A bespoke dream home by the seashore

The customer family decided to make one of their dreams come true by building a log home on the seaside. The perfect plot was found in Inkoo, Finland. The family chose Honkarakenne as building contractor for the project, on account of our quality and excellent customer service.

The plans were clear. First the family would sell their previous home in Espoo, and then start looking for a suitable plot for the new house. But things didn’t turn out exactly like that; as so often happens in life everything happened at once and all of a sudden.

As the family was just beginning to sell the Espoo house, a seashore plot became available in Barösund in Inkoo. That opportunity had to be seized immediately. After the plot was purchased, the family immediately started planning the new house.

We wanted a log home, and had two clear favourites for building it. One of them was Honkarakenne. I contacted them and because we got such good service there, we decided to go with Honkarakenne.

The customer

The couple had the home they wanted already sketched out on paper. The idea of a perfect design and room layout came to them on a trip to Perpignan, France, where they had seen an arc-shaped house with a swimming pool in front of it. "We wanted the house to have the same plough-shaped form as the French house we had seen, but in place of the pool would be the sea."

"We talked to the architect about our wishes. Katja closely examined the landscape and made her own notes. When we got the first draft I was really impressed and surprised: Katja had really caught the essence of everything I had said. The drawings were complete – there was no need to change anything."

Some small changes did eventually have to be made, however, because when the final location of the house was being marked out on the plot; the best place for it was definitely on top of the rocky slope rising from the shore. Since part of the rock had to be blasted away in order to lay the foundations, it made sense to build a basement floor beneath the log frame at the same time.

A 120-square-metre log house was ordered from Honkarakenne, with a ready-made roof. The material used in the house is non-settling Honka Fusion laminated timber, 204 mm wide and with a rise of 260 mm. Thanks to the non-settling nature of the timber, large windows and glass doors were possible for the house, making it very modern. The frame of the house was built by Honka's own installers on the completed foundations. The foundation work, the basement floor, and the finishing work on the house were left for the family to handle themselves.

“I wanted locals to do as much of the work as possible. For example, the land moving work was done by a business owned by an entrepreneur on the neighbouring island, and the heating, plumbing, and ventilation work was done by a company from Tammisaari. The floor layer that we found in the local area was so skilled that the floor did not need to be levelled out at all after his work and before the large tiles could be laid.”

The house, which has a lean-to roof, is actually two houses of different heights that are connected to each other. These two parts are positioned at a slight angle to each other, forming an arc. The entrance to the home is at the junction of the two parts.

On stepping into the hallway, one’s gaze is immediately drawn straight ahead, to the captivating seascape that opens up from the windows of the living area. This part includes not only the living room, but also the kitchen and dining area, all in the same open space.

The kitchen has a particularly important role in this home. The family cooks a lot, with frequent dining visitors. Between the cabins and the dining area there is a large island. In addition to being ideal for preparing food, it also makes a great serving table when needed. The height of the room is four metres at its highest point, and its dark-coloured surface materials give the room a great ambience. “We wanted an oriental-style hideaway atmosphere here. The room is shaded, but not dark, since it has plenty of windows.”

The room height is normal at the other end of the house. That’s where the bedrooms and sauna facilities are. The colour scheme that was chosen for this part of the house was Scandinavian pale tones and calming colours. The landscape has such an important role in the home that the bed was placed beside the window.

A sea cove opens up in front of us, and the house is surrounded by the most beautiful nature imaginable. Sometimes there are as many as six deer in our garden. We got just the home we wanted. This place is perfect for us.

The customer

• House type: detached house
• Net floor area: main building 130 m2, and sauna 30 m2
• Heating method: ground heat
• Wall structure: Non-settling log FXL 134 (main building), non-settling log FXL 134 (sauna)
• Location: Inkoo
• Year of construction: 2016
• Architectural design: Katja Jämsä
• Exterior walls: Tikkurilan Valtti Arctic, Kemi 5124
• Interior walls: Tikkurila Harmony, TVT 1948
• Honka ID: 16843