About that thing we did

We have moved in!

On March 17, 2023, almost a year after we bought our apartment, we moved in. In just a few short weeks, it already feels like home! It’s amazing what moving some old worn-out couches and an “eclectic” bunch of furniture can do to make your new digs feel like your home. And although I tried to avoid it, we did have to go through the time-worn custom of assembling IKEA furniture. At least I had helpers:

The cats got a new toy also:

As I mentioned, this renovation was one of the harder things we’ve done. We are pleased with the results. Here are some before and after photos to give you a sense.

In our entry hall, we were worried that the constant wear and tear of wet shoes and clothes from the kids would damage the hardwood floors. So our designers suggested tile floors - plus they are heated! For a while it looked like this:

Then it looked like this:

And now it looks like this:

We wanted the kitchen to be the center of the house. I think they did a great job. It started like this:

Then it looked like this:

And now it looks like this:

As is common with old Swedish buildings, the bathrooms are quite small. Our designers said that they would be “small but lovely” and I think they really delivered on that sentiment. We wrangled with them for months on how to fit in a compact but deep tub. It was probably one of the biggest sticking points in the design. But we were unrelenting in our requirement for a tub.

The original bathroom looked like this:

Then it became this:

And now it looks like this:

We really like the way it all turned out. And we got our tub and already we have enjoyed taking baths more than we realized. The cinnamon sticks are in heaven and really are significantly cleaner than before. While the renovation took a long time, it has always been a dream of ours to renovate a home. It was stressful. It was a lot of work. But in the end, totally worth it.

One feature of a lot of Swedish spaces is “layers” of lighting. We tried to accomplish that in our design as well. I really like the way our lighting turned out.

To be continued…