Old hat factory turned captivating cottage! Henna and Joni renovated a 19th-century log house into a restful retreat
Henna and Joni Karhumaa had already decided they would never become summer cottage owners. That decision was overturned by an old hat factory that was well worth the renovation effort.
Henna and Joni Karhumaa enjoy traveling on their vacations. Cottage life wasn’t part of their plan, but little by little, the idea of having a place of their own started to become appealing.
In 2019, they visited a property that had been on the market for ages, with a yard overrun by small willow saplings. In the middle of a lot in Central Ostrobothnia, stood an unfinished building that had been moved there from a kilometer away. In a previous life, it had served as a hat factory and more.
The house had been for sale for several years, and before Henna and Joni viewed it, around a hundred people had visited. The building had no doors or fireplaces.
The lot also lacked both water and sewer services, so the amount of work needed to make it livable seemed huge.
By 2020, the world was a different place. Everything changed quickly.
“Then the pandemic arrived, and we had our first lockdown. We figured we might as well sit in the middle of the forest in our own cottage,” Henna recalls.
They didn’t make an offer right away. Joni agreed to go through with the project on one condition: Henna had to have a plan for every phase of the renovation.
“She was in charge of procurement throughout the entire renovation,” Joni says, grateful.
Henna spent her childhood at her parents’ cottage, where silence reigned. She realized that same calm on her own lot.
Nature is right outside: moose, deer, foxes, and hares wander around the yard.
When she was a child, Henna spent time at her parents’ cottage, which she remembers being perfectly quiet. She found that same tranquility here, untouched by streetlights or city glow.
When renovation began, problems popped up right away. Detailed electrical plans were missing, so more time than expected went into research and planning. Water also posed a challenge: no divining rod revealed the location of a water source.
“We dug in at least seven places, but to no avail. In the end, a drilled well was our only option—and it was expensive,” Joni says.
Renovating older houses wasn’t new to the couple, who had already redone their own home together. Henna handled the wallpapering, painting, and cutting wood with a circular saw, while Joni fitted everything into place. They learned to make compromises when restoring the log walls.
“Fortunately, a professional had done the soda blasting, giving the logs just the right tone. We’ll never cover it with a stain,” Henna says.
Despite the hurdles, the renovation was finished quickly. They got to work in the summer, and by Christmas, the interior was already done.
