A Couple Used Google Maps to Find an Island and Turned It Into an Amazing Off-Grid Retreat

A few tears ago, a young couple in Finland wanted to switch to a more natural, off-grid lifestyle. In their case, that didn’t mean a van, a sailboat, or a tiny house on wheels but an entire island just for themselves. Well, how do you go about finding an empty, available island? Aleksi Hautamaki and Milla Selkimak told Business Insider that they first went the traditional route of checking-out the real estate market. Of course, there weren’t many options there.

So, they took matters into their own hands and started looking for islands on Google Maps. The fact that Aleksi was used to cruising in his father’s boat around the Archipelago National Park certainly helped. It was a tedious process, though – they’d find something interesting on Google Maps, then had to check the local documents for ownership and contact the owners. It took them five years to eventually find the perfect spot.

This turned out to be a 5-acre (2 hectares) island on the edge of the Archipelago National Park. The owners at the time were happy to part with it, as it was just part of a larger parcel that belonged to them. Aleksi and Milla simply named it “Project O” (“O” is Finnish for “island”) and were ready for the next step in their adventure.

Finding an uninhabited island was just the beginning. Now they had to turn into a home. The two had sold their apartment in Helsinki in order to buy the island and lived in a rental apartment during the construction process. Both of them are designers (in different fields), yet they have never built a house before. It was hard work, and the remote location made it even more challenging - everything had to be delivered there by boat.

The result looked like this – the main cabin, a guest house, an indoor and outdoor kitchen, plus a sauna. Everything was built in harmony with traditional Finnish archipelago aesthetics and with the natural surroundings. They wanted to use as little space as possible while still enjoying the comfort and a beautiful style.

According to Aleksi, the island is totally self-sufficient and sustainable. Solar panels provide energy. Water from the Baltic Sea is filtered to become drinking water. The sauna stove is part of a system that provides both floor heating and hot running water. Peat, a natural resource obtained through the decomposition of vegetable matter, was used for wall insulation and soundproofing.

Connection with the outside world is needed for transportation and for food supplies. Since it’s so remote, this off-grid retreat can only be reached by boat or helicopter. It only takes 45 minutes to get from Helsinki to the island via helicopter. But a boat is the basic means of transportation – from the Helsinki International Airport, people have to drive to Kasnas (a 2.5-hour ride) and, from there, take a boat to the National Park (a 20-minute cruise).

Those who want to be 100% off-grid can rely on fishing for themselves, then cooking in the outdoor kitchen. But, most of the time, food supplies are brought in from the mainland, also via boat.

This wasn’t their original plan, but Aleksi and Milla started to rent out their amazing self-sufficient retreat this summer, and it has been very popular. People from all over the world came to visit the gorgeous location and enjoy the off-grid lifestyle for a while.

A bold dream and a lot of hard work eventually turned into a successful business (more booking details can be found at Airbnb). And it all started with a wish and the determination to find the perfect spot on Google Maps.