1 year in our apartment
It’s just arrived at 1 year since we moved into our Malmo apartment — 12 months of painting and projects, and working to make this beautiful space our home. We love living in this apartment, this building, and the area we’re in, and I truly have felt so grateful to wake up here every day. Watching the seasons change outside the windows has been its own delight; something new to look forward to every few months, and I already find myself day dreaming of the changes as we come into this second year of experiencing them; the snowy white flowers on the cherry blossom tree in the spring, the bright green canopy of tree tops in the square through the summer (complete with chatter from the street below as the evenings are so long and warm), the crisp afternoons and yellow tones coming in through autumn, and of course, always hoping for snowy days in the winter and decorating the house for Christmas!
There isn’t a single room we didn’t change since moving in (something I often wonder what the former owners would think of our updates), we’ve brought in a lot of colour and a lot of fun to the spaces, and each room is a place I like to spend time in. Some of the DIYs were more ambitious than others - like the cherry red carpet in the bedroom, and painting the built in bookshelf in the studio, but all of the challenges are ones that I am so glad we persevered with and I feel so proud of how much work we’ve put into our home. Hosting our sweet Saga since late November 2021 has meant there have had to be some slight modifications and ‘aesthetic compromises’ (our big white rug in the living room is currently turned upside down so that the woollen pom-poms are safe from puppy teeth!) but it’s been a fun challenge in itself to find dog-friendly furnishings that will wear well over the next year or so. I love a little before-and-after compilation, so here’s a look at all the rooms we worked on in these last 12 months!
The Balcony — we got right to work on tidying up the balcony, as soon as we realised how nice Swedish springtime is and wanting to savour every second of it! New IKEA click-tiles on the floor, some shelves for pot plants and a few floral planter boxes later, and we were in business. Such a tiny space, but so impactful!
The Kitchen — An Easter long-weekend spent sprucing the kitchen, and such relatively small changes yielded such a nice result! New floating shelves, some artwork, and a lot of bright colours to help offset the heaviness of the black countertops. The kitchen still isn’t the style that I would have chosen if we were installing from scratch, but this last year I’ve really grown to love the graphic black and white! The kitchen also gets the most beautiful morning light, so spending time there over coffee or a lazy brunch has definitely brought on some more affection!
The Bedroom — the bedroom existed in a bit of limbo, until I finally decided to commit to the red carpet I’d been eyeing off and sampling for a month or so. A weekend installing the carpet ourselves, and suddenly we had a bedroom that felt like a hotel! It’s still so nice to wake up in each morning, and the carpet really feels like a luxurious update (much preferred to the click-tile laminate that is now hiding under the cherry carpet!).
The Hallway — a false start on the hallway meant that we painted in white to try and lighten up the otherwise dark space where the entrance is. After sitting with it for a couple of months it just wasn’t feeling right, and after a little convincing we were on our way to Bauhaus to pick up new paint to give it another makeover. The dusky pink is called ‘Karamell’ and is a colour that I just adore. Accepting that the front section is always going to be darker really helped, and now the pink entrance is the best greeting to come home to!
The Living Room — Definitely the crowning jewel of our apartment, the living room still makes my heart pitter-patter with it’s giant bay window and decorative moulding. It still feels like ‘the good room’ to me, and it’s been fun to switch out the covers of the sofa for some more variety in the room.
The Studio — I’ve not put a full before and after post together for the studio, because it’s changed so much month-to-month that it never feels quite finished. It is nice to have a space that feels semi-flexible in how it’s used though, with the desk being used as a dining table when the occasion calls for it, or shuffling some other armchairs around when we need a little more room for the Christmas tree!
A year on and there are no design regrets in the house… only a slight wish that I’d painted our hallway pink sooner! We had originally painted it white but redid it in the raspberry pink after white just felt too boring! It was a good lesson for me to trust my gut and lean in to what I like — I know I won’t get sick of pink, so I might as well go with it! With all of the rooms finished in the apartment now, I’m trawling the real estate sites most days ‘just to check’ for a tiny summer cottage that might need some love… or perhaps a pied-à-terre for another design challenge! I loved crafting all the pieces of our home and would love to do it all again some day!
