From garage to unique home! Linda and Oskari turned an old car rental space into a cozy family haven

Linda and Oskari’s home was built in the garages of their apartment building, which had been used for storage for the past few years. The car rental business that owned the premises had moved out, and the unused space was sold as raw space with a building permit for four apartments.

Linda and Oskari were drawn to the potential of the garage: its large windows and private entrance. The style felt fun, reminiscent of Copenhagen or New York. For a family with two children, using a stroller is easier when you don’t need an elevator.

“One Sunday, we wondered what would happen if we bought the space and completely revised the plans. We’d create a bigger apartment for ourselves and three studios. That way, we’d have a new, larger home in a housing company we already knew,” Linda and Oskari explain.

Linda and Oskari were pleasantly surprised they received no complaints during the six-month renovation. “That surprised the property manager, too. We made a lot of noise and did extensive work, but of course only at reasonable hours,” Oskari says.

A few years ago, the housing company replaced the windows of its apartments with new ones modeled after the originals. Since the supplier already had the exact designs, they also provided Linda and Oskari’s apartment windows. The exterior door also came from the same supplier.

Before renovation:

This is what the entrance looked like before the renovation started.

In spring 2021, the housing company held an extraordinary meeting where Oskari presented their plans. The shareholders voted to allow converting the garages into residential units. They then sought an additional permit from the Helsinki Building Control Services. The official in charge welcomed their project, leading to smooth cooperation.

“This is similar to infill construction, which is comparable to building new structures in an attic. I guess private individuals rarely take on these types of projects. Typically, it’s the housing company itself who might want to utilize unused space,” Oskari explains.

This stylish dark-wood breakfast cabinet hides appliances inside it. It’s also appealing when the doors are open.

Linda wanted a kitchen island, but it would have made the area too cramped, so they abandoned the idea. Now there’s ample room for the dining table in the kitchen area, so they didn’t need to put it in the living room. A glass wall separates the kitchen from the bedroom.

During demolition, the couple found tin soldiers, toy cars, and an ancient notebook that had belonged to a newspaper carrier.One of the more surprising discoveries was a mummified cat.

They brought in workers they knew to help with construction, and Oskari did much of the finishing work himself. The biggest job involved modifying the load-bearing beams so there would be enough ceiling height.

“We replaced the old load-bearing concrete beams with steel beams and got over forty centimeters of additional height,” Linda says.

Above the kitchen, they constructed an enclosure for the exhaust of the studios. It had to run through Linda and Oskari’s apartment because there are five floors of apartments above the studios.

“There’s only the roof above our apartment. We have no neighbors above or below,” Linda notes.

The main size of the main bedroom was dictated by the ceiling beams. At the far end of the bedroom, there’s a walk-in closet, a toilet, and a shower. The wall art was made from a photo by a friend, depicting an Easter egg that had been painted one Easter.

Before renovation:

This space was remodeled into the bedroom.

Two-year-old Hilda peeking at the courtyard on the sofa in her room. Apart from the entrance and wet areas, the floors are brushed and oil-treated Timberwise oak in the shade ‘Antique’.

The greatest challenge was designing a functional layout. There are windows only on one wall, so they had to carefully consider where to place the rooms. The master bedroom has no window, but it still gets natural light through the glass wall.

Although the apartment’s windows face only one direction, the home stays bright thanks to a comprehensive lighting plan designed by a friend. All the lighting is dimmable, and the automated system works via a mobile app, so it can also be controlled by phone.

“We never would’ve figured out all these lighting possibilities on our own. We practically have as many fixtures as the lighting company’s catalog,” Oskari laughs.

When the couple abandoned the idea of adding a third bedroom, they got room for other things, such as a sauna that easily accommodates four bathers. Even a bathtub found its place in the bathroom.

Before renovation:

Before the renovation started, the sauna space looked like this.

The lead designer of the project, Sini Koivisto, listened to Linda and Oskari’s ideas and helped maximize the functionality of the space. Initially, the plan included three bedrooms, but those ended up feeling cramped. They ultimately decided to merge two of the bedrooms into one.

They also reconfigured the sauna and bath areas. The new layout enabled them to add a walk-in closet, although originally they had only planned on installing closets in the bedroom.

“We lost one bedroom, but we gained a walk-in closet, a sauna, and a laundry room. We realized it’s pointless to force a square peg into a round hole when the floor plan is much more sensible this way,” Oskari says.

While renovating, Linda and Oskari checked out apartments for sale around central Helsinki, but they never found another with the same square footage that had a sauna, a laundry room, and a bathtub.

“It was a fun challenge for me personally to figure out how to fit all those features into this home in a sensible way,” Oskari says.

The entryway closets for outdoor clothing were built by Ax Design. They repeat the brownish-gray greige color familiar from the kitchen and walls.

Oskari designed and built the entry shoe shelf.

The family’s front door opens to a quiet courtyard. For practical reasons, they chose tile for the entry floor, which withstands wet footprints.

The home’s color palette started coming together in the kitchen, as the couple had a clear vision for it. They had the kitchen custom-made by a carpenter, featuring dark wood with slatted details on the lower cabinets. The upper cabinets are a brownish-gray greige. That same color appears on the kitchen walls and the entryway closets.

“After completing the kitchen, we started planning the bathroom and laundry room cabinets and decided to use the same dark wood. That way, everything would feel cohesive,” Linda says.

In their previous home, the sofa and other furnishings were dark, but in this new home, they chose lighter pieces. With more space, their old dining table felt too small.

“I did like our old furniture, but I wanted lighter elements to balance the darker cabinetry and floors,” Linda says.

One studio was originally the car rental office. Although the three studios use similar materials, they each have a different layout.

Before renovation:

The courtyard before the renovation started. Linda and Oskari have been sharing the renovation process and details of their home on their Instagram account @projectromulus.

The old garage doors were replaced with windows and a front door opening onto a sheltered courtyard. Legend has it that when the building was completed in 1928, there was a horse stable in this space.

The couple never had to abandon or significantly alter their plans. However, the project’s cost was about one and a half times higher than expected, as implementing all their ideas proved more expensive than they’d anticipated.

“We could have prioritized the budget by choosing different materials, but we decided to focus on the final outcome,” Oskari says.

The renovated studios will eventually be sold or used as Airbnb rentals. Having a studio next door also means they can expand their own home later simply by opening up a wall.

Though they've just finished renovating the apartment, Linda and Oskari emphasize it’s still only a temporary solution.

“Eventually, we’d love to have our own garden. For now, this renovation has given us more space for our current stage of life and some extra years in a housing company we love.”

Linda and Oskari’s home was finished in the garage of their apartment building in 2022. Located in Helsinki, the 98.5-square-meter apartment has a kitchen, living room, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a sauna, a laundry room, and a walk-in closet.