Filmmakers Andras S Takacs and Eszter Cseke fell in love with this property in Sayan, a village west of Ubud, Bali—and revamped it into a beautiful villa
In Bali, the village of Sayan, nestled amid luxuriant jungles and picturesque rice paddies and located about 5km west of the town of Ubud, is home to some of the island’s most exclusive properties, including Amankila, Four Seasons Resort Bali and The Ritz-Carlton, Bali. It’s also where the award-winning Hungarian documentary filmmakers Andras S Takacs and Eszter Cseke, who are also a husband-and-wife duo behind Spot Productions, decided to put down roots.
“My wife and I had a sabbatical here ten years ago and we fell in love with the breathtakingly beautiful area,” says Takacs. “We never thought that one day we would live [here].”
In 2021, the couple came across a villa, which was then abandoned, on a property agent’s website. The 25-year-old structure was originally the work of Balinese architect Popo Danes. Overlooking the majestic Sayan Ridge, it has a 3,767 sq ft floor plan on a 8,073 sq ft plot of land that is surrounded by frangipani trees. Neglected for many years, with plants climbing in through its thatched roof, the home was in desperate need of love and care. But when the couple walked in, they felt that “this was it”.
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In a renovation process of about a year, the duo worked together with Bali-based interior designer Zohra Boukhari to bring the villa back to life. Every part of the space was overhauled, with the exception of the marble floors in the bedrooms and bathrooms, which were retained and polished to reveal the natural state of the stone. The roof was also kept in its original thatching made with alang alang, a plant native to Bali; this style is used in the construction of Balinese huts throughout the island. The feature allows the house to breathe throughout the day and night.