When we popped down to Kapolcs over a month and a half ago to see Hazai Provence Guest House being renovated, we couldn’t imagine how a functioning guest house was going to emerge out of the rubble and yet-to-be-painted furniture in two weeks. We could already see, however, that Barbi Cziráki, the mastermind behind the Provence-style abode, doesn’t need help with ideas: she polished and painted old pieces of furniture she bought from all over the country, and documented the experience on her blog. What surprised us was how all the tiny creative details came together to make up a fully blown Provence garden in Kapolcs.
What is a tub doing in the middle of the bedroom?
We were really confused to find a bathtub standing in the middle of the bedroom. We thought it hadn’t yet been assigned its final place, but now we know that’s where it was supposed to be, right next to the double bed.
It’s still a mystery how the floor will stay dry after a bathing session, but it’s a great consolation price that when you wake up, you can step into the tub straight from bed, not to mention more romantic scenarios.
Have you seen a round bed before?
Believe your eyes: the upstairs space was this empty three weeks before the opening.
But then Barbi came and furnished it with some pretty interesting beds. Baldachins would probably have been too much, so she chose an unusual, round shape instead, which makes the beds look a lot like cribs – they tempted many guests on the open day to have a quick snooze, but no one brought their pj’s.
The devil in the detail...
The antique vanity ordered from the other side of the country was still waiting to be painted and unwrapped here.
This downstairs room ended up being the perfect place for it.
Details are very important at Hazai Provence. The place of the antique clock sticking out of the wall and the bird feeder on the windowsill was definitely not chosen randomly.
And when nothing is there to limit your imagination, even an old lathe can be reinvented as a kitchen counter.
Even the ground wasn’t nice and even yet at the end of June.
But now you can see herbs growing by the patio door.
There's no Provence without lavender
That’s why an entire lavender field has been planted in the back garden.
Be sure to ask for the room upstairs when the lavender plants are in bloom!
We were wondering what Barbi would do with the barn at the back.
She turned it into a tea corner with a funny straw couch.
Hazai Provence is now open and ready to receive guests, and Barbi says they have quite a number of bookings as well. You can make reservations via the guest house’s own website, and not only for the summer season: every room in the house has heating, so nothing will prevent you from wintering in Kapolcs anymore. Even better: in preparation for the colder months, Barbi will soon have a hot tub set up in the garden.
