Central European atmosphere and green walls

YIT’s quality and reliability were decisive factors when Minna Peltonen looked for an apartment in Tallinn.  

Nearly every week, Minna Peltonen from Helsinki packs her bag and heads to north Tallinn to spend the weekend at her holiday apartment in the trendy Kalamaja area. Peltonen bought her first home in Tallinn a year-and-a-half ago, and since then she has bought two more apartments as investment homes. All three apartments are located in Kalamaja, and all were built by YIT. 

In Peltonen’s opinion, the rapidly developing Kalamaja is a wonderful area due to its services and location. From there one can easily get to the harbour and the centre of Tallinn. The area was familiar to Peltonen already before. “I’ve been hanging around Tallinn and Kalamaja for twenty years or so. I have some good friends there, who I visited often.”  

The idea of a permanent base in Tallinn grew gradually. In Peltonen’s opinion, the city is an outstanding place for a holiday home. “It’s easy to travel there from Helsinki. And when it’s your own home, you can go there whenever you want to and make it cosy. Peltonen is also attracted by Tallinn’s Central European atmosphere. During summers she travels more widely around the country. Her favourite places are, for example, Saarenmaa and Viljandi. 

Reliability was the clincher 

Peltonen decided to become a customer of YIT on the basis of the company’s good reputation. “YIT is a large and reliable firm. The quality is good and matters concerning the warranty are all in order. An alternative would have been using some smaller local firm, but I felt uncertain about that,” says Peltonen. 

Buying a YIT home, Peltonen also benefits from building energy efficiency as well as a modern look and level of features. “They were important criteria when making the purchase decision,” says Peltonen. When you purchase an apartment from YIT, you can also trust that your new home’s interior design also meets Finnish tastes. Estonian and Finnish design style have come closer to each other over the years: the same Scandinavian style is appreciated on both sides of the Gulf of Finland.  

Estonians want to stand out  

There are of course also differences. YIT Ehitus’ interior designer Greete Mätas has observed that Finns love YIT’s Estonian-specific details, especially the colourful bathroom tiles. “Estonian taste is perhaps for Finns slightly more extravagant. For us, it is important that one’s own home is distinct from the neighbour’s home. With that we can sometimes be a little excessive, too.” 

Recycling and reuse have also taken a foothold in Estonia. “The most important key words are, however, functionality and design,” says Mätas. Emphasis is placed on original details and natural materials. In interior design, greenery is being used as a new element: walls are curtained with plants and they are used as part of a room’s architecture,” describes Mätas. 

No white cupboards 

Of course, the design is also influenced by whether the apartment will be for personal use or for rental. “When designing an investment home, it is important to create a comfortable and cosy first impression, not focusing so much on details. Most important of all is that the apartment has everything it needs and it can be seen that it has quality and is modern. It’s good if one of the fixtures has many uses or its purpose of use can be changed,” says Mätas. 

Most attention in the design of a new apartment is naturally directed towards the fixtures, they usually stay in place for years. This is a clear difference with Finland, when in Estonia apartments are usually sold without fixtures.  

“I think that Estonians also go for individuality in this. Estonians very often don’t want simple white fixtures that are the same as in the neighbouring apartment. When we design YIT’s show apartments, we try every time to create something new, something different from the previous apartment,” says Mätas. 

Interest in domestic design 

Estonians favour domestic design more and more. Greete Mätas recommends getting to know the following manufacturers, for example: 

http://www.warmnorth.com
http://www.suardesign.com
http://www.woolish.ee
http://www.lessfurniture.com
http://www.radis.ee

For further information, please contact:

Hanna Malmivaara, Vice President, Communications, YIT Corporation, tel. +358 40 561 6568,hanna.malmivaara@yit.fi 

YIT is a construction industry leader that creates sustainable urban environments by constructing housing, business premises, infrastructure and entire areas. We focus on providing a first-class customer experience, high quality and continuous development of our diverse expertise. Our operating area covers Finland, Russia, the Baltic countries, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. Our vision is to stay a step ahead – while caring for our customers, partners and personnel. We have over 5,300 employees in eight countries. In 2015, our revenue amounted to nearly EUR 1.7 billion. Our share is listed on Nasdaq OMX Helsinki. www.yitgroup.com