We have three reasons to write this post. Last time we wrote about our renovation plans. Reason no 1. The workshop renovation has been a while already finished, so we thought to share some photos with you. Reason no 2. This December has been so beautiful. We didn't have to worry about the darkest time of the year because of so much snow. Reason no 3. Our small business has come to an end. The dream of working here as a creative professional has taken another direction. For the past five years we have worked a lot and tried many things. The work has been creative and intensive, but not profitable. Now we want to give us the possibility to think, which direction to go. Business operations will be stopped for at least the entire year 2023.
The first photo above was taken in November 2021, when we were standing proud in front of an almost ready workshop. We wanted to embrace the moment by walking on a red carpet. Below are some work in progress photos.
Starting point of our small shop space.
View to the upcoming wood workshop through a hole for the heating pipe.
Covering the walls with a mixture of chalck paint and cement.
Making of the floors.
Old silo becoming a showroom space.
Making of the ceiling for silo.
View of the renovated jewelry workshop.
View of the new wood workshop in 2021.
View of the small shop space in 2021
View of the small shop space in 2022. We added some green.
The view to the silo in 2021.
The ceiling of silo in 2022.
The barn from outside photographed today.
The amount of snow this December!
We hope that pausing the business will bring us new energy and our dream is still to work fulltime as a creative entrepreneur. We are optimistic about the future. Hopefully you are doing fine too. We wish you happy holidays and all the best to the year 2023!
Hello there! It has been a while since we wrote here. About five years ago we moved to Koivisto's farm and started to renovate the main building. The years 2016-2017 were quite intense and we make the most of the renovation during that time. Our first post was called The Dream of a Home(you can read it here: https://koivistoblog.blogspot.com/2016/05/blog-post.html) and we fulfilled that dream with the help of our friends and family. Now it's a start of a new era. We have a dream to make the old barn as a workspace.
We have our small design studio Koivisto Studio here. In Summer it will be 4 years old. Things has changed from the beginning and our current workshop is getting too small for us. In addition we want to have another direction. We want to hold courses here and give our knowledge of handcrafts and design further. In the future our plan is to offer the workspace for other creatives to use too. Beautiful countryside and nature surrounds us here and offers an endless source of inspiration. It's also peaceful to work here.
The barn is iconic to our farm and now we have started to renovate it. We are trying to keep you posted, how the renovation is going further. Wish us luck. Happy spring greetings from us!
Spring is early this year. Yesterday we were swimming in the river without going first to the sauna. It was so hot day! The renovation is going further. We are finishing the main floor (the floor where we are sleeping and eating) by renovating the corridor and restroom. The amount of light is already mesmerizing. It gives its own boost to get things ready. We want to have the main floor ready before summer and it's also going to happen.
The walls in the corridor had the same treatment as almost everywhere in the main floor (see the post Let's make it bright). Susanna's father helped us to place thin plaster boards on top of the old wallpapers. Then we fixed fibreglass wallpapers and finally we painted them white like in the dining room, living room and bedroom.
The nature is like a big green explosion. Every here and there are blossoming.
Luigi has been curious to get to know new flowers and how they smell.
The cranes have returned among other birds.
The preparations for the fields have started. Our neighbor is taking care of our crop fields.
The birches are early this year with the leaves. What a intensive yellow green color!
Tobi did again great work with the toilet by laying tiles on the walls and on the floor.
For the walls we used light gray and blue tiles, which both were left overs from another construction. The seems aren't done yet, but they will have a dark gray color.
We wanted also tiles for the corridor floors, that it is easy to keep clean when it's rainy and muddy. The chosen tiles are gray brownish with a little texture, so that they are not slippery. There's coming a new post, when the corridor is completed.
Next week is the first of May and we have prepared us by making Sima. Sima is traditional Finnish drink, which belongs to the 1st May celebration. Our plan is to relax a bit and enjoy the nature's wonders. Spring is a amazing time to follow and explore the growth of everything. We wish you sunny and happy spring days!
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!
Hello there! We are a Finnish-German designer couple living in Karkkila, Finland. Koivisto blog is about our renovation projects, secrets of an old farm and some countryside vibes. Warmly welcome!
Spring is early this year. Yesterday we were swimming in the river without going first to the sauna. It was so hot day! The renovation is going further. We are finishing the main floor (the floor where we are sleeping and eating) by renovating the corridor and restroom. The amount of light is already mesmerizing. It gives its own boost to get things ready. We want to have the main floor ready before summer and it's also going to happen.
The walls in the corridor had the same treatment as almost everywhere in the main floor (see the post 
The nature is like a big green explosion. Every here and there are blossoming.
Luigi has been curious to get to know new flowers and how they smell.
The cranes have returned among other birds.
The preparations for the fields have started. Our neighbor is taking care of our crop fields.
The birches are early this year with the leaves. What a intensive yellow green color!
Tobi did again great work with the toilet by laying tiles on the walls and on the floor.
For the walls we used light gray and blue tiles, which both were left overs from another construction. The seems aren't done yet, but they will have a dark gray color.
We wanted also tiles for the corridor floors, that it is easy to keep clean when it's rainy and muddy. The chosen tiles are gray brownish with a little texture, so that they are not slippery. There's coming a new post, when the corridor is completed.
Next week is the first of May and we have prepared us by making Sima. Sima is traditional Finnish drink, which belongs to the 1st May celebration. Our plan is to relax a bit and enjoy the nature's wonders. Spring is a amazing time to follow and explore the growth of everything. We wish you sunny and happy spring days!
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 
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 
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!
