Home tour: a dream bed and breakfast in Provence

Bonjour. For this home tour video, I'm taking you back to Province to the beautiful bed and breakfast of Gee and Dina. They're a Belgian couple, and they took their family on a one-year camper van trip throughout Europe to look for their new home. They ended up in Province, which they say they have always loved. They bought a small house in Malusen so that they could take their time to find the perfect dream home that they could turn into a bed and breakfast. And they found it within a year. Welcome to Leisum. Hi. Hi. Hi. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Wow. Welcome. It's gorgeous. Do you want to show me around? Yeah. Let's go. Wow. Typ typical probe. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. This is really a delicious spot to to have lunch, to have dinner. You're always cool and you're always outside, so it's perfect. Can you tell me when you came here and why? What What's the story? We decided to buy a holiday home at first, but at the first vacation we took here, it was already decided that we should move here. And now, so you're having bed and breakfast. You have three rooms. Yes. Yes. Yeah. since 2017. Every guest has his private terrace, one up there and then but there are multiple terraces in the garden as well. Um so everybody can choose their spot. It's only three rooms so everybody really has its place to uh to sit quietly and uh yeah. Wow. I'm noticing. Sorry. I'm noticing all the details. These are these new Yes, they're handmade in Maloen. Yeah, cuz I'm seeing the detail on it. This is the only original room with original closets. Building closets. Yes. But everything was like um really dark. There was not a lot of lighting. It was really dark yellow and dark blue and dark red and shiny and plastic. We prefer the the old walls. That's what's something uh we searched for. And then the olive grove and the view and we asked the local painters to paint a painting behind the bed to match the wisteria outside. The paint on the wall is that a lime paint. Yes. Yeah. I added this one uh this winter. It's a lime paint and it's a a Dutch uh company. It's a family company that makes their own lime paints. But um in the other rooms we have chosen for local lime paints and the headboards that you make them. Yes. Yeah. We make everything ourselves. Yeah. Yeah. You do all the building works ourselves. Wow. But we only work with local companies or European companies. Uh we try to keep everything as close by as possible. Through here is the bathroom. Um yeah, it's a corridor to go to the other room. Oh, it's it's for three. Yeah. And sometimes in summer even four because we can place another bed. We like it to uh search for beautiful furniture and to keep it the way it was. Yeah. Yeah, we like it with the flower details and we thought there were beautifully upholstered. This is the oldest part of the building. It was at first a holiday home for the the owners and the other rooms are built later. Yeah. This is the bar shower room. Yeah. For the So, you made this bathroom? Yes. Nice. And everything was red. Shiny red. The bedrooms were blue and yellow. Yeah. Dark blue and dark yellow. Yes. It's a print. It's by Jamie Beck. Uh it's an American who installed herselves in Provence as well at the same time as us. And she makes these beautiful still lives. uh she started during co it was uh called isolation creation and she made a photograph every day and it's so beautifully done. It was really a a sparkle of joy for everybody during uh co we absolutely adore what she does. So this is a newer part of the houseing now. Yeah. in this room. We're in evaded uh last winter. It's a different room now. And it has the stones that you like so much. Mhm. So, was that the exterior wall? Yes, exactly. You see where the wall ended as well? The bigger stones. We did everything with the two of us this winter. Nice. Is it um select similar concrete? Yeah. It's with a a plaster and then two coats of paint and then a bathroom paint and two layers of varnish and that little bonet you made. Mhm. Yeah. I love how it goes with the floor. I did the floor as well. the door couldn't open because the the old floor is underneath it and the doors were all reinstalled. So, I I figured it out with a carpet. So, I don't know the brand, but it's a beautiful store in Las. It's a little boutique called Laar Gullet, and they have these cute things uh to go in and around the house. And this room had uh at first only a bath and now we installed an entire bathroom with a shower and a bath. This one is a closet and this one is a refrigerator. Ah, nice. So that's your little coffee and drink station for guests. Yeah. Did you make that door? Yeah, he made it himself. It's uh Is it fine? Yes. Is that an old window? Yes. Yes. From our holiday home in Malos. Our house in Malos. House. Yes. It's very old and we wanted to do something with it. And it fits. We made it fit. He has cut all the tiles himself and a custom size that did not exist in the store. Did you leave the stone in here or did you find it somewhere? It comes from the garden. I absolutely wanted a a quirky detail and all these things you find here. Do you do you like thrifting? Uh yeah, we like that a lot. The upper one is from Orpai which is in Cavayon and uh like the jar as well. And to the right there are calabas which come from Aloan from our local fruit store. Yeah, it's from the south. It's uh you'll see that um Morocco we use it here to do our lighting and to do our decoration because they like the patina which is on them. It's really hard. We bought that one in frontend. It's a print from an old map and uh it's the the Catholic Netherlands, but it's it's also Belgium because the Netherlands and Belgium were together. Yeah. The Dutch speaking part. So, it's a little bit of our home country. The Shambra dots. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Oh, yeah. Did you make these? Yes. We wanted a different approach to the classic her and we thought it would be fun to do these tiny ones with the flowers from the garden. We love flowers and herbs and everything in the garden. So, a little bit of outside inside. What's that? It's made in the Netherlands, but it's with wool from our own sheep. Uh, and we also to make a a big large piece of art. Uh, and yeah, a piece of our animals inside the house. Do you still have the sheep? That one died last year. So, it's very good that we have it with her wool here. So, the the third room is up there. Yes, indeed. Beautiful. So, this one was recently finished, right? Did I see that on? No, this one is um No, it's the one downstairs that's finished recently. And this one is um has ch has been changed a little bit over time, but um it's still the same basis. It's also with the green wall. Another print by um Jamie Beck. Paintings are um oil paintings by Frank Pico which is a local artist. Is it milking stools? But no. Yeah, that's what they're sold for. Yeah, that's what I search for. They say that it's milking stools, but they're actually a bit little bit high. Yes. So, uh, and they're all they look the same, but they're all very different also in the way that they were made. We searched for benches to go with our stools and we found a few ones. So there are many bulans here where you can Yeah, there are really big ones. It's um Provence is famous for the proans and every Sunday there's a a huge one in Karpontra two times a year also in Ilsauri which is really very famous for that. They call it the capital of the Bant. We need to talk about the dress because I know everybody's going to ask about it. Beautiful. It's a a nice dress. It's on the floor. It's linen and it's handmade in Lithuania. We like local brands, but I like uh the designs. I like the pockets and it's a lot of fabric. Yeah. But did you publish a book? Yep. Is it here? Uh, no it's not. It's in the orange. Okay. Well, let's show that then. Yeah, I'd like to see that. Is that a breakfast room? Yeah. Oh, wow. I love the typical pon furniture here. Thank you. It's a real god. It's a real god. Yeah. And it's working. And you can uh heat something on it as well if you like. So you have the little glass window so you see the the fire. And that's something I really like that you see the fire and it works so well. Yeah, we're really happy with that one. It's an eye catcher in the orange and I don't like the modern stoves. I like something authentic. So, where did you find all the furniture? Um, it's um a French brand called Interiors, but doesn't exist anymore, unfortunately. But I wanted to have everything matching. We started with Brocant items, but I like it. Uh that is beautifully matching as well in a grayish color. We went for new, but it's really sturdy wooden furniture. It will last a lifetime. So, you serve breakfast, but do you also cook dinner for your guests? Yeah, we sometimes do. Yeah, we do everything ourselves. So, we do the garden, we do the cleaning, really everything. Uh so, it's not possible to cook every day. Yeah. They're made by a local artist as well. It's uh really beautiful. It's Anita who made these and she made an entire to match perfectly with our tables and our green from our shutters and every piece is unique. I used to have a blog and proven is my passion. It's um where we feel at home. Um we love everything about Provence. There's so many things to tell and so many people who asked things and um I met my coowriter who is really passionate about provenance as well and that's how we um came up with the idea to write a book. Yeah, everybody comes to cycle but there's a lot of people who just want to discover the little things that aren't in the mainstream tourist books. Oh, I love this little path. Oh, lovely. A little outdoor space um for our guests to enjoy while they're at the pool. If they brought something from the markets, they can sit here. There's plates and cutlery and yeah, it's all made by G again as well. I just draw something and he creates. Yes, but I do help him. Yeah, I clean everything up and I help him to to get all his stuff. But uh in the end he was doing it all. That's Mimi, which means that she's cute. It's like a short for minion. That's Casper. And that's Bella. Say hi, Casper. He just woke up. So he's like, "Yeah. Thank you so much, Gee and Dina, for sharing this beautiful bed and breakfast with us. I loved every little corner of this place. I am in awe of all the work you've done to turn it into this beautiful and welcoming bed and breakfast. If you want to stay with Gandina, I have included a link in the description box. And if you want to see more home tour videos like this one, please subscribe to my channel. Thanks so much for watching and I will see you next week.