Fairytale-like cottage with no running water or indoor toilet was love at first sight for this couple: “This kind of life fascinated us”

Katri and Jarkko Haapanen decided to escape the rat race. They dreamed of living in the tranquility of nature—a place where they could work less. The Marjamäki cottage farm was listed for sale on an online secondhand marketplace. Initially, they just drove by and peeked at the idyllic setting from behind the gate. And yet, they were both captivated instantly.

The cottage immediately felt like home to them both. Old rowans, birches, and pines welcomed them in the garden, invoking a sense of peace from the moment they entered.

“This place has a fairytale-like atmosphere. Our heartbeats slow down as soon as we arrive. The windows offer a view of the forest. The old trees are very important to us both,” Katri says.

Katri admires the styles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and she has collected items reminiscent of that era in the cottage. Choosing a natural color palette is important to her. She shops at flea markets and antique shops.

The kitchen cabinets feature fabric doors sewn by Katri, with storage space behind them. The curtains are easy to wash. Dishes are washed with water drawn from the bore well and heated on the stove, then they’re dried on a beautiful rack.

The wood-burning stove warms the space and serves as a cooking spot. Katri and Jarkko repainted it with white paint, and the black parts were treated with a black stove polish. The arrangement on top of the oven includes old-fashioned beer bottles, onions, and rye breads hung on a beam to dry.

The window valances cover just a bit of the view. The couple have breakfast at the kitchen table, watching the birds at the feeder. The kitchen table from Ikea is one of the home’s few new pieces of furniture. Practical jute rugs complement the simple design.

The plate rack in the main room was in the house when they bought it. The photo collage below it features previous owners and residents of the cottage.

The kitchen is still awaiting renovation. Its floor will also be opened at some point.

Hats and mittens are dried on a clothesline running along the ceiling; sometimes delicate lace linens keep them company.

The cottage farm was established in 1882. Katri and Jarkko have preserved documents related to it, including the first lease agreement. When the farm became an independent estate in 1921, its price was 8,000 Finnish marks according to the documents.

“The cottage doesn’t have running water, and water has to be pumped from a bore well. We carry water to the sauna either from the old well or the borehole well. There’s also no indoor toilet. All this fascinated us, and we wanted to see how it would work in practice,” Katri explains.

The table and benches in the main room were on an online secondhand marketplace. The light-weight rugs were purchased from Ikea; they’re easy to handle on cleaning day in a household with dogs. The floorboards were treated with a mixture of milk and quark for a natural white finish. The quark-milk paint is a mixture of fat-free milk and fat-free quark. The paint is smoothed onto the floor with a brush. The paint is only suitable for previously untreated surfaces.

Katri’s grandmother Hilma’s spinning wheel found its place in the main room. The first resident of the cottage was also named Hilma, so Hilma’s spinning wheel fits there perfectly.

Tytti the dog is the house guardian who stays obediently in the garden. As a reward, she gets dates, which are her favorite treat.

Katri and Jarkko renovated the interior of the home into a charmingly bright space. They dismantled the bedroom, main room, and entrance down to the lower structures and discovered that the main room also required log repairs. The log repairs were done by Suomen Hirsiperinne, a renovation company specializing in log house repairs. Everything else the couple did themselves.

“We surprised ourselves by being able to turn this house into a home. Traditional building is laborious and requires a lot of knowledge and skill. We draw inspiration for renovating and decorating from social media groups about old houses, books, nature, and interior design magazines,” Katri says.

“When you’ve gotten to know your home down to the lower structures, crawled under the house with your face covered in dirt, and sawed every piece of lumber by hand, you develop a strong attachment to your home,” Jarkko says.

“And when you occasionally burst into a mix of desperate tears and laughter in the middle of the renovation, at least you know you’re alive,” Katri adds.

The light-colored surfaces allow light to fill the room. The pull-out sofa came with the house and serves as a guest bed when needed, as well as a great spot for naps. Katri has made up the sofa bed with old white textiles, which she bleaches after washing by drying them in the sun.

Katri keeps her craft supplies in suitcases. They are carefully watched over by a pair of gnomes made by Katri. The gnomes are on display all year round. The walls of the main room are covered with finely sawn boards and painted with Uula’s Into interior paint in the shade Sahara. The low ceiling seems higher than it is thanks to the vertical paneling.

The atmosphere of the cottage has remained in the 1920s, guiding the colors of the decor toward a calm, natural color palette. The heart of the home is the main room, which is also the largest room in the cottage. There is old wooden furniture here, some of which came with the purchase, like the beautiful old dish shelf on the wall and the cabinet beneath it.

“Thanks to the old items and the subdued painted walls, the rooms have an almost dreamlike appearance. Our home is a safe place where I can relax and recharge. It’s a source of creativity and joy. I don’t really need anything else,” Katri shares.

The bedroom walls are covered with finely sawn boards. The boards are deliberately of varying widths, creating a rugged, lively surface. They didn’t want the cottage’s atmosphere to be too polished. The wall is painted with Uula’s Into interior paint in the shade Heinä.

Even though the cottage has electricity, the couple often relies on candles.

The shades on the walls and painted furniture come from Uula’s traditional color chart. The painter used only scentless paints in all the home’s spaces.

Books are an integral part of the cottage’s decor. The couple draw information about the olden times from them. They are guarded by a gnome made by Katri.

Katri has collected spinning wheel parts on the main room wall.

The calm interior style stems from the ‘less is more’ philosophy. The cottage’s 60 square meters can’t accommodate excess, and without a lot of possessions, there’s room to relax.

“We’ve moved enough times to make sure we no longer accumulate a lot of extra decor items. Letting go of things eventually becomes easy. If I want to buy more furniture, I always look for treasures that have already seen life. Even everyday items are beautiful to me, and they can be put on display.”

“The founders of the cottage farm, Antti and Hilma, were its first residents. Their youngest son Frans and his wife Saima continued on the property. We don’t know much about the time after that. Apparently, the farm changed owners several times until we came here to stay,” Katri says.

The 60-square-meter sauna cabin is just as charming as the cottage itself.

The neat rows of firewood on the sauna porch make it easier to heat the sauna stove.

The wrought-iron table and two chairs in the garden were bought at a flea market. The couple already had them in their previous home. The two-seater bench was purchased at the yard sale of a department store.

The cottage was already beautifully painted at the time of purchase. The paint is Uula’s red ochre paint in the shade Falunpunainen. The blue door was the icing on the cake for the new owners. Follow Katri and Jarkko’s life on the Marjamäki cottage farm on Instagram @marjamaentarinoita.

Even the wood shed in Marjamäki’s garden is beautiful. Katri has made an arrangement beside it with old skis and a sled.