A wooden holiday home

A house built of oak in 1952

We kept its walls and beams, and added a sauna, a hot tub and warm floors throughout, things nobody in 1952 would have dreamt of.

Materials and restoration

Wood from the house itself

When we started the restoration, we agreed on one thing: the original oak house would stay as it was. Apart from a small addition and some reconstruction work, it did, and beside it we built a modern extension in brick.

There used to be an outbuilding next to the house, also built of oak. We took it apart, but we didn't throw the wood away. Today you walk on it on the mezzanine: that oak became the floor there, and gave the house one more room.

About 80% of the furniture is solid oak, several decades old. The bedside table is a single piece of oak, and a cartwheel chandelier hangs over the living room.

We left the beams exposed and kept the space open from the kitchen up to the mezzanine. The kitchen appliances are new but look as if they've always been there.

The house stands on land that belonged to our great-grandfather Toma, the village ferryman who took people across the River Kupa in his boat in the middle of the last century. The house is named after him. The story of Toma the ferryman →

The house before and after the restoration →

Facilities

What's in the house

Sauna

It's a Finnish sauna for three or four people, where you pour water on the stones. It sits in the bathroom, behind a glass door, so you go from the sauna to the shower in your slippers rather than running across the garden.

Hot tub

It seats four and stands under the terrace roof, so you can sit in it while the snow comes down.

Underfloor heating

The floor is warm throughout the house, the mezzanine included, so on winter mornings you can go and make the coffee barefoot.

Air conditioning

Two indoor units keep the house cool, so you sleep well on summer nights.

Starlink Wi-Fi

Satellite internet that doesn't depend on the local network, good for a video call during the day and a film in the evening.

Built-in barbecue on the terrace

It's under the roof, with a long table beside it, so you can barbecue even when it rains.

Open plan under exposed beams

The kitchen, dining area and living room are one space, so whoever's cooking doesn't miss the conversation.

Kitchen with an island

The island has the oven and a wine rack built in, there's a dishwasher too, and the extractor hood makes sure the smell of lunch doesn't hang around until dinner.

All year round

Winter and summer in the house

In winter

When it's dark by five

Winter evenings here have their own routine. First the sauna, then a few steps out to the terrace and the hot tub, with steam rising off the water into the cold air. Inside, the floors are warm, downstairs and up on the mezzanine under the roof.

In summer

When it stays light until nine

The children are outside from breakfast onwards, on the meadow, in the woods or down at the beach on the Kupa. You choose between shade under the trees and the river, and after a hot day the air conditioning lets you sleep.

Sleeping

Bedrooms and beds

The main bedroom has a double bed, the second bedroom two single beds, and there's a sofa bed in the living room. That sleeps six, with one bathroom, in 170 m².

If you need a bed for two more people, there's an airbed, by arrangement with us. Bed linen and towels are included.

Gallery