In my last post I talked about an interesting new apartment we had in sight. Unfortunately, it didn´t work out, but there´s a silver lining too. We discussed with a few repair companies and professional people and managed to find a guy who seems very fitting for our next project. Of course we are bummed since we couldn´t get our project going, but that is nothing new to us since our standards are pretty high (and that´s putting it very lightly) when it comes to apartments.
I thought I´d share a few of our must haves with you, so here we go:
1. LOCATION
Southern Helsinki, no question about it. Katajanokka, Ullanlinna, Eira and maybe Punavuori, if the street and the building are ok.
2. AN OLD BUILDING
Built before 1930. Yes, we love Jugend style houses!
3. WOODEN PLANK FLOORS
Preferably original, a massive NO to laminate, etc.!
4. LARGE AND BROAD WINDOWS LEDGES
Because you must be able to sit on the ledges while sipping a cup of coffee, right!?
5. AN OLD TILED STOVE
What is better than relaxing by a beautiful and a warm fire place during the winter months? It´s a great interior accessory too!
6. HIGH ROOMS
Room height minimum of 3 metres, I love the space and the effect high rooms create.
7. 60-80 SG. METERS OF SPACE
This one´s tricky since most places require relocating walls or even the kitchen in order to meet our ideas, since the layouts in these old apartments are what they are.
8. 2nd FLOOR OR HIGHER
Unless it´s something special and different with own yard, etc.
9. POOR CONDITION
I want to do an extreme makeover and get creative without having to feel bad about knocking down walls or dismantling a relatively new kitchen or re-doing a three-year old bathroom. Oh wait, I´ve already done all that before!
10. OLD WOODEN DOORS
Original doors would be perfect, but there are brand new doors with nice styling as well!
If the place has gypsum / plaster lists it´s a massive upside. I really love those Parisian style plaster roofs and we are definitely going to have one in the future! Also, I wouldn´t mind a panoramic sea view from a nice balcony, but I have to stay even a little realistic.