Philippe' place was beautiful, nicely renovated from an old building. The room was a dream in terms of interior design and we were thrilled to stay the night. It was equipped with an open concept bathroom and even had a Nespresso machine.
Philippe is a very friendly man who checked us in and told us everything we needed to know about his house and town in great detail. He also provided us with a self-made guide book filled with restaurant and touring recommendations.
The room was situated on the top most floor of the building. There was no elevator, so we had to carry our luggage up to the 3rd floor, which wasn't really a problem.
However, Philippe had mentioned that the room's renovations had not entirely been completed – the floors were not insulated/ sound-proofed. So he insisted that we walked in the room with minimal sound as he and his wife will be resting right below us. This is understandable but basically impossible once we tried.
The stairs creaked so bad even when we weren't carrying any luggage. Walking around the room was so stressful as even the lightest steps made the most uncomfortable noise in the floors. Getting in and out of the bed was the worst.
Additionally, the heater in the room was not working as it should. Only half the panels were heating up and it wasn't warming the room. It also made so much noise as the water passed through it and had a weird water dripping sound through the floors even at the lowest setting. This bothered us through the night and kept us from sleeping, so we decided to turn it off and slept in the cold.
The next day, we decided to check in to a simple hotel situated in the middle of Brussels and it was such a good decision (and much cheaper too).
Philippe was a good host with a beautiful home. But because of the age of the building and incomplete renovations, it wasn't practical to stay.