Historic family home takes on life as museum

“I started preparing to do business more than 10 years ago when I saw the opportunity to renovate our family residence on nine rai of land in Samut Songkhram,” Phot told The Nation recently. 
“It was built more than 230 years ago by my family’s first generation as its residence in the province.”
Phot, who is part of the fifth generation of his family, said he came back home and worked on the building for more than 10 years before he decided to retire from his job as a public relations officer at Siam Commercial Bank when he saw the opportunity to preserve his family’s history and the province’s history through his traditional Thai residence. 
“The house is built from teak wood in a style for Central Thailand that is recognised by the architectural authorities,” Phot said.
 “It is located close to a small canal and also close to paddy fields and coconut orchards. 
“This presents the lifestyles of Thais living in the community in the province. This is interesting for people who want to learn about Thai culture in the central provinces of Thailand,”
To open his house as a life museum, he decorated it in the style of Samut Songkhram, which is blessed with food, fruit and seafood. 
“Samut Songkhram is a small province close to Bangkok. The province also has abundance compared with other provinces,” he said.
Visitors will get to experience what it was like 230 years and learn what people did in those days. They also can try making traditional Thai food if they need to.
“We’re also open for special groups wanting to stay at the house. They will get in touch with the traditional lifestyle,” he said.
Since the museum opened five years ago, visitors average 20 a day, paying Bt250 and Bt300 per head. The museum generates Bt100,000 to Bt500,000 in income a month.
“Normally, we will open for groups rather than individuals. Most of them will call for an appointment and say what they want. 
“We will match customers’ requirements for food, snacks and shows. Our setup will be unique for each group. This is our speciality. We create a difference experience for our customers,” he said.
The key to the success of the life museum is that it shows the Thai lifestyle and culture that cannot be seen nowadays. 
It also shows living Thai culture, which intrigues visitors into lingering, and visitors can learn about the country’s culture from the museum. 
“Because this is a life museum, I still live here. All the exhibits are real-life items that visitors can touch, enabling them to learn more about Thai culture,” Phot said.