There’s always something to potter about at the cottage. Last year, all that pottering about resulted in a new main building.
By the sea, one feels at ease. The allure of the archipelago’s natural beauty lasts a lifetime, even though, having spent decades spending summers on the same plot, one knows every stone and stump on the shore. When everyday life means looking out of the windows of your city home at the roofs of neighbouring houses and barren tarmac courtyards, you appreciate getting to the seaside just as much every weekend.
For this couple from Turku, the week is spent working. They sleep in separate beds at night: the wife in their shared home and the husband in Helsinki. On Fridays, they meet at the railway station and hurry into the car. They want to get to their island cottage as quickly as possible. The journey usually takes an hour, provided they avoid any unnecessary stops.
They have spent their weekends and holidays on the rocky shore, in the embrace of the sea, throughout their life together. The wife became familiar with the place as a baby. Her parents bought the plot in the early 1960s and built a charming cottage from old logs, by the standards of the time. Over the decades, two saunas have been built right on the shore.
The property passed into the couple’s ownership a few years ago. They immediately began to consider how to enhance the comforts of their weekend home. The first idea was a guest house. More beds were needed, as their own children, now grown up, regularly return to the scenes of their childhood with their partners.
The thoughts of a guest house were forgotten when the idea of extending the old cottage took shape in their minds. Various ideas were sketched out on graph paper. These were shelved when they went to discuss the ideas with the building inspector. He advised them to forget the “tweaks”, as there were still 96 square metres of building permission left unused on the plot. It would be worth making use of this by building a completely new main building next to the old one. With a local authority official behind the proposal, there would certainly be no problem whatsoever in obtaining planning permission.
Free time by the beach
Leisure time by the beach is spent pottering about doing all sorts of things. Not all the time is spent fishing, cooking or having a sauna. However, the couple did not want to take on the role of builders themselves. They wanted an external contractor for the new build. Someone who would manage the project from start to finish and hand the couple the keys to the front door once the house was ready to move into.
They enquired about builders at several places in Turku. The best proposal came from Jari Hiltunen, a Kuusamo Representative for Kuusamo Log Houses. He was able to provide a builder. A load of logs was ordered from Kuusamo.
The new building was constructed next to the old one, on a spot that had been left in its natural state on the plot for decades. Trees, whipped by the sea winds, grew there in peace. When work began to clear the site – the trees were felled and an excavator was hired for the earthworks – rock was unexpectedly found beneath the thin layer of soil. Naturally, this was cleared from the entire area of the future building.
A column foundation was built for the house, which is the best possible option for a log house. The ventilated crawl space keeps the walls and floor structure sound. Moisture does not accumulate in the structures. The holiday home became long and narrow, with clear lines and a size precisely matching the remaining building rights.
The best thing about the space
The couple needed a bright open-plan living area with an open-plan kitchen and a sufficiently large bedroom for their own use. It was easy to position them so that both have large windows opening out onto the sea. An open-plan space was created in the centre of the house, with a separate section built behind it housing the guest bedroom, sauna and utility rooms. A small electric sauna was deemed sufficient, as the old lakeside sauna is in frequent use, particularly during the summer.
The best thing about the new holiday home is the spaciousness of the rooms and all the comforts of modern living. One really appreciates the large, modern kitchen after having cooked for decades in the cramped kitchenette of the old cottage with the most basic of equipment. There is no longer any need to worry in advance about hosting large family gatherings, as we managed to celebrate milestone birthdays even in the old kitchen. It is also easy to accommodate guests staying overnight, as there is now many times more space. The old cottage continues to live on alongside the new one.
The couple received the keys to the villa at the start of last summer. The interior was furnished with a trip to Ikea. They wanted white for the interiors, as the house is dark on the outside. The exterior paint was chosen to match the old cottage.
The perfect alternative to everyday life – article was first published in the magazine Uusi Koti, issue 4/2018. The article was written by Jorma Välimaa and photographed by Hans Koistinen.
The Holiday Home Virkkula 97 is a Virkkula model customised to the client’s specifications. The villa is also featured in our Special Collection brochure.
