Mökki is the Finnish word for cottage.
We tried to capture some of that Scandinavian feel through the use of bright colours, which from the street curb can’t help but put a smile on your face. Mökki is about living simply. All this is to make one feel relaxed in a welcoming and cozy abode. It helps slow down time and brings us back to the things that matter in life, like having a lazy morning, taking the time for a bath, sipping coffee on the porch or cozying up to read a good book.
The Mökki Birdhouse was built in 2017, with its key design challenge being creative use of a lot space and an orientation that allows for privacy from neighboring dwellings, capturing the harbor view, and letting in the southern exposure. The construction is an A-frame sitting on a timber frame base, where the ground level is closed in as a storage area. This building sits atop what used to be an old junkyard from an auto garage … one can still find scrap copper and steel occasionally resurfacing.
The best feature of the place is the burgundy soaker bathtub. It is meant to invite guests to slow down and enjoy the good things in life. As current-day trends in hotels and home bathrooms seem to be phasing out bathtubs, we wanted to bring it back in its full glory.
In the spirit of wabi-sabi, which celebrates the beauty in imperfection, the windows measure in various dimensions and were placed in an unaligned fashion while ensuring that the loft window was positioned to offer a view of the lake when sitting or lying in the cozy loft.
The Birdhouse is accented with a Nepali theme. The sink is a hand-forged brass singing bowl that we brought back from one of our Himalayan climbing expeditions. The loft storage baskets were used by our porters, and the red curtain is a yak wool blanket handmade in Namche Bazaar.
The Birdhouse features a raised-bed garden, which provides fresh greens for its guests. Water is supplied from rain barrels filled by the cabin's gutters.
Why the name “Birdhouse”? Well, it looks like a birdhouse, it’s perched up high, you can certainly hear the seagulls during the summer, and it offers a bird's-eye view of the harbor. Lastly, it used to be next to our chicken coop, which later was replaced with a hackberry tree to feed the birds.
INTERESTED IN MORE MÖKKI?
Check out our other Mökki cabins for more simple-living, uniquely North Shore experiences. The owner, Lonnie, has been a carpenter for over 40 years, since his dad put a shovel in his hands at 13 years of age. He has taught the art of dovetail log cabin building at the North House Folk School and has built several cabins throughout the county. He is an artist; not one cabin is the same, and his creative touches are found in all of them.