Nordic Haus was established in the summer of 2007. Finding this
house was the culmination of three years of searching for an authentic family vacation compound.
The first two times our realtor sent the MLS page, I deleted the listing before reading
the details. After all, could anyone fall in love at first sight with a cottage in the shape of a trapezoidal space-ship?
One week after receiving the MLS page for the second time, I sifted through my deleted
mail "just to see" the specs of the home. It still looked a little odd, but less so, and it really seemed to suit
our family well. So we scheduled a visit. And loved the house. Like any seller's dream showing, we bid on
the house that foggy night with four young children racing through the house. One month later, the house became our
home.
Since all substantial houses have names, we set about deciding on a proper and fitting
name for the family compound... the home in which our children would spend summers on the beach... and yes, the home that
had it's funny trapezoidal shape. With a name like VanderZwaag, it's easier in the long run to work with
the name rather than to pretend one can blend into a crowd. We ultimately chose to celebrate our European ancestry.
Nordic Haus was conceived, and we've been filling jars with beach glass and lake pebbles ever since.