A masterful house relocation

A 100-year-old log house traveled 60 kilometers—now crowned by a “crazy and expensive” copper tub

Finnish Sara and Matias Back combined two of their dreams when they moved a 1920s log house to their dream lot on family land. They salvaged every original piece they could from the structure. “The reassembled original staircase creaks just the right way,” Sara says.

Author Heikki Rautio

Images Heikki Rautio

September 22, 2025Lue suomeksi

At the end of a forest road, a sweeping field opens up. A surely hundred-year-old log house stands in solitary splendor at the edge of the woods. The builder certainly chose a magnificent spot for the house.

Home: A 1920s log house that was moved and rebuilt in Ähtävä in 2022, living room + kitchen + hallway + veranda + 3 bedrooms + bathroom + utility room, 200 square meters (2,150 square feet).

Living here: Sara and Matias Back plus their son Elis, 5.

Follow on social media: @kyrkbackanda

Sara, why did you want to move here?

My husband Matias’s family has lived on this land for hundreds of years. Matias himself cleared the forest for farming here, but it’s such a rocky area that nothing grew well. When we started thinking about moving a house, Matias remembered this gently sloping lot, and we decided to build here. I also think this is a wonderful location.

The house sits at the edge of the woods, and the garden around it is gradually taking shape. The yard is also home to chickens, a dog, and two cats.

Sara is holding the family’s longtime pet Jawa, 9 years old. After this photo was taken, their new arrival Väinö came in to fill the gap left by Jawa.

The doors on the veranda are original. The light yellow panel paint is Ottosons Solgul diluted to 50 percent. The door trim is painted with Ottosons linseed paint in Veronagrå. The door is painted in Gysinge's Engelskt röd.

Beyond the veranda is an entryway with doors to both the living room and the kitchen. The rug is a flea market find. The ceiling light fixture is from an antique shop.

Why did you want to move an old house?

We had been looking for a suitable old house to renovate. Our dream house would have been a classic Ostrobothnian farmhouse, but we couldn’t find one. That’s when we started thinking about moving an old house. We found a suitable one in Oravainen, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) from here.

We’re both interested in history and building traditions. A new house just doesn’t have the same feel. Parts of Matias’s childhood home date back to the 1600s and 1700s. Before this project, we had practiced renovating an old building at our summer cottage—a small log house built in the 1880s. It still doesn’t have electricity or running water.

The living room has windows on two walls. The Fargo sofa is from Asko. Above the sofa is a poster of Carl Larsson’s Björkstammar. The horse painting is a keepsake from Mongolia and the Trans-Siberian Railway trip. The ceiling lamp is from Ellos. Through the end window, you can see visitors arriving.

The living room’s traditional cylindrical stove is original. The downstairs floors are pine planks scrubbed with soap. The wallpaper is Boråstapeter’s Waldemar.

The original staircase was first dismantled and then rebuilt, just like the rest of the house. For Sara, the creaking steps are part of the home’s history—new stairs just don’t have the same charm. Under the stairs are a guest half-bath and a technical room.

What kind of house was waiting for you in Oravainen?

We found the house in a Findit ad in 2019. It was 200 square meters (2,150 square feet) across two floors. The demolition took 2.5 months. We hired a local construction firm, Byggakuten, to dismantle, move, and reassemble the log frame. We saved everything usable: floor moldings, windows, doors, some of the roof tiles, the cylindrical stove, and the stone steps leading up. Some of the floorboards were older than the house itself. We took all of them with us. We even chopped up the original staircase to move it piece by piece. However, the old open porch was completely rotten, so we replaced it with a larger glassed-in veranda here. We also swapped out the wood-burning stove from the kitchen for a more beautiful model.

The adorable wood-burning stove was exchanged at the same time the house changed location. It’s a Högfors No. 5, found on the Findit site. Matias had the same stove in his childhood home.

The kitchen cabinets are from Ikea. The solid wood fronts were painted by hand with linseed paint. The delicate pendant lamps above the island were purchased from Strömhagen. The backsplash is brass, which will develop a patina over time.

One of the best parts of the kitchen is the corner pantry. The door was found in the attic of a local community building, which was being cleared out when its roof was replaced.

The dining table is in the very best spot, right in the middle of the kitchen, under the oil lamp.

“Once we get a bench under the window in the kitchen for taking naps, everything will be pretty much complete.”

What choices did you make during construction?

We did all the interior work ourselves with help from our families. We wanted to preserve as much of the original as possible and keep the patina and spirit of the old house alive. We hardly changed the house’s layout. We also didn’t re-paper the walls with backing paper; instead, there’s a breathable board on top of the logs, then we applied wallpaper. The ceiling panels are new, too. The reassembled original staircase creaks just the right way.

Gemlook’s stunning copper tub is the highlight of the bathroom. “It’s still one of my favorite things in our home,” Sara says. The Racing Green tiles by Pukkila bring out the warm copper tone. The faucet is by Mora. The rug is from H&M Home.

The color palette in the bathroom is bold black and white. The subway-style wall tile is a timeless choice, as is the two-tone tile floor. The vanity is from Ikea. The shower enclosure is by Bathlife.

There’s an impressive copper tub in the bathroom. Where did you find it?

I saw it online at Taloon.com. It was so wild and so expensive that I didn’t even dare to dream about having it. I had planned to invest in beautiful handmade wall tiles for the bathroom. But when the tub went on sale, I crunched the numbers and decided to swap the handmade tiles for more affordable green ones. I believe my brother, who did the tiling, was very pleased with this change—handmade tiles would have been much trickier to install. The tub is still one of my favorite things in our home.

The staircase is paneled with beadboard. The jewelry-like ornate mirror is a thrift-store find. The wall is painted with Avjorden egg tempera paint in shade 21oktober10.

Elis’s room has a wonderful atmosphere. The green of the adjacent forest continues on the walls with Duro’s Lilla Dockekulla wallpaper. The bed is one of the original pieces of furniture from the house. Sara likes the patterns of oriental rugs. The porcelain cats originally belonged to Sara, and now Elis takes care of them.

Did you also get the furnishings when you bought the house?

The house came with only a few old pieces of furniture, like the children’s bed and a big cupboard we now have at the summer cottage. Almost all of our furniture is secondhand. Matias prefers Jugend style, while I’m more into rustic furniture. I think old items give you a better price–quality ratio than newly assembled ones.

Sara and Matias’s bedroom is spacious and full of character. The floors are painted with Ottosons Antikgrön. The yellow masonry wall adds warmth to the interior. The small freestanding stove is a Jøtul 602.

The bedside tables were found by Sara’s mother on Facebook Marketplace. Sara wanted the bedroom to have a light summer-room feel. The wallpaper is Pihlgren and Ritola’s Niityleinikki, purchased from Lundagård.

What’s your favorite spot at home?

We both spend most of our time in the kitchen. I’m very happy with the cabinets and the pantry. The cabinets are from Ikea, and I painted the fronts myself with linseed paint. The pantry is a miraculous space-saver that fits everything from the microwave and dry goods to dog food. Once we get a wooden bench under the window for taking naps, everything will be pretty much complete.

The elegant leaded-glass doors in the bedroom were picked up from an apartment in Turku. Behind them is an office area. The armchair was acquired from an antique store in Pietarsaari.

“We shop thoughtfully, but sometimes we make quick decisions, like when Matias found 100-year-old leaded-glass doors online. He drove to Turku to get them—they used to be in an old apartment building,” Sara explains.

Design & Decoration Renovation Bathroom Old Houses Homes

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