Anne-Maria built a pool house and deck for under five thousand euros—“I can't even remember what the yard used to look like!”

At the edge of a field stands an old, small house painted blue. On the other side of the yard is a storage barn and an old sauna. This is the setting Anne-Maria Iltola spent her summers in as a little girl, because the property belonged to her grandparents and, after they passed away, it became the family’s summer getaway. Around 20 years ago, when Anne-Maria’s children were small, a generously sized swimming pool was built in the middle of the lawn.

“We are quite close to the sea, and we have our own pier, but a pool was always my dream, and it felt nicer to stay in our own yard with the children,” says Anne-Maria.

According to Anne-Maria, the pool is easy to maintain. It runs on maintenance chlorine, and the water is tested regularly. The water is changed every few years. In winter, the pool remains uncovered and is allowed to freeze so that ground frost doesn’t shift it.

Anne-Maria had already drawn up plans for the pool house and was about to order materials when a K-Rauta hardware store advertisement arrived in the mail. The Cello Sundsvall model was exactly what she had designed. Anne-Maria ordered it as a ready-made kit. Assembling the 11.4-square-meter house was easy, and Anne-Maria’s sons and son-in-law helped with the work. Including painting, the pool house was built over a couple of weeks alongside their day jobs. In addition to the decks, lattice panels were constructed for growing climbing plants.

Anne-Maria inherited the property some time ago and has been gradually renovating the house. In fall 2019, she decided to move permanently from about an hour away to the premises.

“The house needed upkeep, and it was impossible to do after work. At first, I planned to stay for the summer season, but I ended up staying,” says Anne-Maria, who is trained as a gardener.

Initially, Anne-Maria only intended to build a partition wall and extend the decks along the side of the house and around the swimming pool, as they offer more low-maintenance spaces for relaxing than a lawn.

“The idea behind the decks was that I get to walk to the pool in the morning with my coffee mug with clean feet.”

Then the swimming pool started to look strange, standing all alone in the middle of the yard. Anne-Maria decided to build a small house next to it. Although she originally planned to build it from scratch, she ended up finding a prefab model that was exactly like her own drawings and set it up in the yard.

The yard faces southwest, and the sun shines there all day. The pool house lets you enjoy the outdoors earlier in spring and longer into fall. Building the decks was challenging because the plot slopes in two directions. The deck boards are prefinished, pressure-treated wood. There are several seating areas in the yard. An old farmhouse table from the house is paired with wicker chairs.

Anne-Maria furnished the pool house in a simple style with subtle tones. The space can accommodate two overnight guests on a sofa bed she brought from her former city home. A friend custom-made an oak table for her. The rug and basket are from a home décor shop in the city she used to live in, and the large lantern is from Jysk furniture store. Anne-Maria’s son-in-law’s father made the ladder from old hay poles.

The pool house extends the outdoor season in spring and fall. It can also accommodate two overnight guests. The old and new structures blend together nicely, and the proportions of the buildings are beautiful.

“I can’t even remember what the yard looked like before the pool house and new decks. I’m really pleased with the decks, because the plot slopes in two directions and we had to make them as easy as possible to walk on,” Anne-Maria says.