Beautiful Autumn

This year Autumn had really shown its best with the weather and the colors. Currently we are preparing us for the holiday season and to our first duo exhibition. Quite exciting times! Because of the bright Autumn, November doesn't feel so depressing yet as it often is this time of the year. All those foggy days! Can't get enough of that! Since we don't have a door anymore between the living room and our bedroom, we have changed the position of our bed. This barn house is the view, we see every morning. There were many pink Autumn mornings, which makes getting out of bed much more easier. Pink sky makes you believe in your dreams and the feeling is encouraging. So lets keep these colors in our minds and try to survive from the grey and darkness. Have a great November!

New living room – Parempi kammari

Finally a renovation post! We have been finishing our living room and bed room. This post is about the renovation process of the living room. The interior is not completely ready yet. Some finishing touches like a carpet or curtains are still coming. However the living room is now in use. Some of the furniture that were originally in the room stayed there, like the shelf and the table. The overall view is still quite retro. We wanted it this way to reflect the time, when the house was build. On the photo above is an old photograph, which we wanted to have on the wall to respect the roots of farm. The couple is Susanna's great-grandparents and the photo was found from the farm. It has to be almost 100 years old. This was the starting point for the renovation. The biggest change was to remove the door between the bed room and the living room. The door was never in use. By removing it, we also have more wall space to use. One of the coolest things are the messages from the past, when you are renovating an older house. As we were removing the old floor baseboards we noticed, that Susanna's grandfather had written there: "Parempi kammari", which means a better room. This room was earlier used only for guests and on special occasions like birthdays or anniversaries. We continued making the same procedures to walls in the living room as we did in the dining room (see the post Let's make it bright). First with the help of Susanna's father we placed thin plasterboards on top of the old wallpapers. Then we painted the ceilings. Finally we placed the fibreglass wallpaper, which was this time way faster because we knew already what to do. Our cat Luigi was also giving a helping paw. When the wallpapers were fixed, we painted them white like in the dining room.
For the floor we chose a prefinished oak parquet floor. Main reason was the old plastic coated flooring, which we kept underneath the new floor. The removal of the old floor would have required a specialist and an isolation, because of the asbestos glue that they used to attach the old flooring. The prefinished parket floor was a safe, inexpensive and goodlooking choice. It also has a good durability in a long run. Placing the floor was quite fast and easy. Now screws or glue needed. For the ceilings we made the same crown molding as we have in the dining room. We used white painted pine, that had the same profile as the crown molding of the room originally. The retro look comes from the furniture, that date back to 60's and 70's. This sofa and armchairs are from a Finnish manufacturer Asko. We got them from our favorite retro shop in the town – Retro&Romu (see the post Retro trip). The table was originally in the room and stayed exactly in the same place. Tobi sanded and oiled the surface of it and repaired it by adding a new layer of veneer on the side of the table. The old painting on the wall is our farm and the old main building. Some other buildings of the painting are still existing. The shelf is also on its original place. We only painted the handles black, so it would suit better to the rest of the room. The picture on the wall is an old hand drawn map from the farm. That is all for now. The next step with the renovation is the restroom and the corridor in the main floor. Then we are finished with the main floor. We will keep you updated, when the things are going further. We also have to show our bed room, which is also almost ready. Stay tuned and enjoy the last days of Autumn!

What happened?

The last post is from January, so maybe it's time to update a bit. What happened then? No renovation whatsoever. We have been busy with building our jewelry brand viilu and with our company Koivisto Studio. Biggest change might be, that we have a cat called Luigi now in the house. He has a big heart and lot of patience. He has taught us, how to relax and to be happy with the things we have. His favorite thing is to smell the fresh air. It's mesmerizing, that such a small thing can make him so happy.

Sorry about the winter photos in the middle of hot summer, but the winter was this year so beautiful and really cold, that we have to share a couple of views from our backyard. We had lot of sunny days and snow here. The photos are taken along the river side. At the coldest days the Nuijajoki river was almost completely frozen.

A tiny bit happened to our restroom. We updated it by adding there a new mirror. Tobi used an old mirror glass, but build a new frame for it. The mirror gave the room a feel of a bigger space than the restroom actually is. The whole spring time we were busy with creating and producing a new collection for our viilu jewelry. This new collection is called valo & varjo, it means light and shadow. Eventually it took us to the Talents show in Frankfurt, Germany and brought us our first design award the Form 2018. So the effort and the work was worth it. The photos were taken in our forest, because one important aspect to our brand is to show the environment where we live and work. We go also back to the roots, where the material comes from. It gives an understanding and respect to the wood. In trees we trust! You can find more information about our jewelry brand from here: www.viilu.fi

A little vegetable garden is a must, when living at the countryside. This is the second year we have it here. Everything is growing really fast and well, because the spring and the summer has been hot this year. Also the flowers we planted are blossoming in powerful colors. Last but not least we have some good news. The next post is about renovation! We are continuing it by making our bedroom and living room ready. Until then, we wish all the best for your summer. Enjoy the blossoming nature and life!

Highlights of 2017

Carrying over the threshold. Photo: Stephan Deininger

When the year changes many of us have this sentimental feeling, leaving something behind and stepping into new and unknown. We were quite tired at the end of the year 2017, other words you could say a little bit lazy. However as we started to think what happened in our year 2017, we found out that we had actually accomplished and experienced lot of things. No wonder that at the end our energy was gone. It's nice to go through the year and say goodbye to it. Welcome the new year and make some wishes. There's always a possibility, that the dreams will turn true.

Our basement at New Year's Eve. Photo: Özlem Gün

Photo: Özlem Gün

The first day. Photo: Özlem Gün

The year 2017 began with laughter - having a good time with friends. We celebrated New Year here at our partly unfinished basement. First day of 2017 was cold but beautiful and surrounded by lovely people. Beginning of the year was in general quite relaxed. We were renovation slowly, but mainly we focused on writing our business plan for our future company.

Photo: Stephan Deininger

At the end of February we got married! The propose was done by Tobi in January. It all happened pretty fast. The ceremony was short and we had already decided, that a bigger celebration would be held in Summer. The feeling as a newly wed couple was incredible. Maybe the first time, when our feet were of the ground and heads in the pink clouds.

The spring time were quite busy for us. At the beginning of summer three big steps were taken. The renovation was officially over, our company was ready to begin and we had our first jewelry collection ready to be produced. The photos above are from our office and how it looks at the moment. The change is quite huge from January last year. The drawer as well as the working table are both from a second hand shop. We are dreaming about new tables and working chairs.

Photo: Marco Menestrina

Photo: Lars Gölnitz

Then started the preparation for our wedding celebration, which was planned to take place in our barn house. We had quite a lot to do and a little time. At the celebration day some things weren't perfect, but our family and friends had a great time and that is what counts. We are astonished that the day turned out to be so memorable with so little planing. We could have not make it without all our lovely friends and family, who were working hard for our big day.

View over Lisbon.

Sintra.

Cabo da Roca.

We got the perfect wedding present, a holiday. We had five incredibly warm and beautiful days in Lisbon at the beginning of October. We visited also Sintra, UNESCO's World Heritage Site and were impressed about the buildings and gardens in the area. Last we went to the most Western point in mainland Europe, Cabo da Roca. The view was stunning! In addition Portuguese food and wine were excellent!

Photo: Özlem Gün

The year 2017 ended in Germany. We had a lovely time there. Visiting Germany is for us like coming to a second home. Last we want to say a few words about this year, about our dreams and goals. We want to have a new family member here, a cat and finally visit Lapland, hopefully in wintertime. One huge goal is to make our company succesful. And a smaller goal to renovate the sauna house in summer. So bring it on 2018, we are ready! Hugs and kisses to you our dear friends and have a great year 2018!