Almost two years living in this house and this is the first time we are seeing the actual timber frame. And oh boy was it worth the wait!
When I started peeling back the layers of this room (check my two previous posts), I didn’t know just how far I’d end up with it. I got carried away and my little painting project turned into me ripping away everything until I reached the original wood frame.
I first took down drywall from the inside walls that are constructed using raw planks, savouring the moment I’d get to the two other walls that are the timber frame. I was eager to dig through all the layers at one spot first because I just had to see those logs NOW!
When I reached that last fiberboard layer before the timber, I got really nervous because there is a possibility of damage from the insulation and unbreathable drywall with plastic paint. Luckily, everything was perfectly dry, around 5% moisture which is just fantastic.
When I saw the first logs, I immediately knew that I’d be leaving them exposed for this room. I can’t really think of anything more beautiful than these old untreated logs that are in pristine condition. Just look at it!! These pictures don’t really show the scale but the logs are around 27cm tall (and probably just as wide), they don’t even make trees this big anymore! That is a joke, kinda, I’m a loggers daughter.
You can easily see from the wood shaving insulation, packed between the logs, that the wall is in an immaculate condition, no moisture, no bugs, no mice, no dirt. Honestly this is almost shocking because these walls were erected in the late 1940’s and they have not been exposed nor cleaned in any way for decades and decades.
Here’s a little hint of how old the frame actually is, a local newspaper from the 1881, glued into one of the logs. See the thing is, the frame of this house has been moved here from somewhere else, we don’t actually know from where or why. The logs have been taken down one by one, moved, and dovetailed back together here, like legos! You can see from the different colours and some patchwork that a few of the logs have been used to make an inside wall and repurposed here.
”Cognac, rum, arrack, punch and liquer is sold by yours truly from the shop in a manor house, next to the old store. J. G. Swendelin.” Same dude is advertising ”Newly arrived sewing machines”.
For my Finnish readers, I managed to find this exact newspaper from the digital archive to see it in full:
https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/sanomalehti/binding/465401?page=1
It’s been a lot of work, about two weeks working around the clock almost every day to get to this point and there’s still lots to be done before I can start adding in something new. I like to stop and treasure these individual accomplishments within a big project, the journey really is a very important part.
As a reminder, mostly for myself, here’s what the room looked like when we first moved in here. Drywall, white on white, grey laminate floor, mdf baseboards and radiator akwardly jammed halfway in a recess. Cold, bland, and depressing all around. I’m sure this would be the ”after” for some people, like for the previous owners who made it like this, but I hate it.
