Maiju and Juho restored a condemned log house to its original glory: “You learn by doing—if not right away, then the second time around”

At the gate of a small yet confidently standing house, two four-legged whirlwinds come running to greet me. In a neighborhood of colorful wooden homes, the atmosphere is delightfully reminiscent of a bygone era. I’ve arrived at Maiju and Juho’s home in Itäharju in Turku, Finland.

The house changed hands in December 2019. That marked the start of demolition work and two and a half years of hard work. The guiding principle was to respect the era in which the house was built by restoring it as close to the original as possible. Built in 1927, the house had last been renovated in the 1970s and didn’t have a bathroom or hot water.

“Starting from such an ascetic state did have its upsides. The house hadn’t been ruined over the years by poorly executed renovations. Cherishing old things and recycling is our lifestyle, and we also didn’t want to pay for a renovated home that might not suit us,” Maiju says.

Painting the exterior turned out to be a bigger job than expected. The boards had been painted with latex, which was replaced with linseed oil paint. The old proportions and siding were preserved whenever possible.

Here’s what the house looked like before the renovation:

The house changed hands in December 2019. That marked the start of demolition work and two and a half years of hard work.

When the renovation began, Maiju was in charge of ideas, and Juho was responsible for implementation. As the project advanced and her skills grew, Maiju also joined the repair and construction tasks.

The paneled wall of the glassed-in porch is original. It was sanded and painted.

Maiju and Juho had some experience, as they had renovated an apartment before. But renovating a house that is ready to be demolished is a project of an entirely different scale, but the couple wasn’t intimidated. Even though they were prepared for most things, there were still surprises. For example, the floors were in such bad condition all the way through to the foundation that they had to be replaced completely. They dug out old peat fillings from the foundation, installed new floor joists and insulation, and redid the plank floors in a style befitting the house’s era. The renovation progressed in phases, and the upstairs with its bathroom was finished first.

“The upstairs was done by a professional, apart from the surfaces. We also had to rethink the layout a bit because of the bathroom. We placed it between the bedroom and the uninsulated summer room. At the same time, the entire upstairs was insulated, so now it’s fully heated,” Juho explains.

“You can find plenty of good advice online, and we’ve perused books on traditional building methods. We’ve also gotten consultation from Turunmaan Korjausrakentamisosuuskunta (‘Turunmaa Renovation Cooperative’). And you learn by doing—if not right away, then the second time around,” Juho notes.

The kitchen is built entirely from recycled materials. The lower cabinets by Nixi were bought secondhand. Maiju and Juho turned an IKEA cabinet into a breakfast cupboard. The island is homemade and painted with Ottosson Färgmakeri linseed oil paint in the shade Köpenhamnsgrön. The walls are painted with Sandö by Virtasen. The 1965 Tynell light fixture is a reissue by Gubi.

Here’s what the downstairs looked like before the renovation:

Maiju and Juho were able to move in during the summer of 2021, although the downstairs and kitchen weren’t complete yet.

“For a few months, our ‘kitchen’ was a microwave and a coffee maker in the basement. I can safely say that ready-made meals haven’t appealed to me much since,” Maiju laughs.

All of the house’s systems were updated to meet modern standards. When they bought the house, it had direct electric heating and an oil-burning stove, which had replaced the original tiled stove. New, energy-efficient electric radiators were installed throughout. An air-source heat pump provides extra heat, and can cool the upstairs as well, though it's installed downstairs. In place of the old heater now stands a tiled stove from Turun kaakelitehdas, purchased in pieces and assembled on-site. They also replaced the 1970s windows with wooden ones typical of the house’s era.

“We’ve barely needed the radiators. Since it’s log-built, the house stays cool in summer, and during the heating season it retains warmth well,” Juho explains.

The tabletop of the dining set at one end of the living room is one of the few newly purchased items, because they couldn’t find one secondhand to fit the table legs.

Most of the paintings are inherited. The wall cabinets are IKEA Ivars, painted with Domus Natura clay paint in a custom shade that is on the walls as well. The light fixtures are flea-market finds. The table lamp was painted brick red with chalk paint.

Juho’s decorating style is minimalist, while Maiju’s is a bit more lush. They’ve found a happy balance, since both agree that every item should have a purpose.

The house’s original tiled stove had been replaced with an oil-burning stove. Now an old Turun kaakelitehdas tiled stove stands in its place. Maiju and Juho bought it in parts, and a professional put it together.

After the interior was finished, the next surprise was right around the corner. It turned out that the recently replaced roof had been done poorly.

"The corrugated metal roof was unfortunately installed right on top of the old standing seam roof. It was propped in place and riddled with holes, so the original roof was beyond saving. Choosing a new roof was easy. We wanted a traditional standing seam roof handcrafted by sheet-metal professionals, just like the original," Juho says.

Being eco-friendly is important to both Maiju and Juho. They used wood everywhere possible, from insulation materials to wood-fiber boards on the surfaces, and covered the walls with either paper wallpaper or clay paint. In the entryway, visitors are welcomed by William Morris’s Pimpernel wallpaper. The light fixture is Paavo Tynell’s Simpukka ('Shell'), and the black cabinet is a secondhand find.

The dimensions of the stairs differ from modern ones—Juho’s size 45 feet don’t fit on a step. The stairs are painted with Ottosson Färgmakeri linseed oil paint in Köpenhamnsgrön.

A single roll of wallpaper Maiju found years ago was paired with wainscoting in the downstairs toilet. The wallpaper is William Morris’s Golden Lily in Pale Biscuit. The paint on the wainscoting was tinted using the RAL chart to match the paper’s palette.

Painting the facades turned out to be a bigger job than expected. The old latex paint was replaced with linseed oil paint. They wanted to keep as much of the original siding and proportions as possible, so most of the old exterior was preserved, and they tackled the painstaking work of scraping off the old paint.

“You can’t find that same high-quality planed wood anymore. It would have cost a fortune to reproduce it. So we scraped off all the paint by hand. Even our neighbors were asking if we really thought we’d ever finish it,” Maiju recalls.

Juho wished to have one room with a darker tone. They chose one of the upstairs rooms, which serves as Maiju’s workspace and occasionally a guest room. One of their friends calls it the Christmas room. The sofa was a gift from Juho to Maiju for her 30th birthday.

All the wallpapers in the house are by William Morris. The brown-toned Compton pattern adorns the combined work and guest room. The print is of Helene Schjerfbeck’s painting Sininauhainen tyttö ('Girl with a Blue Ribbon').

Behind the bedroom’s sliding doors is Juho’s workspace.

The bedroom is at the far end of the upstairs. A professional finished the upstairs apart from the surfaces. The layout was rearranged to fit the bathroom between the bedroom and what was once an unheated room, now a guest room. At the same time, the entire upstairs was insulated, and now it’s fully heated. The wallpaper is Seaweed by William Morris.

The Arabia sink and Domus Classica sink stand make a perfect pair for the upstairs bathroom. They were found Rakennusapteekki in Pori.

They used wood everywhere possible, from insulation materials to wood-fiber boards on the surfaces, and covered the walls with either paper wallpaper or clay paint. The best building material finds came from online flea markets.

“Older furniture was often built on a smaller scale than today’s pieces, so it’s a perfect fit for our petite house. It’s also high-quality and can be refinished or adapted. I always have furniture restoration or sewing projects underway,” says Maiju.

They didn’t want to heat the glassed-in porch. Juho built the bench, and Maiju sewed the cushions. Both the walls and bench are painted in Uula’s shade 5406 Hiekka.

Maiju made the shelf herself, and the hooks came with the house.

Not everything is finished yet—the backyard sauna and the garden still await renovation.

“We’ve gained so much know-how that it’d be a shame to stop now. I’m someone who's always in the middle of a project, with another one already in mind. Juho might need a little time to recover, but I’m sure we’ll start another renovation before long—maybe a bigger house next,” Maiju says, laughing.