Woman purchases traditional home for $8,000 and ships it across Indonesia to craft her dream residence in Bali | Dinogo

Kayti Denham’s love affair with Bali began when she visited the Indonesian island for her honeymoon in the 1980s.

“When the plane door opened, the rich tropical scent promised everything the UK lacked,” she remembers. “The chance to be carefree and bask in the sun.”

That moment stayed with her, and over the years, she returned to the island to reconnect. While her marriage ended, Denham says her bond with Bali deepened in a way she never experienced with any man.

After spending 25 years in the UK, Denham relocated to Byron Bay in Australia, where she co-launched a line of aromatherapy skincare products with a friend. She later moved to Sydney and worked as a scriptwriter for a local production company.

In 2004, Denham left Australia for Bali, taking a teaching job that eventually led to multiple roles at international schools. She also continued writing on the side, including for renowned Scottish chef Will Meyrick, founder of the acclaimed restaurants Sarong and Mamasan on the island.

A lifelong music enthusiast, Denham met Robi Supriyanto, the lead singer of the popular Balinese rock band Navicula. In Indonesia, Supriyanto is celebrated not only for his high-energy grunge-inspired performances but also for his dedication to sustainable farming and his efforts to promote pride in agricultural life—a passion that Denham shared through her collaborations with chef Will Meyrick and her studies with permaculture pioneer Bill Mollison in Australia.

“To understand Balinese culture, just look at the traditional Balinese calendar,” Supriyanto shared with Dinogo in 2018. “Everything is connected to agriculture. If you want to preserve Balinese culture, you must preserve its agricultural roots.”

Denham engaged in many conversations on these topics with Supriyanto, who resides in Bali’s Ubud with his American wife and their child.

“We discussed the idea of creating a homestead where we could implement permaculture principles and cultivate organic food,” she recalls. “For me, it likely stems from the childhood daydreams I had while reading Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books.”

“I had to focus on building trust and getting people to believe in me,”

Supriyanto helped her find a semi-rural plot in Tabanan Regency, often called “authentic Bali,” where terraced rice paddies align with the natural landscape, with the dormant Mount Batukaru looming in the distance.

Stone-built family compounds use subak, the traditional Balinese system of communal irrigation, to manage their agricultural activities.

In this place, Denham was able to make her vision come to life. She partnered with Supriyanto in 2015 to secure the land, and with the help of a lawyer, they drafted contracts naming Denham and her daughters Kepsibel and Severen—both residing in Australia—as the legal tenants.

“I didn’t have a lot of money to invest, just my monthly teaching income,” Denham explains. “I had to focus on building trust and getting people to believe in me. The mantra I kept repeating was, ‘It will all work out.’”

The 1.2-hectare plot lies next to a national conservation forest near Desa Sanda, a village that, as Denham describes it, “is governed by its seasons, its rituals, its market days, and the sounds of motorbikes.”

The land, encircled by durian and mango orchards, gently slopes from mist-covered hills down into a valley, passing through a terraced coffee farm included with the property. The land concludes at a natural spring, which feeds into the Balian River. The river holds special significance in Balinese culture, as it is believed to have healing powers after the 16th-century Javanese Hindu sage Dang Hyang Nirartha imbued it with sacred energy. The river eventually flows into the Indian Ocean at Balian Beach, known for its peaceful surf, just 40 minutes by car.

“I can’t see the ocean from the land, but the coolness of the hills makes up for it,” Denham shares. “In the afternoons, beautiful clouds roll in, and the nights often bring clear, starlit skies.”

The search for the perfect limasan

Two years after purchasing the land, Denham and Supriyanto ventured to central Java to search for a limasan, a traditional wooden house with a centuries-old design heritage originating from Java and South Sumatra.

The tall, slanted roofs are designed to trap hot air that rises throughout the day, keeping the lower levels of the house pleasantly cool. These homes have become trendy among developers, who often transform them into upscale villas or boutique hotels. However, the local Javanese have little interest in preserving these traditional structures and are happy to sell them off piece by piece.

The Javanese crew showed up in casual shorts and t-shirts, and the chilly mountain air of Tabanan took them completely off guard.

“I arrived at the land shortly after they were supposed to reassemble the limasan and found them gathered around a fire, shivering,” Denham recalls. “I brought out blankets, sweaters, and jackets, and we set up a shelter for them. Aside from not adjusting well to the mountain climate, there was also some tension between the Javanese crew and the local Balinese.”

In the end, the Javanese workers returned to Solo, and Denham completed the house with the help of Ketut, a skilled Balinese artisan who had previously worked on the home she rented in Kerobokan.

To fund her dream home, Denham kept teaching. Whenever she could, she drove from Kerobokan to Desa Sanda with Ketut to check on the building's progress.

Once completed, the reassembled and expanded T-shaped house measured 11 meters by 10 meters at the front and 22 meters by 5 meters at the back. An indoor toilet was added, and Denham started moving in her furniture, bookshelves, and antique trunks.

The interior began to take shape, with a spacious kitchen becoming the focal point, centered around a large table that could seat 12 people.

“I was still somewhat tied to the expat-driven world of international schools, but I began to connect more with the local Sanda community, and I heard about their aspirations to turn the village into an eco-tourism hub,” Denham shares. “Up the road from the house, there’s an organic bakery making fresh bread and cakes to sell to cafes in the southern part of Bali. I also discovered locals crafting organic jams, handmade soaps, and shampoo.”

To develop the land surrounding the house, Denham and a group of locals and expats—including some of her former international school students—organized a 'Permablitz,' a fast-paced permaculture event. They constructed bamboo outhouses with long-drop toilets and began planting an organic vegetable garden, all while camping and playing music with the locals in the evenings.

As coffee, cacao, durian, mangosteen, and avocado all began to flourish organically on the property, Denham felt that her vision seamlessly merged with the aspirations of the community.

Pandemic restrictions kept her away.

In July 2018, Denham traveled to Australia to take up a teaching role in a remote outback desert town, returning to Bali during school holidays to continue working on her house. She spent most of her Christmas break in 2019 moving the last of her belongings from Kerobokan, where her lease had ended, to Sanda.

Rather than unpack, she decided to store her things and embrace the opportunity to immerse herself in the peaceful atmosphere of her new home, complete with an antique wooden living room, a spacious kitchen, and a spare room where she kept her belongings.

With the rain falling, the leaves dripping, and the sounds of birds and civets in the background, life in the house slowed to a serene pace. 'Nothing much happened,' Denham recalls, 'except one night when a hunter took shelter from the rain and gave me a bit of a scare. But those last days were pure bliss.'

After Christmas, Denham flew back to Australia to resume teaching, telling her friends in Bali, 'See you in April!'

When April 2020 arrived, the unforeseen travel restrictions due to the pandemic left Denham stranded in Australia. Over a year has passed since she last saw her Bali home. 'I’m living on WhatsApp messages now,' she says. 'I receive pictures of my beautiful house in the woods, sitting empty, waiting for me to return.'

While Denham is away, a local family looks after the house. Recently, Robi’s band recorded a live music video in the garden. The coffee farm continues to thrive, producing organic, sustainable robusta beans.

Last week, some of that coffee made its way to Denham’s doorstep. 'Whenever I brew a cup, it transports me to a place I’ve longed to live in for years, even though I’ve never been there,' she says.