Every item in this traditional Finnish wooden house has a story—“A home should look like it’s lived in”
In Cyrila and Janne’s home, every object has a story. There isn’t a single corner in their traditional Finnish wooden house in Helsinki without an arrangement comprised of secondhand items.
Having both grown up in old houses, Cyrila Cibulka and Janne Vahvaselkä wanted a home with a history. They left their centrally located apartment building behind for the peaceful charm of a small-house neighborhood, where foxes visit the gardens and pheasant calls can be heard indoors.
Cyrila, what is the story behind your house?
The house was built by building contractor Aarne Saukkonen for his family in 1958. The summer before last, I was sitting on the swing in the garden when I overheard a young man talking with his girlfriend in front of our house. He turned out to be Aarne’s great-grandson. I invited them in and discovered that Aarne lived in this house for nearly 50 years. In 2005, his health declined, and he could no longer live on his own, and after a few weeks, he passed away. Another family rented the house for a while, and we are the second owners to live here.
Home: A single-family home in Helsinki built in 1958, with four rooms, a kitchen, and a basement, totaling 140 m².
Who lives here:Cyrila Cibulka and Janne Vahvaselkä and sons Vincent, 17, and Edvin, 13, Vahvaselkä and the poodle Veijo.
Follow on social media: @cyrila.cecilia
Cyrila works as a producer for commercials, and Janne is a creative director at an ad agency. Edvin is in middle school, and Vincent is completing a dual degree, studying to become an airplane mechanic. The kitchen cupboards provide ample storage space. Luckily, the home’s original built-in cabinets and interior doors have been preserved. Most of the doors were removed, but they are safely in storage.
Cyrila got a very good deal on the Artek table and chairs on secondhand online store Tori years ago.
The kitchen cabinets are from Ideal Keittiöt. Cyrila dreamed of Tikkurila’s Linna shade for the kitchen, and by chance found perfectly matching cabinets in Ideal's collection. She found the kitchen rug on a Facebook flea market. The men of the family aren't so fond of the rug and hope it gets so badly stained they’ll have to get rid of it.
Inspiration for the kitchen wall tiles came from the cobalt-blue vertical tiles on the exterior of the Seinäjoki Library designed by Alvar Aalto. “I dreamed of cobalt-blue tiles, but then I got cold feet. I saw terracotta-colored tiles in a home décor magazine and fell in love with them. The color is soft and suits the kitchen cabinets. One day, when we renovate the basement bathroom, I absolutely want the same color for the floor tiles and blue on the walls in some form.” An old fruit crate is used to store magazines. The Artek shelf displays pitchers and sugar bowls that Cyrila has collected.
In Cyrila’s view, the terracotta tile shade is soft and complements the kitchen cabinets perfectly.
What do you find appealing about secondhand furniture?
I believe objects and furniture should have a story. I love the patina of older pieces, and I like their history and signs of use to be visible. I couldn’t imagine buying everything brand-new. The only newly purchased furniture we have are a few Aalto stools and our beds. Sustainability is important to me. I don’t like buying new clothes or furniture because the world is already full of stuff. Of course, secondhand furniture was also standard in my childhood home. I’m happy to continue that tradition.
The family lived in the house for ten years before taking down the wall between the living room and dining room. “Normally, I’m quick to proceed with renovations, but we spent a long time thinking about whether to remove that wall.”
“There isn’t a single corner I haven’t styled to be pleasing to the eye.”
The large painting was made by guitarist Štépán Rak, a friend of Cyrila’s Czech musician father. It showcases both of their instruments. In the 1960s, Cyrila's father came to Finland for a tour, met her mother, and chose to stay. The painting is one of the dearest items to Cyrila in their home. The green color on the wall is Tikkurila’s Verholehti.
The dining space, known as the corner room, is the heart of the home. The large dining table is probably the spot where the family spends the most time, whether it's celebrating with friends or living daily life. In front of the window is a sofa that Cyrila’s parents found at the Finnish railway company VR’s flea market in the ’70s for 15 Finnish marks.
The old china cabinet is a Tori find, and it holds dishes used for gatherings, as well as Cyrila’s Moomin mug collection, which she jokingly calls the only thing the boys will inherit. The mushroom-shaped stool is from Janne’s childhood home. The Moroccan floor cushion is from a Facebook flea market, and the kilim rug is from Tori.
Tell us about your interior design philosophy!
A home should feel warm and welcoming, and it should look genuinely lived in. I love how our interior constantly evolves and is never fully finished. Things move around frequently. I enjoy creating displays in different areas of our home, and there isn’t a single corner that I haven’t styled to be pleasing to the eye. A display can come together around a small statue I’ve found at a flea market. I’ll dig out matching items from the depths of our cupboards. But I don't want a display to look too carefully considered; it should always include something a bit random.
Nearly every wall of the home features picture collages, made up of children’s drawings, works by Cyrila's father’s artist friends, and pieces made by Janne’s grandfather. The leather sofa was found on Tori. The coffee table came from a Facebook flea market, and Cyrila painted its worn-out surface. The sideboard is from Fida.
“My grandfather was a wallpaper hanger and taught the skill to my mother, who then taught me. Sometimes I wallpaper for friends, too; it’s fun. Maybe I’ll teach my boys someday, too.” The wallpaper is Helsinki by Pihlgren & Ritola. The Tanssi (“dance”) ceramic plates, designed for Iittala by Klaus Haapaniemi, were picked up from discount bins when they were discontinued. The Taistelevat metsot (“wood grouse in fight”) plate by Arabia was found at a secondhand shop, and Cyrila bought the wind chime in Vietnam.
Cyrila painted and changed the wallpapers in the basement a couple of springs ago. The sofa was purchased years earlier on secondhand online store Huuto.net specifically for this space. The rattan table is the only item in the home that Janne doesn’t like. It wasn’t allowed in the living room, but it got to stay in the basement. The Kuurre ryijy designed by Marjukka Rautavirta was a 25-euro flea market find. The wallpaper is M.I.T. by Alvar Aalto. The same wallpaper can be found in a different color elsewhere in the basement, in the hallway and in Cyrila’s work corner.
The narrow hallway leading to the stairs is perfect for a bookshelf. The wallpaper is Ken kiuruista kaunein by Pihlgren & Ritola. The chair was purchased from a former coworker, and the mirror is from a flea market.
The daybed in the living room is one of the family’s favorite spots. Cyrila bought an old bed frame on Tori and had a futon mattress made for it at Mulperipuu. The 1950s nesting tables came from an antique store in Mikkeli. When Edvin was a baby, he used to crawl under the table, and his teeth marks are still visible on the legs. “Dents and scratches are welcome on our furniture—I wouldn’t want to sand away their history,” says Cyrila.
The boys share a spacious room and each of them also has their own small space. The walls display posters of the boys' old favorite movies. The wallpaper is from Ferm Living. Cyrila’s father salvaged the dresser in the 1970s from the Jyväskylä Conservatory when it moved premises. Her parents got the chair at an auction, and the rug is from Tori.
What do colors mean to you?
I need color around me. It makes a space feel warm and homely, and it brings me comfort. Sometimes I’m puzzled when people worry whether they would dare to paint a wall a certain color, thinking they might get tired of it. For me, it’s white walls that become boring. There are lots of lovely white homes out there, but I don’t get that cozy feeling within white walls that I think a home should have.
The bedroom walls are painted in the shade Forest by Teknos. The armchair and its pair were purchased secondhand. At the time, Cyrila and Janne still lived in central Helsinki, and she carried the chairs home with her brother. The leather ottoman is from Tori, and the stool from a Facebook flea market. The rug was originally wall-to-wall carpeting, and Cyrila's mother had it turned into a rug in the 1970s. The lamp once belonged to a department store in Jyväskylä where her mother worked.
“There are lots of lovely white homes out there, but I don’t get that cozy feeling within white walls that I think a home should have.”
The lily-of-the-valley wallpaper is by Sandberg. The dressing table was found on Tori. The seller’s mother had originally got it from her employer at a paper factory. The pink chair is from a Facebook flea market.
Cyrila bought the Häkli linen cabinet from a former coworker. The statues from a Catholic church were given to her mother by their relatives in the Czech Republic. Cyrila came up with the idea of having glass tops cut to fit old cabinets—an easy way to cover their worn surfaces.
The dresser on the upstairs landing and all the items on it were purchased secondhand. The topmost drawings—Czech pencil sketches—are from 1917. The middle posters were bought in Paris by Cyrila, and the old prints at the bottom came from a street market in New York. The table lamp with a glass shade is from the Metka flea market, the sconce from a thrift store in Kotka, and the mirror from a flea market in Karjaa.
The downstairs bathroom has a charming décor. The wallpaper is Ken kiuruista kaunein by Pihlgren & Ritola. The old shelf came from a Facebook flea market.
Do you have any more dreams for your home?
This is my dream home. I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Sure, if I won the lottery, perhaps I’d live in a mansion by the sea, but if that never happens, I’m very happy right here. This house is just the right size. It’s not too big, and we won’t have to move once the boys move out. Sometimes I wonder if I should become a “Töölö grandma.” But then I realize I’d rather stay here in the peace and quiet, where foxes run down the streets.
The family is happy in Helsinki's Tapaninkylä. Cyrila and Janne update their house as needed, and next on the to-do list is painting the exterior. “It would feel so strange to live in a new house,” says Cyrila.
