Bright yellow from floor to ceiling all year-round—that’s how Elisa Luomaranta describes her home’s interior. Here, shades of yellow glow throughout the furniture, lighting, textiles, and wallpaper. Elisa’s vibrant thrifted collections take the place of artwork.
“Yellow has always been part of my personality. Even as a kid, I used it to decorate my room. To me, yellow stands for sunshine and happiness—I love being surrounded by both. Luckily, my husband Samuli also enjoys color. ”
I’ve become bolder in how I decorate. For years, I played it safe, but now I’ve let go of those tried-and-true choices. Yellow can shine on the wallpaper and other surfaces that aren’t so easy to switch out.”
The Luomaranta family’s home is a wooden house in Nokia, originally built in 1936 and expanded in the early 2000s. It has seven rooms, plus a kitchen, laundry room, sauna, two bathrooms, and a separate toilet—170 square meters in total.
“When we moved, our square footage nearly tripled. I thought I’d become a minimalist, but I end up filling all the space anyway. It’s great knowing my thrifted treasures have room,” Elisa says. The Luomaranta family includes Elisa, her spouse Samuli, their children Siiri, 10, and Minttu, 8, plus Tilda the Jack Russell Terrier.
The small yellow retro bed by Niemen Tehtaat, which had become too small for the kids’ room, now sits on the porch. Houseplants thrive in the bright space. The flower stand was a gift from Elisa’s mother-in-law, and the rattan mirror is from an online thrift store.
“Our style fits this house perfectly. It would have been harder to match in a modern, newly built home.”
This little doll carriage was discovered on a summer trip to Orivesi. “I immediately knew it needed wool socks—after all, Orivesi is Finland’s wool-sock capital,” Elisa says.
Yellow has also found its way into Elisa’s clothing and accessories.
“I got hooked on retro décor at 15 when I spotted a classic red-striped Aarikka tin at a flea market. I decided it would define my future home’s style. I was thrilled to learn the tins also come in yellow. I love retro for its colors, eco-friendliness, and the stories behind each item. I’m always curious if a seller knows anything about an object’s history.
I buy furniture at flea markets, and I’m not strict—if an item shows a little wear, that’s fine. In my daughter Siiri’s room, there’s a cabinet with paint torn off by moving tape, and it’s never bothered me. I look for pieces that can fit into different rooms, because my decorating frenzy often leads me to rearrange everything.
I collect Finnish classics like Aarikka tins, Finel enamelware, and Arabia coffee cups from the Pomona and Tuttifrutti series. We don’t have many paintings on our walls because I see my dishware collections as art. They’re made by talented designers and have the perfect color scheme. They also have practical value. We use them daily, so they bring us joy in multiple ways.
“When we moved here, our living space nearly tripled. I thought I’d go for a more spacious look, but I fill every inch I can. We fell in love with how this house combines old and new: windowsills, wooden beams, and plank floors create a vintage feel, yet the house is fully renovated. Our style is a perfect match.”
“The biggest color shift in our home is going from deep mustard yellow in the fall to sunny springtime yellow. At Christmas, I put up red curtains in the living area, but by the end of the holidays, I’m already missing the cheerfulness of yellow,” Elisa says.
“The most radical color shift in our home is going from a deep mustard yellow in fall to a bright springtime yellow.”
Elisa rescued this shelf from the “free” section on the Tori marketplace. The Finel enamelware she collects is used daily: the larger pieces hold fruit, the milking pots on the top shelf are candy bowls for the kids, and the blue-floral pot is used for cooking potatoes. Elisa only includes colors she really likes in her collection.
Elisa rarely buys anything just to collect dust. Finel enamel bowls often end up filled with fruit or berries.
Elisa’s favorite spot at home is the farmhouse table in the living room. “Not a day goes by that I’m not thankful for the lake view from the window. I especially love this corner because the table set was made by my husband’s great-grandfather,” Elisa says.
“I thought I’d be a spacious decorator, but I fill every bit of room I have.”
“Our style is perfect for this house. It would have been harder to match in a brand-new home,” Elisa says. The previous owner of the Aris Cumulus lamps she bought at a flea market had painted them yellow.
“Yellow can burst forth on the wallpaper and other surfaces that aren’t so easily changed.”
The kitchen is small, so cooking and baking often happen in the living room. After these photos were taken, the kitchen was renovated—now everything from the cabinets and fridge to the wallpaper is yellow.
Elisa bought the red dresser from an online thrift store. She still dreams of painting the wood-burning stove yellow one day.
Aarikka’s colorful tins hide flour, cocoa, seeds, bran, pasta, and rice. The String-style shelves are made from bed slats found on the Tori marketplace.
Three large Fatboy beanbags fill the cozy corner under the stairs. It’s the family dog Tilda’s favorite spot.
“I buy furniture at flea markets, and I’m not too fussy—items can have dents.”
The children build blanket forts all over the living room using vintage quilts. A Pehtoori coffee pot doubles as a vase.
Elisa collects retro quilts. “Whenever I find one that’s in the right color and at least decent condition, I buy it,” she says.
After buying the house, Elisa was hit with serious flea-market fever. While waiting to move in, she bought plenty of yellow vintage lamps and rag rugs online, knowing she’d need them in the new place.
Yellow macramé hangers from hold the living room’s houseplants.
“I collect Aarikka tins, Finel enamelware, and Arabia coffee cups from the Pomona and Tuttifrutti series.”
Minttu’s wall features a cheerful sun and a pink scalloped shape, both painted with Frenchic chalk paint. The green lounge chair is an online thrift find by Elisa—there’s another one like it in the living room.
Minttu’s 100-year-old wooden bed is, in Elisa’s view, a cross between a Disney princess bed and early 1900s country style. It was picked up at the Vintiikki flea market in Nokia. For the window, Minttu chose Marimekko’s Lokki curtain. The wallpaper is Atomi by Pihlgren & Ritola.
The girls chose the colors for their rooms themselves—both went for pink. The paint has chipped off the thrifted dresser, but Elisa doesn’t mind. Signs of life are welcome.
The scalloped shape is painted with Frenchic chalk paint.
In Elisa and Samuli’s bedroom, yellow is paired with green. A retro quilt used as a bedspread ties in the green-striped Lokki curtain and a green-toned painting by local artist Jonna Viljanen with the rest of the home’s color palette.
“Yellow has always been part of my personality. It represents sunshine and joy, which I love surrounding myself with.”
A dock and boat spot behind a small patch of forest came with the house. In summer, Elisa and Samuli and their daughters, Siiri and Minttu, head there in their bathrobes to swim; in winter, they set out on walks or skiing trips. “I’d always secretly dreamed of a lakeside home, and this was more than I ever thought possible,” Elisa says.
An adorable playhouse at the back of the yard belongs to Siiri and her sister Minttu. Elisa’s passion for decorating has passed on to her daughters, who now love helping with home projects.
Elisa and Samuli considered painting the exterior yellow, too, but decided the red house would stay as it is.
Originally, the house was a small, gabled cottage, but previous owners renovated it completely, expanded it considerably, and added a mansard roof.
