.....with „breathing walls“, where the windows can be opened up any time and when closed, the 3 layered glass is shading off all the daily noise. We enforce sustainable procedures in re-construction works as well as in daily maintenance.
Recent research informs that our house, at the time the l’Hôtel de la Couronne, was rebuilt in the still warm ashes after the devastating town fire of 1833..
An all stone construction this time and aligned with a modern city with broad parallel streets promising more safety and more light for the watchmakers working at home. The shards we found during our extended renovation 2012 -2015, had served as ballast in one of the intermediate floors: testimonies of the exploded tiled stoves.
The building was owned by a coiffeur family during the last hundred years. The Guesthouse you see today is the project of an old couple in love, Max and Regula.
We were lucky to find Stephan Jeannet, a retailer of bio-ecological products and with the necessary knowledge of materials, who became our planning help and finally even our site manager.
He built up our „breathing" AND heating walls: layer by layer with chalk or clay, multipor, cork and natural paint, so that finally they regulate humidity on their own. Thanks to the wall heating system they produce a comfortable, non-dust radiant warmth. A central pellet stove comes up for the thermal energy.
Almost all floor surfaces are covered with natural stone, old cement tiles or oiled solid wood parquet in oak, walnut, pine, beech. The chalk paint in the staircase is made of buttermilk and linseed oil.
We reused old materials from our own building and from traders to show due respect to old handwork and to good quality. As the cassette parket was originally glued with rabbit skin glue, we did the same for its reparation.
Each wooden panel found its new destination as wall surface, closet, desktop and you name it. We think that old tiles mix well new ones. But see yourself. Most of the lamps, chairs and tables are re-elaborated objects made of old elements.
Opening up the Guesthouse in January 2016, our friend Salima developed all the cleaning protocols. She showed us how to mix our own cleaning products with ingredients like natron, soda , core soap, citric acid and vinegar. We refer to her recipes as „The secrets of Salima“.
The surfaces our guests get into contact with are in a first step cleaned with 70 - 90% alcohol according to the WHO's Covid rules. We get back in a second step to our homemade products with the smell of grapefruit, teatree, lemon or roses.
And in times when the wild roses in our hotelgarden are withered, we burn the lavender, sage and ceder sticks.