Speaking about the courage it took them to make the move and not worry about financial loss, Li says it's not just about business.

"We thought it would be great if we could make a profit, but it wouldn't matter if we couldn't, since it would still be our home," Li says.

The rural house is surrounded by a parcel of land nearly 3,000 square meters in size, and the couple found designers Gong Jian and Liu Meng via the internet.

The idea was to upgrade the property for her own family to live in and then use extra space to take in guests.

Gong still remembers the first time he drove into the village one late afternoon.

The cooking smoke was rising from the foot of the mountain, he says.

"It gave me a very different feeling from the city," Gong says.

The abandoned old house has been home to three generations of Li's husband's family. It was built in the 1970s by his grandparents, who raised seven children there.