Everybody who was in contact with me last winter, knows how extreme experience last winter was. I’ve been pondering with my decisions about the future and where I will stay this year, in this upcoming winter. What I knew in advance was that I can’t continue in the same way as last year. I ended up paying rent for two flats, paying for electricity for 3 different places and so much more, minor expenses. All this because two of my kids moved to the neighboring town for studies, and my two older sons are already living in the village. All this because in this commune it’s not possible to study past obligatory schooling. There’s no high school, no college, no vocational school in here.

What was the most annoying thing was that the biggest bills concerned my farm house, where I lived alone with the animals. Because I was away most of the days, there was nobody to heat the ovens, and the price of electricity became very high during the winter season, thanks to political decisions and the war in the continent. I’ve spent so many hours thinking how I could solve this puzzle and finally I made some kind of decision.

My solution is that I will still stay in the farm, but I will move my bedroom into the small sauna cabin that used to be the bedroom for boys after my divorce. It was a quick way to get more space for us, as the original house had only 3 rooms + restroom/shower/sauna. That cabin is about 13 m2 in total, 7 for the bedroom, 4 for shower and 2 for the entrance/technical area. It will be about as much space as my bedroom upstairs to be heated with electricity. In the main house i will keep warm only the smaller rooms, sitting room and crafting room, where the dogs may stay, and leave the major part of the house to remain cooler, and heat it with firewood when i’m at home. This way I don’t need to keep it all warm, especially when the open staircase to upstairs is from the living room.

Because the cabin was designed to be bedroom for kids, now I’m redecorating it for my own taste. My idea is to create a unique Boho place, with natural textiles and pretty decorations. Make a cosy little woman cave where mind can relax and be creative. All the furniture is recycled and repurposed. So far I’ve managed to paint the brick wall to be chocolate brown, and today’s job will be to fill all the old nail holes and other marks with filler, so that I can paint the door and wall next to it tomorrow.

The best thing with this solution is that i’m able to continue work with the main house, to renovate one room at time and get suitable furniture for each of the room so that next spring it will be ready. At the same time I’m able to get extra things out from the house: clothes, books, tools, construction materials, toys, decorations… It feels so liberating to get project ready and make it look in a certain way, as this has taken so many years.