Something old, something new, something borrowed

Last weekend we went to another building exhibition. It was not very exciting to pay 12 euros (each) for seeing companies advertising and selling their services and products to you.... I rather find the companies that I am interested in myself.

Anyway, we had change talk to a company that provides the machinery and the pipes for 'ground source heat'. It basically means that you lay about 400 metres of pipes in the ground underneath and around the house and collect energy to heat the house. You still need some electricity to operate the machine but even in winter the ground heat system is efficient enough to provide with all the heat you need (no frozen toes here!!!). If you purchase the slightly more expensive piece of kit, there is also a possibility to join some solar panels as part of the heating system!

How wicked is that- house with its own energy sources! (And so I proudly show my middle finger to oil companies and the politics that go with the trade. Up yours, Bush!)

As I have said before, for me the only way I can reason the fact that we are building a new house, is that we make the house energy-efficient and eco-friendly. Yes, the ground source heat system is more expensive to start with than for example electrical heating system but in the long run, it will be more economical and better for the environment.

For insulation, we will probably opt for Ekovilla (www.ekovilla.fi) that is made from recycled paper. For sealing windows flax seems like a brilliant idea. (http://www.isolina.com/gb/default.cfm)

I hope we can also follow the same ideology when it comes to furnishing the house. Since I was a teenager I have been fond of old (1950-1960s) furniture which I am hoping to incorporate into the design of the new house somehow. I am hoping to create atmospheric house with something old and something new- house that reflects our life and who were are. Not only is it a decorative choice but as an artist Susanna Salonen ( www.uusio.fi) points out if using and 'pimping up' old furniture is something ,we should consider just for the sake of environment. Have a look at her website for stuff that she has done with old furniture (she welcomes you to freely use and copy her ideas - so give your furniture a new glamorous life!). Also I came across this place in Tampere, Finland that prepares and sells old lamps and light fittings http://www.kotiposti.net/reliala/ .

It is all so quiet

Nothing really is happening on the house front. Except the movement of money out of our account to the bank every month. But that is not exiciting.

I am transcribing my interviews for my thesis at the moment. That also means we are a step closer to starting this project.

I come prepared. I have conned my mum into paying several subscribtions of house and interior design magazines. It is good way of getting (expensive) ideas. I have also started collecting pictures of kitchens, furnitures, fireplaces, saunas etc. into a folder. Charlie is fearing for his wallet...

But he shouldn't. For example, for furniture, if possible I would like to buy stuff that is going to last us a long time. For example I have fallen in love with chairs designed by Charles and Ray Eames but there is no way we will ever afford to buy six chairs one go. Just have to be patient and buy one chair at the time. I think the smae will go with the house design. No reason to rush, let's weight our options, needs and likings and go from there....

...oops- before we even do that I might just need to get that job....

No news at the house front

The house project is on stand-by at the moment. There is not much we can do at the moment but wait until I finish my thesis and secure some kind of empolyment somwhere. Until then, we concentrate on paying of the land and collecting ideas on what we want and do not want.

As part of the planning, we are trying to keep in mind that we want the house to be as ecologically sound as possible. (It is the only way I can justify us building a new house to myself....)

I have been trying to collect information on what materials (such as paints, insulation, foundation materials) to use, Charlie has been finding out information about energy efficient heating.

We are not aiming to be 'eco-warriors' with this project but I think, it is extreamely important that you take into account the environment in this kind of projects. And as I learned few weeks back, according to the WWF, Finns' ecological footprint is the third-heaviest in the world.

There was I thinking we were environmentally rather good nation....

ps. We have so much snow here...and it is snowing again! Anyone fancy coming for a skiing holiday?!?

We were rich for while

....about 2 minutes or something. We had 33,000 euros on our account but then we paid the land and were left with peanuts. Tomorrow we sign the papers for the land. Then we will be landowners in theory (if we just ignore the fact that we the bank owns my soul and Charlie's testicles).

Woops I've got a lot of money

To quote the Blur song of the same name:

'City dweller, Successful fella (ok I can live with that)
Thought to himself:
oops, Ive got a lot of money (my normal thought is 'oops, I've SPENT all my money)
Caught in a rat race
Terminally (my rat race nowadays is likely to involve ACTUAL rats than commuting)
Im a professional cynic (bingo!)
But my hearts not in it
Im paying the price of living life at the limit (in my dictionary, limit=going out both nights of the weekend...does that count?)
Caught up in the centurys anxiety (I'm always anxious, so the century's got nothing to do with it, just my natural paranoia and neurosese)

Visiting a Show House 1

We went to visit a show house in Lempäälä yesterday. The house looked pretty and suited the scenery perfectly. However, the house was somewhat disappointing. The house just felt and looked really plactic and small. My other half was thinking earlier than I was looking houses that were too big for us (about 150 to 160 square meters) but the visit to this show house of bit over 130 square meters made him change his mind.

For some weird reason the show house just felt really small - even smaller than the house we live in at the moment (55 square meters). Whether it was the layout of the dowstairs or the small living room (we like a living room you can fit a big sofa for lounging!!!) C changed his mind and decided that in fact house about 150 square meters would be better. However, I am not sure do two of us actually need that much space or would 120 square meters open space do for us ?

I have few wishes in regards to the layout and the size of rooms. I would like to have a large kitchen (large enough that you can fit too people cooking simultaneously without being on each others way), reasonanble sized sauna and functional home utility room for washing machine, outdoor gear and hobby staff. Let's see how my ideas about 'ideal home' develop as the journey towards our house continues.

The plot

This is not a very good picture- but there it is! Our piece of land. We went to visit the site few weeks back. Only then we got an understanding how big it is. You could use it for many kinds of sports. In the future our sporty activities will include lawn-mowing and snow-jobbing. Great.

It is a nice site thou. You can almost see the lake Pyhäjärvi (at least from the imaginary upstairs). We will have one neighbour on the left hand side and then one at the rear of the 'house'. Our left hand side neighbours have already started the works. Their almost-ready-move-in-without-having-a-nervous-breakdown house is arrving in few weeks.