Alli’s old, modest wooden house became the Aalto family’s beloved retreat: “We love all things very simple”

The red house stands idyllically at the edge of the forest. In the first few years, so many trees were felled around the house that they’ve had enough firewood to this day.

The interior of the house was stuck somewhere in the 1980s, with vinyl covering the floors. In the garden, vegetation had grown tall and wild, and both the cowshed and sauna on the property had seen better days.

None of these things, however, scared away the Helsinki residents Elina and Klaus Aalto when they first explored the modest old wooden house. On the contrary, the Aaltos saw that the house had a good spirit and understood its potential.

Around the turn of the millennium, Elina and Klaus had been browsing listings of allotment garden cottages for sale in Helsinki for quite some time. Prices had risen quite high, and the couple began to think: what if, instead of getting a cottage, they bought a house a bit further away? For the same price, they could get a house and a piece of land of their own.

“Many of our friends own a cottage here in Western Uusimaa, so it was natural for us to look for a cottage in this area as well,” Klaus explains.

The designer couple attended viewings in Salo and Sammatti and even made offers on both cottages. However, the cottages went to others who offered a higher price.

Which turned out to be for the best, because when they came to see the old house in Kisko, everything seemed to fall into place. The Aaltos saw how the cottage could be brought back closer to its original condition, and they made an offer on their way home.

“We did recognize the work ahead of us, but it didn’t scare us. For us, half the fun would be making the cottage completely our own,” Klaus recalls.

The ceiling lamp by Lisa Johansson-Pape from the ’50s is one of Klaus’s amazing flea market finds. The blue spindle-back chairs were bought at an auction, and the white ones were found at a garage sale. The beautiful chest of drawers made of birch, found in the old chicken coop in the yard, was refurbished.

The Christmas porridge has been eaten while listening to the Declaration of Christmas Peace. Elsa lounges on the daybed designed by her parents.

The ‘Porin tienoo’ ryijy was found at a flea market. The armchairs have been replaced a couple of times over the years already.

During the purchase, the couple met the house’s previous owner, 90-year-old Alli who later managed to visit the house a few more times during her last years. From Alli, the Aaltos heard amazing stories about her childhood and different phases in the house’s life. She also left many of her pieces of furniture in the house for the family’s use.

Initially, Elina and Klaus only removed a few 1980s pieces of furniture from the house and found replacement furniture from the loft of the cowshed. The vinyl floors were covered with rag rugs bought from flea markets. The cottage’s interior has been accomplished on a small budget, with Klaus’s flea market hobby helping greatly. Almost the entire interior is recycled, as they’ve found some of their furniture from dumpsters and at auctions as well.

Klaus built a bunk bed in the entrance area in a traditional, rustic style reminiscent of the 1950s.

The bedspread is from the couple’s trip to Sierra Leone in 2017.

Almost all the furniture on the porch is original to the house: only the small compartment unit is a find from the waste station and the mirror from a dumpster. An old wool rug came to spend its retirement days at the cottage.

In the kitchen, the wood stove is accompanied by an electric stove purchased from a Facebook flea market. Both are in constant use. The old sink cabinet is an original fixture. Alli, who lived in the house, told that she dug the trench for the water pipe herself with a shovel, all the way from the well to the house. It is still in use and works perfectly.

In the first summers, the Aaltos had guests over at their cottage all the time, and for the young family, a life filled with friends was nothing but wonderful. There was little time for renovations, as their small children kept them from excessive remodeling.

“We wallpapered at night when the children were sleeping,” Elina recalls with a smile.

They took their time with major renovations. Elina and Klaus thought it was nice to first live in the house and think carefully about how to renovate it. All renovations and repairs have been done with patience and care, one room and project at a time. In addition to the main house, the renovations of the cowshed and sauna building have taken their own time.

When it comes to the renovations, Elina and Klaus have had a clear mission: to preserve the style of the 1930s house. The modest, wooden house has gotten new, respectful owners in them, and the Aaltos haven’t made major modernizations to the house. The outhouse is still at the back of the garden, and the outdoor sauna is heated daily during vacation times.

“The outdoor sauna with its wash basins nostalgically reminds me of the times I spent at Grandma’s in my childhood. Such modesty is an essential element of the cottage sauna. We somehow love all things very simple,” Elina says.

The sauna is heated every day during Christmas time as well. The front recess of the building was painted green. The sauna building includes a steam room, dressing room, and sleeping area.

Klaus and Elina have wanted to preserve the modest style of the sauna: only the benches were renewed almost 15 years ago.

For Christmas celebrations, the Aaltos head to the cottage well before Christmas Eve. The house is kept minimally heated when it’s empty, and in winter, heating takes its time. The building is mainly heated with the kitchen’s wood stove. While Klaus kindles the fire, others carry stuff from the car to the cottage and shovel pathways in the yard.

Once there, no one is in a hurry. The tree is fetched from their own forest and brought into the house on the day before Christmas Eve at the earliest.

The Christmas menu consists of traditional elements like rosolli salad and ham. To Elina’s delight, their son Amos likes to participate in cooking. For several Christmases now, they’ve aimed to find the perfect potato casserole recipe. The goal is a taste that Elina remembers from her childhood.

“We’ve been refining the recipe for a long time, and now we’re quite close to perfection,” Elina laughs.

Get inspiration from the Aaltos!

The beautiful birch chest of drawers was found in the old chicken coop in the yard. It was in poor condition, but Klaus refurbished it by washing and re-oiling.

The sauna building previously had a wood shed, which was transformed into a cozy bedroom through a major renovation. Even a new floor was built to replace the old, ground-bearing floor.

Klaus crafted a handy kitchen cabinet, which he wanted to look as if it had always been there. The tall kitchen cabinets that were previously in its place were dismantled, because the bunk beds built in the entrance needed the deep space taken by the cabinets.

Elina organized a summer camp at the cottage for her children and their friends, with the theme of building a hut. During the week, they explored the use of natural materials with small tasks, and each built their own treehouse in miniature. This linen closet was acquired for the cottage over ten years ago at a flea market.

The family have aimed to renovate the house so that it wouldn’t necessarily even be noticeable. For example, the old wallpaper pattern in the entrance area doesn’t reveal the year of the renovation.