Buying a home sight unseen on the other side of the world could be an unsettling move for some people. But for one couple who split their time between the US and France, it seemed like a perfectly good idea. When a friend told them in 2011 that the property next to her home on the Indonesian island of Bali was for sale, they didn't need to know any more. They bought it.
"It's a simple story," Margaux (not her real name) told Insider. "We wanted a place where we could spend time with family and friends." The homeowners requested anonymity to protect their privacy. Their identities are known to Insider.
What they didn't realize until they arrived in Bali was that they had purchased an oasis. Close to the surf breaks of Canggu's Echo Beach and surrounded by rice-paddy fields, they had stumbled upon a true hideaway.
"When I stepped into the villa, I couldn't hear a sound," Margaux said.
The couple named the home Villa Zelie and went on to redesign the property.
What started out as a five-bedroom villa became a free-flowing village with 10 pavilions. Villas that serve as bedrooms are scattered around the edge of the property, and a living pavilion and dining pavilion lie behind a swimming pool.
Not another French villa
When the couple first saw the property, it had a main pavilion with two gladaks, or villas.
They were clear about their vision from the get-go: They wanted to expand the property to fit their blended family of five, but they didn't want to change the light, airy atmosphere of the home.
Margaux was also determined not to build a French home in Bali. "We wanted it look authentic," she told Insider. "I wanted it to look like a Balinese home." They sought out local artisans, bought more land next door to their home, and hired the Balinese firm Cipta Bali Architect to lead on design.
"Our challenge was to add more gladaks to the site and maintain the feel of a home being in the middle of a forest," Made Sucipta Rokana, the principal architect for Cipta Bali Architect, told Insider.
Cipta Bali Architect built five new gladaks within the expanded grounds.
From there, the challenge was to "create an elegant building in terms of architectural aesthetics, while using old teak wood," Rokana said.
The result is a masterclass in bringing the outdoors indoors. Rokana designed open living and dining pavilions. Each gladak features a private terrace and an outdoor bathroom. There's a two-floor massage bale, where people can climb the wooden stairs to the second floor to enjoy a massage with a view of the sea.
They also placed a dining table and chairs in the shallow end of the 60-foot pool so people could keep their feet cool while eating lunch or playing cards.
Volcanic-rock bathtubs and repurposed doors
It took six months to build Villa Zelie. Margaux spent another 18 months completing the interiors while her partner perfected the garden.
"For two months I never went to the beach or the swimming pool. I was always on my scooter visiting local craftspeople and looking for finds in antique shops," Margaux said.
Each piece of furniture in the villa is either an antique or handmade. The couple shipped 200-year-old carved wooden joglos (vaulted roofs) from Java to take center stage in each gladak. Wooden birds hang from the pool pavilion ceiling. The bathtubs are hewn from black volcanic rock. An old wooden door is now a table for the pool villa, and a 19th-century safe is the centerpiece of the main bedroom.
Margaux acknowledges the attention to details caused delays, but one piece she was happy to wait for was the oversize handmade table in the dining pavilion.
"We wanted to bring the family together," Margaux said.
Before the couple started construction, a local Hindu priest visited the land to make sure it was free of unwanted spirits. Once they had completed the build, the Hindu priest returned to carry out a Melaspas ceremony, which is of utmost importance to Balinese Hindus.
The purification ceremony involves reciting prayers, burning incense, and making offerings of flowers and fruit. The Balinese believe the ceremony takes all the objects that have been cut down and brings them back to life.
"You have to have your temple in the house, and it's important to leave offerings at the temple every day," Margaux said. "If you don't do this, a Balinese person won't want to enter your house."
The work isn't over
The average five-bedroom villa costs about $761,000 in Canggu, according to the real-estate agency Bali Home Immo Property, but the couple know they will never own the land. Foreigners are able to buy a 25- to 30-year lease, which they can extend, but the land will always belong to the Balinese.
Margaux declined to share how much they paid for the home but said they spent as much on renovations as they did on the original villa purchase.
"I have no regrets," Margaux said. "From the moment I stepped through the door, I knew I wanted to spend every holiday here."
The couple finished building the home in 2013, but they've had to keeping working on it, not least because of the humid climate. "It's a lot of maintenance," Margaux said. "I replace the wooden floors every two years, and I have to treat the wood to keep termites at bay."
The couple spend up to a month during the summer at the villa and also escape the European winter there in January. They started renting Villa Zelie to guests in 2018, and it now goes for $1,220 a night.
The California realtor Mey Saelee stayed at the villa in 2019 along with nine family members. "In the evening we could hear the croaks of the frogs and the clicks of the cicadas," she told Insider.
The villa's layout was also perfect for their large party, she said: "We loved how the family could hang out in the communal areas then retreat to the individual gladaks at the rear for privacy."
As for Margaux, one of her favorite memories was when friends visited them while the villa was still under construction. "We lived like hippies," Margaux said. "We would sit in the empty garden and make plans."
The terraced garden, which took as long as the house to create, has also become a place of memories. "When we celebrate a special moment at the villa, or a friend comes to stay, I tag a tree with their name," Margaux said. "It's a good vibes house."
Editor's note: If you're an APAC-based freelancer who wants to write stories like this one about real estate and design, email me your pitches at lbatarags@businessinsider.com.
