[News Culture] One house near Woraksan Mountain looks as though it has been standing for generations, despite being barely two years old. Another, surrounded by fields in Damyang, was built around sunlight, family gatherings and a view of Chuwolsan Mountain. Both were largely completed by husbands with little previous construction experience, each trying to give his family a home that had long been out of reach.
EBS1’s “Our Sweet Homes” visits the two couples in its Nov. 10 episode, following four years of hands-on construction in Chungju and a second home-building project in Damyang that began after business failure, illness and years of overnight delivery work.
Four years of salvaged materials near Woraksan
Near Woraksan Mountain in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, a house tucked beside a stream resembles an old European farmhouse more than a recent Korean build. Even an official visiting for the final inspection reportedly spent 30 minutes trying to find it.
Young-gwon, who runs a café in the mountains, built the house for his wife, Mi-gyeong. The two met after Mi-gyeong, then running a wedding shop in Seoul’s Gangnam district, visited his café with a friend and eventually settled into life with him in the countryside.
Their first home together was far less comfortable. With no separate newlywed house, they lived in a small loft attached to the café. There was no bathroom of their own, so they washed in the café restroom and drove to the hot springs in Suanbo when they needed a proper bath. Winters meant an electric heating pad, thin padded jackets and very little room.
Young-gwon spent years saving money and collecting materials for the house Mi-gyeong had always wanted. He knew she liked aged objects and the worn look of European farmhouses, so he began searching for pieces that could give a new building the texture of an old one.
The exterior is clad in galvanized corrugated metal salvaged roughly 20 years ago from demolished U.S. military barracks in Chilgok County. Reclaimed timber, European-style windows and a British doorframe around a century old were added over time. None of it was chosen to make the house look pristine.
The same approach continues indoors. The first-floor windows became such an important part of the design that Young-gwon changed the construction plan to make them work after learning that the company that made them had withdrawn from the Korean market.
The bathroom is finished with wood and wallpaper rather than the usual expanse of cold tile. Young-gwon wanted it to feel warm for Mi-gyeong, even if that meant ignoring some of the standard choices found in a newly built house.
Much of the work was his own, and the four-year project came with injuries. He once fell from the roof and broke his arm, then returned to the job while still in a cast, working one-handed because he was determined to finish what he had started himself. Even now, a few lights remain uninstalled because he has yet to find fixtures he likes.
Mi-gyeong gives the finished house 90 points out of 100. Young-gwon is mildly disappointed by the missing 10, but the house has already done what mattered most to him: replaced the cramped loft where their marriage began with a home built around the things his wife had wanted for years.
Starting over in Damyang, one room at a time
In Damyang County, Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City, a white house stands among fields with banana plants growing in the yard. It belongs to Sang-won and his Russian-born wife, Polina.
They met while Sang-won was traveling in Russia after difficulties with his business. Polina later moved to Korea, and the couple initially worked together to expand the business. When it failed, they shut it down and turned to early-morning delivery work to support themselves.
Then Sang-won was diagnosed with tongue cancer and underwent surgery. Concerned about his health, his parents offered the couple land they had been using as a vegetable garden and encouraged them to live nearby. Sang-won decided to build there for Polina and their young daughter, Harin.
Neither husband nor wife had building experience. Once the structural frame was complete, however, they took over much of the finishing work themselves. Sang-won initially insisted the remaining jobs would take only a day or two. They did not.
Night after night, the couple studied whatever task came next, then returned to the site to handle waterproofing, insulation, wallpapering and other finishing work, much of it during the summer heat. Polina picked up the tools as well, wanting to work on the house her family would live in rather than watch from the sidelines.
Budget shaped many of their decisions. The kitchen island uses engineered stone, the floors are finished with vinyl, and furniture and appliances were bought secondhand where possible. They saved on visible finishes but spent more carefully on the underlying construction, knowing their daughter could grow up in the house.
Sunlight was Polina’s biggest request. Years of predawn delivery work had turned day and night upside down, and she wanted the new house to feel bright. Large fixed windows open the living room and kitchen to daylight, while corner windows bring light into Harin’s room.
Polina grew up in a large Russian family, and that experience shaped the communal parts of the house. The kitchen and living room are deliberately spacious so relatives can eat and spend time together, while the upstairs bathroom has a large window overlooking Chuwolsan Mountain, added so she can enjoy the view while soaking in the tub.
The house is also closely connected to Sang-won’s parents next door. There is no fence separating the two properties, the kitchen window faces his parents’ home, and a door from the living room opens toward their yard. Privacy was not the only priority; making it easy for the family to move back and forth mattered just as much.
For Polina, the house marks another stage in a life rebuilt far from Russia. For the couple, it comes after a failed business, years of difficult work and Sang-won’s cancer treatment. They did not erase those years when they built the new house. They simply made a place where the next ones could begin differently.
“Our Sweet Homes” airs Nov. 10 at 9:55 p.m. KST on EBS1.
Reported by News Culture M.J._mj94070777@nc.press
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