The decor of the Sunshine Mill Winery in The Dalles might best be described as “grandma’s bomb shelter.”

Framed vintage embroidery pieces hang next to “danger” signs. Gold-painted flour chutes frame the back of the bar counter.

Mini chandeliers provide moody lighting in the cavernous area beneath the former grain silos, where thick columns hold up a 7-and-a-half-foot-high concrete ceiling.

On a recent visit, women played mahjong next to an industrial testing mill.

“It’s fun to watch people who have never been there before because of how long it takes them to get to the bar, which is where we’re waiting for them, because there’s just so much to take in,” said Natasha Skov, general manager for Sunshine Mill Winery. “The thing that surprises them the most is when we tell them this is all the original equipment.”

The Sunshine Mill winery opened 15 years ago inside the former Sunshine Biscuit Company flour mill in The Dalles. Built in 1911, it was the third mill on the site. (The first two burned down. Flour dust, it turns out, is highly combustible.)

Under the ownership of the Sunshine Biscuit Company, the building was where Wasco County-grown wheat grown was milled and sent to bakeries that made products such as Cheez-Its and Hydrox cookies.

Today, visitors can sip wine and snack on small bites next to the original Thomas Edison Motor that once powered one of the largest mills in Oregon. Conveyor belts, once used for moving wheat through the silos’ various levels, dangle artistically overhead.

“We have tables made out of fan guard covers, and our bar is an old workbench that we found upstairs,” Skov said. “We just used what was free.”

That thrifty thinking led to the styling of the tasting room. The furniture sprinkled throughout came from family castoffs and, later, donations from customers. The resulting boho vibe is straight out of an Anthropology catalog, where customers can sip wine in cozy nooks and corners composed of mismatched chairs and midcentury light fixtures.

“We had a lot of family members that were kind enough to give us furniture that was sitting in their basement or in their rec room that they weren’t using anymore,” Skov said. “We had zero budget to decorate, so we just accepted it all.”

Community members have contributed not only furniture but also photos of family members at work when the mill was one of the town’s biggest employers.

At its height, according to a 1949 article in The Oregonian, The Dalles Sunshine mill was able to handle 10,000 bushels of grain daily.

But the old mill closed sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s. There were a few attempts to restart it, but it largely sat vacant until 2009, when James and Molli Martin, Skov’s parents, purchased it for what was then Quenett Winery and Copa de Vino, the company’s brand of ready-to-go, single-serve wines.

The Martins purchased the nearly four-acre property through The Columbia Gateway Urban Renewal District, which had taken ownership of the blighted building.

“We bought it with the intention to level it and build a completely brand-new winery, a state-of-the-art facility,” Skov said. “That was in 2009, so the recession had just hit. We couldn’t get loans for any development of any sort, so we basically worked with what we had with that building.”

The preservation of the building turned out to be a blessing.

“Once we got in there, we were like, ‘Oh, this is the story,’” Skov said. “The story is this building, and it’s not something brand new and fancy. This is who we are.”

The winery and tasting room opened in May 2010. The production facility is housed in a warehouse next door that dates to 1859. (Unlike the mill, it never burned down.)

Sunshine Mill has further plans to lean into its unique location by adding a 63-room hotel inside the old silos. The proposal would create nine floors of rooms across the mill’s 12 silos.

“That’s been a vision of ours for a long time,” Skov said. “We’re hoping to have our first concept room done in the next year and a half.”

For now, visitors can stop by the winery to snack on small plates and try a variety of Sunshine Mill wines. There’s also plenty to explore across the first floor of the mill, where about 12,000 square feet is open to the public.

“There’s always something around the corner,” Skov said. “I think people are always surprised by the extent of the wandering they can do.”

IF YOU GO: The Sunshine Mill Winery, 901 E. Second St. in The Dalles, is open noon-6 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and noon-8 p.m. Friday-Saturday. More information about specials and events can be found at sunshinemill.com.