200-year-old wooden house, perfectly restored

This holiday home is in the Swiss Alps and reading its story, I greatly regretted that the owners did not take (or publish) photos of the house before it was renovated. The house, more than 200 years old, looks amazing, but it took a lot of work and owners determined to keep everything old and authentic.

The house, located in a village of less than 500 inhabitants - Brienzwiler - in the Bernese Oberland region, was discovered by two young people from Zurich, eager to leave the hustle and bustle of the city on weekends and holidays for the peace and quiet of a village in the Alps, where even now the main preoccupations of the locals are picking plums and making jam and brandy or baking bread once a week in the communal village oven.

I'm sorry there are no photos from before the renovation because the owners say all the walls were covered with synthetic panels smoked from years of coal heating, panels that divided the house into small, dark rooms, and access to the house was by climbing 2-3 steps and entering the ... bathroom first. However, beyond all this, they managed to see the true value of the house and didn't miss the opportunity to buy it.

They believed in their project even though nobody guaranteed at the beginning that they would be able to keep the original structure. However, after 7 months of work with architects, building experts and restorers, they managed to pull out a real gem from behind the old panels and walls blackened by coal and wood smoke.

The couple wanted a cozy country-style interior that would suit both the house and the mountain area, and they succeeded. The walls and floors of the home, made of fir and pine, were sanded while letting the patina of the weather speak to the age of the home. The old objects with have been associated with those that pertain to urban aesthetics. Nothing is busy, there aren't hundreds of objects that look like they're in the Alps, there are only tastefully and decently placed "touches" that make the rustic house an absolutely lovely place.

Lovers of antiques, the two youngsters have enriched the house with objects taken from flea markets or brought back from their travels around the world.

In the dining room there is an imposing pinewood pendulum from Germany, and a bell from Catalonia and a wooden sleigh from Montreal decorate the entrance staircase. The only 'shiny' things in the house are the kitchen items, which the owners, genuine city dwellers, couldn't do without.

The entrance to the house also respects the place. Bells fastened by embroidered leather bands are hung at the entrance and access is through small piles of neatly stacked firewood and, most importantly, you don't enter the bathroom first.

It's really nice what the owners have managed to do with this old wooden house, and the attention to detail is impressive. The house is as rustic and authentic as you can get, the decor is minimalist, with remarkable old objects, but they don't suffocate the space or the eye.

The two say the biggest challenge was to achieve a rustic home that was as authentic as possible, while still having all the modern amenities. And it seems to have succeeded perfectly since, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, they can switch on the central heating in the house the moment they leave Zurich.

source: lonny.com