Old village school became family’s dream home and workplace: “It would be tough to move back to an apartment building”

Around twenty years ago, the Henriksson family lived in a low-maintenance, newly renovated apartment in Vantaa and had a small, relatively carefree cottage in the countryside. However, something pulled them away from the city life. Despite their limited experience, they began searching for an old house that needed renovating.

The renovation of the house’s facade has now started. The side facing the street is complete, and they will continue the project whenever they have the time and energy for it again.

“Renovating a house this large is a never-ending project. It’s hard to say exactly how long it has taken because plenty of things are still unfinished, and whenever one of the children moves out, we redecorate that room for the next,” Tiiti says.

When the entire family gathers around the long dining table a few times a year, it’s dressed in linens from their own company.

What gave you the courage to start this renovation project?

Kimi: The log-built elementary school building in Keimola, Vantaa, was everything we had imagined in our wildest dreams. My grandfather ran a wooden toy company, and ever since I was a child, I’d been surrounded by sanding dust and wood scraps. Because I was so familiar with wood, I felt optimistic about restoring the house. We were looking for an idyllic setting, and that’s exactly what we got.

Have you had any helping hands or professionals involved in this undertaking?

Kimi: I and Tiiti, just the two of us, have done everything ourselves, except for the mandatory HVAC, plumbing, and electrical work. We’ve taken on tasks well beyond our original skills. We’ve made mistakes, but over time our standards for any outsourced work have risen as well. In the early years, I attended courses run by Rakennusapteekki (a Finnish company specialized in traditional building), including a traditional log-building class. All that knowledge has been a huge help in this project.

All the windows in the house were still intact at the time of purchase, though they needed their wooden frames restored. It was obvious to the couple they would keep the old windows. The white-painted plank floors have worn down over time, but the family don’t mind that anymore.

The old gym set its own unique scale for the furniture. Kimi built an extra-tall display cabinet for the room and a long dining table that accommodates the entire family. The chairs were purchased a few years ago from Jysk, and the ceiling lamps originally served as part of the interior design of a Levi’s store.

Kimi renovated the kitchen by combining Ikea cabinets with older materials. He built the kitchen island from old doors the couple got from Metsänkylän Navetta, a retailer of old building materials, in Hattula. “When one spot is finished, we start all over again in another,” says Tiiti.

What guided you in restoring this house?

Tiiti: We wanted to remove all artificial materials from this house. We tore out what had been added later to restore its original atmosphere.

What have you learned while renovating an old house?

Kimi: When we moved in, I really didn’t know anything about living in an own house. We did also have a two-year break; we didn’t renovate anything during that time. Everything started to feel unpleasant, and we needed a time-out from all that work. We’ve tried to focus on one project at a time and finish it before moving on. It’s been one of our most important lessons: proceed piece by piece.

Tiiti: At first, I was bothered by every scratch or stain on the surfaces. Over time, we’ve learned to accept the unfinished details and normal wear and tear. After all, we renovated this house for living, and we want that life to be visible.

The cylindrical wood-burning stoves in the old gym provide extra warmth alongside the geothermal heating. The sofas were originally bought for the family’s previous home, where they felt enormous, but here they fit easily. The coffee table is Kimi’s handiwork.

Hailie the Australian shepherd was named after rapper Eminem’s daughter, but the family affectionately calls this lively girl by the Finnish nickname Heili.

When the couple bought the old school, this old harmonium was one of the few items still left in building.

Behind the sofas, there are slightly rusty flower trolleys from a florist’s shop, which perfectly complement the patina of the Coca-Cola sign overhead.

What has been the best part about living here?

Kimi: As we renovated, I realized that you can craft all sorts of incredible things from wood. As a kind of side project, we started our own lifestyle company, Käinby 1925, and it now employs both of us. At first, I made furniture just for ourselves, then I started selling it. After many years in fashion, Tiiti started developing a line of linen products to complement the brand. Today, besides our online shop, we run a small garden store behind our house.

The house has 14 fireplaces in total, five of which have been restored and are in use. The baking oven is mainly used for heating, although it does slow-cook a few batches of Karelian stew each year.

Tiiti collects cast-iron pans. The family bakes sweet and savory pies for celebrations in them and arranges them in a grand row on the large dining table. Kimi uses lumber with great care, turning leftover pieces into cutting boards and serving trays, both for sale and personal use.

Initially, in 2007, the family only lived upstairs while they began the renovation on the ground floor. Back then, the downstairs was used solely for the entrance and kitchen. The old kitchen, last updated in the 1970s, served them for the first year. After that, Kimi remodeled it to fit the character of the old house.

During the renovation, they made sure to keep anything that conveyed the original atmosphere of the house. The kitchen cupboards were preserved and now store dry goods and dishes. Tiiti inherited the old wooden bench from her grandfather.

Would you do it all again?

Tiiti: We’ve definitely had our share of rough patches, but it would be really tough to go back to living in an apartment now.

Kimi: If any of our children were thinking about tackling a project like this, we’d ask them to think it over one more time. Still, this has been a dream come true for both of us. You can’t just wait for dreams to come true. You have to start and be brave enough to do it if you want to accomplish anything.

The stairs to the upper floor have already been restored once in the past fifteen years. Now the couple recognizes that with dogs around, scratches are inevitable. From the dogs’ viewpoint, the best observation spot is near the entrance, where they can see the door, the garden, and both floors.

When a housing company in Helsinki, also built in 1925, was renovated, they discarded some old storage room doors. Kimi managed to rescue about twenty of them, along with around 300 handcrafted bricks. Two of those doors now serve as a painted, refurbished headboard in the couple’s bedroom.

Drawing on her years of textile experience, Tiiti oversees the family company’s linen products. Käinby 1925 is named after Keimola’s Swedish name, Käinby, and the year the house was built, 1925.

The couple’s office occupies one corner of the living room, where they brainstorm and gather inspiration for the upcoming season and manage the online store and invoicing. The portable school board was found at a recycling center, and they use it to pin up inspiring images and ideas.