He had hoped for a modern stone house, but she had already fallen for a 200-year-old beauty: “We know this is a huge endeavor and a lifelong project”

I want that one, she thought right away. It was 2018 when Tanja Nisu looked at the 30-meter-long log house on the opposite shore. She especially loved the stone steps leading up from the water and the old trees gently swaying in the yard.

The house had everything Tanja had ever dreamed of. It was larger than the single-family home she and her partner Sauli Taavitsainen had finished renovating. It stood by the lake, within the school district of the family’s children Eemeli, Emma and Emilia. Although the house was set in a peaceful rural landscape, it wasn’t too far from the town center. And there was one more dream that drew them here: a lane lined with silver birches planted in the 1940s and ’50s.

Vanha-Laitila is located in Suonenjoki on the shore of Lake Iisvesi. The left side of the house is a so-called smoke cabin or rather a smoke room, which means it doesn’t have a chimney but does have a fireplace. It was nearly modernized in the 1960s: at the time, the mother of the large family living there wanted to build rooms in that space, but the father refused.

The backyard facade faces the lake. In the early 1900s, Taavetti Laitinen, who lived in Vanha-Laitila, built a tennis court by the shore. Today, it’s often used for volleyball, which the family’s daughters enjoy.

In summer 2021, the house was for sale, and Tanja convinced Sauli to come for a viewing. The history-filled cottage and the yard with apple trees impressed them both.

Sauli had indeed wanted a modern stone house for their next move. At the end of the viewing, he spoke the deciding words: If this is really what you want, let’s put in an offer. The 30-meter-long house with its 400 square meters was now theirs.

“We used to live in a 1940s single-family house, and I thought our next home would be newer and a bit bigger. This one is 130 years older and has five times the space. It’s become a running joke,” Sauli says with a laugh.

“We knew right away we were in for a huge endeavor and a lifelong project,” Tanja adds.

“The biggest shock has been how long vacuuming takes. Before, I could clean the entire house in the same amount of time it now takes to clean just one room.”

At the other end of the house is a red-pine smoke house room with sturdy logs that bear centuries of life.

This enormous house is furnished with a mix of items that have always been here, thrift-store finds, and Tanja’s own work. She made the animal sculptures and the candlesticks on the table herself.

The H&M Home rug on the wall covers wear on the old logs. The brown rya rug on the sofa was made by Tanja’s sister, Satu Nisu.

Many of the smoke house room’s furnishings were left by previous residents—after all, not many homes can fit a four-meter-long table. The room has hosted countless family gatherings, and every Christmas Tanja decorates it with great care. In winter, warm socks are a must in the spacious room.

The house is called Vanha-Laitila, and its history dates back to the 1740s. That was when Elias Ollinpoika Laitinen built the first smoke cottage on the land he had purchased. Construction of the current house began around 1816. The property was named after the Laitinen family, and for many years Dr. and Professor Taavetti Laitinen, who founded the Tilkka Hospital in Helsinki, also lived here. In the early 1900s, he extensively renovated the house and added an upper floor. In 1959, a large family moved onto the property, and their son later sold the house to Tanja and Sauli.

Upstairs belongs to the children. The table and chairs were left behind by previous residents, and Tanja reupholstered them. Emma and Emilia regularly make crafts and draw at that table.

The first winter shattered their illusions. The house was cold, so they had to upgrade the heating system. When mortgage interest rates suddenly rose, Tanja and Sauli paused their bigger renovation plans. After that, they tackled the work in smaller, do-it-yourself steps.

“We have a straightforward arrangement: Tanja comes up with the ideas, and I carry them out. But she’s really skilled at doing renovations herself,” Sauli says.

Eemeli plays ice hockey and pesäpallo, Finland’s version of baseball. Besides their own rooms, the kids share a common living area upstairs.

Tanja bought the dish cabinet at an auction and painted it white. On the wall hang acrylic paintings and ceramics she made herself.

There’s room in a kitchen corner for a comfy spot with a rocking chair and a small table, both from the previous owners. The ceramic fruit on the wall are Tanja’s own creations.

From the kitchen windows, you can see the lake and the tennis court. Here, Tanja only painted the walls. The wood-burning stove is used frequently in winter. Tanja won the stand mixer in a baking competition.

Tanja’s skills have lowered the bar for taking on this huge project. She graduated as a designer in 2023 and previously trained as a surface finisher. At Vanha-Laitila, she has uncovered old log walls hidden behind paneling, mixed paint colors, and transformed thrift-store finds into gems.

Tanja’s easel was discovered in the house attic and now sits in her own workspace. It once belonged to the artist Hilja Flodin, who was married to a former occupant of the house, Taavetti Laitinen.

Tanja’s thrift shopping hobby recently became her job when she opened the Nisulla thrift store in Suonenjoki, where she also sells her own art. The cabinet is another thrift-store find.

In the downstairs hallway, a ceiling beam was once part of an old wall that Tanja uncovered. That wall separated the area into two rooms—one for the master and one for the servant. Tanja mixed leftover paints to achieve the wall color. She bought the white cabinet for five euros at a thrift store; it was so heavy it ended up by the front door. The straw himmeli on the right was already in the house, and the pharmacy cabinet on the left was rescued from a dumpster.

Tanja and Sauli found the legs for the kitchen table in the loft of an old pig barn on the property, and the tabletop came from a local community center’s storage. Tanja made both vases you see and picked the flowers from the yard.

Tanja reworked the headboard in the adults’ bedroom from an old door.

When the kids were little, Tanja relaxed by baking cakes. Now, instead of sugar paste, she works with clay. She fit a kiln into the old pig barn and has held pottery classes in the cottage.

“I feel like I never find what I want or it’s always so expensive, so it’s easier to make it myself.”

Creating things at home also leaves room for reflection. When were these wall logs just tiny saplings? How many summers did the same swallow nest above the smoke cottage’s ceiling beam?

“You simply can’t get this kind of atmosphere in a new house,” Tanja says.

On the porch, the small-paned windows were replaced with modern ones in the 1960s, but the old ones are still in the pig barn’s loft. Tanja and Sauli plan to put them back. Tanja made the vase on the table, and the flowers are from their yard.

Tanja overwinters her geraniums on the porch. The other houseplants also spend their summers here.

The ballet-themed painting was created by Sauli’s great-uncle, Pertti Vokkolainen. Tanja dreams of painting the downstairs walls with clay paint. She made the vase herself.