30 boxes full of kitchen utensils—Katja’s dreamy pink wooden house needed some adjustments!

This is absolutely perfect just as it is! Katja Kantola was strolling through a 1920s house in Porvoo during a showing. In the early February afternoon light, the pale gray walls and the open-plan remodeled kitchen really stood out. A couple of months later, Katja and Juha moved from Helsinki to Porvoo and began renovating the pink house.

“I firmly believe that a cozy home is the best investment in oneself. We were 900 kilometers from home and had almost forgotten we were looking for a place in Porvoo when I happened to check my phone. An alert link had landed in my email. I told Juha, ‘This is it!’ We hopped in the car in Lapland and drove straight down across Finland. We made it just in time for the showing, and a couple of days later, the mansard-roofed house was ours.

Katja and Juha’s mansard-roofed wooden house was built in 1928. Another door at the end of the house leads to a mudroom—a kind of private suite for their four-year-old Staffie, Elvis.

After moving to Porvoo, Katja soon acquired the Sasu’s Playhouse interior design shop. The Indonesian teak bench is about 50 years old.

The baskets in the entry hall hold paper and cardboard for recycling. The filigree glass ceiling light is from the Millefiori Interior shop in Copenhagen. The rug is from Helma.

Katja redesigned the kitchen around some old Ikea cabinet frames. She orderd doors from Köksfolk. Extra space came from three tall cabinets and overhead units. The entire kitchen was planned to fit Juha’s measurements. The island was raised during the renovation, and the countertop is now 93 cm high. The handles are from Jim Lawrence.

We wanted a place we could move right into. It wasn’t until we were actually unpacking that I realized we needed to address the kitchen. Juha is a professional chef, and we had 30 boxes of kitchen items alone—of those, I could only fit ten boxes’ worth into the new cabinets.

The cost of electricity was sky-high that autumn, and some people thought we were nuts to remove the old wood-burning stove. However, the stove was in bad shape, and we needed a spot for the fridge in our small kitchen.

We rarely keep a lot on display, simply because I’m not keen on cleaning. I don’t stash things around the house or hide them in cabinets. We might have a few items with enough sentimental value that I’ll hold onto them forever—really, only the living room table lamps and the painting in the entry hall come to mind.

There’s another one of the home’s old tiled stoves in the dining area. The large dining table is by Eichholtz. The brass globe light is by the Dutch brand Zenza Home and was forged in Cairo. The walls are covered with Gotiikka wallpaper from Pihlgren & Ritola.

The ornate mirror is from the Sasu’s shop. The Kartell table lamp pairs well with it and the Jean Vernet console table. Juha’s record player spins classic albums collected over the years.

The curvy sofa in the living room is by the Spanish brand Fama and was purchased from Jean Vernet. Above the ottoman hangs the Indochina Classic UFO lamp by Oi Soi Oi. The rug is from Helma, and the curtains were ordered from Hanna Chaker.

The round window is a charming detail in the stairway. Some of the original windows remain here and there, including the arched windows in the upper hall, the round window in the entry, the upstairs balcony windows, and the downstairs porch window.

Our previous home was in a new apartment building with a Scandinavian-style interior. The atmosphere in a century-old house is completely different, and the furniture and light fixtures we’d bought for our old place looked too small and too minimalist with a mansard roof—so we replaced them all.

I used patterned rugs, bedding, and wallpaper to add decorative touches that suit an older house. Colors also help set the mood. Initially, each room here had pale gray walls that looked nice in winter, but in summer light, it was a different story. The rooms felt dull and didn’t stand out from one another. The tiled stoves in the living and dining rooms inspired me to pick old rose and green as the home’s main colors. I got help choosing colors and curtains from my friend, interior designer Hanna Chaker.

From the upper hall, you can reach the balcony above the porch, where the morning sun shines. Katja dreams of replacing it with a black wrought-iron French balcony.

In the upper hall, there’s a plush velvet armchair that came from Juha’s mother’s childhood home and has been restored. The cabinet is an antique-store find.

The skateboarding dogs were Juha’s birthday present to Katja, discovered at a pop-up art show in Helsinki.

Even though living in house wasn’t new to me, after a couple of years we realized the challenges of maintaining a yard. We have four apple trees, which yielded a huge crop again last autumn. Juha made juices and pies with them. We still have a lot to learn about yard care. The long flowerbed on our lot is getting overgrown by plum and lilac shoots. We call it our insect hotel.

During our first summer, we optimistically built a terrace at the back of the yard so we could soak up the sun, grill, and dine. Life can get busy for two entrepreneurs, but we’ve still had those moments when we can gather on the terrace with friends, enjoy good food, and savor each other’s company.”

There was already a sheltered nook at the back of the yard that was perfect for a terrace. It gets the evening sun. The large Balinese sun umbrella is from the shop DEE & Vuu. The outbuilding includes a woodshed, a wood-fired sauna, storage space, and a summer room that serves as Juha’s gym.

The barrel stove in the bedroom is as old as the house itself and has been painted. The wallpaper is Olof Sandstone by Sandberg. The wall lamps are from Finnish Design Shop.

The curved ceiling was preserved during the renovation. Katja chose the UP Light Beige textured tile from Abl, which proved tricky to grout. The sink cabinet is from Dansani, and the faucets are by Damixa.