a b o u t
Hello there, my name is Hanna. I'm the writer of this story.
Let me tell you about this project: it started in the spring of 2016. We were in the middle of relocating our life in Belgium to start a new life in my home country of Sweden. It was a lovely spring day and our friend Sam showed up with a goodbye gift: a book about Bioclimatic houses (Earth ships, traditional log homes etc... ) Sustainable living was an area both me and my Belgian husband Max had become increasingly interested in.
The truth is, a few years earlier, after loosing our income following a bankruptcy and serious personal financial loss, we had radically changed our life: we stopped buying and started making the items we needed in our life instead. We became non-consumers and truly enjoyed our quiet handmade lifestyle. To keep going and not loosing my mind in this difficult period of our life, I started a diy blog to use as promotion and inspiration together with the sustainable fashion line raori I ran at the time. You are very welcome to pay me a visit :)
Back to our story:
During our move and settling in to our new life in Sweden, in the fall of 2016, Max and I struggled to manage everything that comes with changing countries. Truthfully, that alone could fill a book. We could never have imagined the stress: the struggle with everything from social security numbers, new health insurance, quitting our Belgian status, learning a new language, getting the children settled in a new country, starting a "real" job... it was very hard. Even for me who was actually born in this country!
At the same time, we were in a rush to buy a house as the house we lived in upon arrival in Sweden was time limited. The weekends were spent looking for the perfect house. However, nothing suited (or was affordable) for a family of five with two artistic parents in need of one music studio and one fashion studio, deeply interested in environmentally friendly living at a low cost.
It was around then that Max took out Sam's book again and seriously started looking into actually building us a passive and environmentally friendly house instead. After months and months of planning, calculating and long hours of studying, we decided to design the perfect log home, apply for a building permit and, to save money, build it ourselves!
Now, it is the beginning of October 2017 and we are just (and finally!) getting started.
We hope you enjoy our story, or maybe get inspired by it.
Happy reading!
Hanna & Max
Let me tell you about this project: it started in the spring of 2016. We were in the middle of relocating our life in Belgium to start a new life in my home country of Sweden. It was a lovely spring day and our friend Sam showed up with a goodbye gift: a book about Bioclimatic houses (Earth ships, traditional log homes etc... ) Sustainable living was an area both me and my Belgian husband Max had become increasingly interested in.
The truth is, a few years earlier, after loosing our income following a bankruptcy and serious personal financial loss, we had radically changed our life: we stopped buying and started making the items we needed in our life instead. We became non-consumers and truly enjoyed our quiet handmade lifestyle. To keep going and not loosing my mind in this difficult period of our life, I started a diy blog to use as promotion and inspiration together with the sustainable fashion line raori I ran at the time. You are very welcome to pay me a visit :)
Back to our story:
During our move and settling in to our new life in Sweden, in the fall of 2016, Max and I struggled to manage everything that comes with changing countries. Truthfully, that alone could fill a book. We could never have imagined the stress: the struggle with everything from social security numbers, new health insurance, quitting our Belgian status, learning a new language, getting the children settled in a new country, starting a "real" job... it was very hard. Even for me who was actually born in this country!
At the same time, we were in a rush to buy a house as the house we lived in upon arrival in Sweden was time limited. The weekends were spent looking for the perfect house. However, nothing suited (or was affordable) for a family of five with two artistic parents in need of one music studio and one fashion studio, deeply interested in environmentally friendly living at a low cost.
It was around then that Max took out Sam's book again and seriously started looking into actually building us a passive and environmentally friendly house instead. After months and months of planning, calculating and long hours of studying, we decided to design the perfect log home, apply for a building permit and, to save money, build it ourselves!
Now, it is the beginning of October 2017 and we are just (and finally!) getting started.
We hope you enjoy our story, or maybe get inspired by it.
Happy reading!
Hanna & Max
