SEVEN years ago, freelance graphic designer Ellina Amin and her parents, Sherry Salim and Amin Isa, decided to turn the area behind their family home into “something beautiful and classy”.
The home stood on a large plot of land in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, and at the time, the family only had a large storage shed at the back.
For more than a year, Ellina and her parents put their collective heart, soul and sweat into building three stunning guest houses behind their original home, each decorated in an eclectic combination of different traditional themes.
While the main house is made of brick, the three guest houses are made mostly from wood.
Visitors have to pass through a Balinese doorway behind the main house to reach the guest houses. To me, it feels as though I am entering some kind of ancient temple where I am going to witness something exotic and mystical.
The moment you step into any one of these guest houses, it is like being transported to a beautiful rural village. The interior decor of each house has touches of Balinese, Baba-Nyonya and traditional Malay elements, creating an amalgamation of Asian styles.
When I entered the first house, the sight of a bed with a kelambu (mosquito net) brought out the child in me. I wanted so much to jump into the bed and pull the kelambu over myself. Of course, I did not want to appear foolish in front of my hosts, so I had to restrain myself.
Delightfully, the houses are decorated with familiar, now-antique kitchen items and fixtures that will remind you of your grandparents’ or even great-grandparents’ homes.
One of the houses is even decorated in a cosy, pseudo-bohemian style that will appeal to Instagram-loving millenials.
In another house, the dining area has a door that leads to a small garden with a water fountain. It is a fantastic place for a writer to be creative, to find inspiration and perhaps even produce a novel.
In fact, there are several water fountains laying around the compound, and the sound of running water produces a feeling of serenity. You can almost forget that there is a busy bustling city lying just outside the gate.
Ellina and her parents are environmentally-conscious, so instead of chopping down any of the trees within their compound, they instead incorporated them into the architecture.
For example, there is a bathroom which is built around a tree located near the shower area, and one of the pathways inside the house has a tree in the centre, too.
Fortunately, the trees do not impose too much. In fact, they blend beautifully with the natural interior of the house.
Ellina confessed that initially, she and her parents had some clashes of ideas in term of interior design.
She explains: “I am a minimalist. I feel less is better, while my parents want to display more things. I did not crowd the homes with things. We try to find a balance between clutter and style.”
She adds: “Many film producers have requested to shoot movies and TV dramas here. But we have turned them down.
“Usually, these productions have too many crew members. If they are not careful, things could be easily be damaged, and that is the last thing I want.”
She pointed out that building a house out of wood is not an easy affair. Her biggest fear is termites.
“We used good solid wood to build the houses,” she says.
“We used kayu jati (teak). When you use good solid wood, the chance of you encountering termites is slim.”
Ellina and her family also put the guest houses on Airbnb to earn some extra revenue, under the name Classic House KL (Instagram handle @classichousekl). The money they earn goes into maintaining the houses and the gardens.
“Most of our guests are from Europe and mainland China,” she says.
“They really appreciate the traditional classic touches our houses have to offer.”
She believes tourists also enjoy the picturesque nature of the houses.
“The houses make a good picture story,” she says.
She still remembers that their first ‘customer’ was a Venezuelan man who stayed almost a week.
“He spent most of his time around this place, and seldom went out to the city,” she says.
“He just wanted to immerse himself in the surroundings.”
Picture perfect ... Ellina Amin, one of the driving forces behind the serene Classic House KL
