhouse on the banks of the Clarion River was built in 1870 by Andrew Cook, a prominent lumberman who owned and developed much of the land known today as Cook Forest State Park. Denny and Barbara Kocher purchased it in 1994 from Andrew Cook's great-granddaughter and turned it into a bed and breakfast.

Five of the inn's eight guest rooms have private baths and all are furnished with period antiques. Several overlook the river. Rooms currently rent for between $90 and $125.

The living room features a large wood-burning fireplace and baby grand piano. The focal point of the rustic dining room is a picture window that offers a bird's-eye view of Cook Forest's varied wildlife.

In the warmer months, it's the cozy front porch that gets most of the attention. What better place to watch canoes and rafts make their way down the Clarion?

According to listing agent Vivian Aaron, the price includes everything needed to run the inn, including most of the antiques and many Cook family photographs. And if you're new to innkeeping, the current owners would be willing to stay on for a while until you get settled.

"It's a fabulous place and it's in excellent condition," says Aaron.