A welcome change of scene & pace

Hope you all had a good weekend! For the next weeks I’ll be vacationing, working & blogging from way out in the Swedish country side. More exactly from our summer house in Torp, the tiny village with only seven houses in it, situated right on a beautiful lake.  It’s serene, peaceful, and like stepping 100 years back in time. It’s worth coming all the way here even if it’s just to smell the incredibly fresh air!!

I’m very happy to have changed from sitting in traffic on route 7, an unfortunate daily occurrence, to be staring at this beautiful view…

When I blog it will be sitting here. This is my desk at 10.30pm at night. It never gets dark here in the summer time. In another hour or so the night fog starts rolling in over the lake and the sky turns pink and yellow.

This place is very peaceful with lots of white, a big change from all the color I’m surrounded with back in Virginia.  The rest of my sitting room/office here looks like this…

A simple vintage desk chair, a Swedish woven mat and pretty much everything including floors painted white.

I might also sit in the bedroom, in my favorite chair and write…

The chair has old torn up Swedish Tenn fabric still on it. The seat is covered with a piece of carpet from Ikea. All the interiors have a decidedly different feel than most of the stuff I design in the states. The walls have white painted paneling.

You simply get caught up in everything light airy and Scandinavian when over here. It’s contagious. The light is so beautiful here, you don’t want to spoil it with too many forceful colors.

I’ll be very busy improving this house.

When we bought it a few years ago, the foyer looked like this….

Plastic carpeting and mismatched wood finishes.

I tore out the carpet and reinvented it like this…

Shockingly void of color. But I prefer it that way. After the plastic carpeting was removed we painted the original wood floor with white porch paint.

Floors, walls and ceiling are white. A colorful woven carpet , a vintage turquoise chandelier and the inside of the cabinet is the only color.

If you leave the main house and head down to the guest house which is closer to the lake..

…there are lots of renovations going on. A couple of years back we started with the first room. The bedroom down there looked like this when we bought it…

Pretty depressing and with hardly any view of the lake. I was itching to get my hands on it!!

Now it’s of course…white…

…with a bunch of new windows.  The wall to the right is an entire wall of windows. We purchased salvaged windows from old homes and installed. I painted the chest turquoise myself.

We’re putting in a kitchen next door and a “sleeping hall” upstairs. It’s one of those family projects that seems to take years, it has taken 4 years actually…I’m almost afraid it’s going to take a lifetime!

Have you ever had any projects like that, that never end?

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17 thoughts on “A welcome change of scene & pace

  1. Love all the changes! My favorite….white! Love the white floors and that turquoise chest. I'm sure if you were there more you could get more done right? How do you sleep at night with all that light?
    Enjoy.

  2. My home here at the beach is never finished—it probably never will be! I just keep changing and tweaking things. Lots of white here too, but at the end I throw in that punch of color (as accents—so I can change it on a whim). My family all come from Sweden and Finland—I'd love to visit both someday…….

  3. You always inspire me! I am re-working my master bedroom too and found a wonderful accent fabric of brown satin with flocked black velvet zebra stripe. I will use it on an antique Hepplewhite desk chair seat pad and for accent pillows. Since I am keeping with an old world colors (for my husband) I am using neutral colors of golds

  4. Thank you for sharing this wonderful photos~ Your before & afters of your vacation home show your signature style! I love your design work, especially because you stay true to who you are. I could spot one of your rooms in a heartbeat!

  5. Jill, I always draw a big sigh of recognition and happiness when I hear you talk about this place. It is so beautiful!
    I loved how you described our magical white nights and the way we notice the shifts. I think this is innately Nordic and we are definitely creatures of nature up in our neck of the woods aren't we!?!
    That scene through your window is so peaceful and it makes me want to run down to the lake for one of those spontaneous 'skinny dips' that only happen at that magic hour of a Summer's night.

    The house is a picture of love and happiness, and when that sleeping hall is done I will be knocking on your door!! 🙂 In fact, give me a paint brush and I'll finish it whilst I am there!! 🙂

    Biggest hugs to you my friend and enjoy this to the full!

    xx Charlotta

  6. You always inspire me! I am re-working my master bedroom too and found a wonderful accent fabric of brown satin with flocked black velvet zebra stripe. I will use it on an antique Hepplewhite desk chair seat pad and for accent pillows. Since I am keeping with an old world colors (for my husband) I am using neutral colors of golds

  7. Thank you for sharing this wonderful photos~ Your before & afters of your vacation home show your signature style! I love your design work, especially because you stay true to who you are. I could spot one of your rooms in a heartbeat!

  8. Hello lovely Jill,

    What are you doing by the computer? Step away and just enjoy every second of summer in Sweden + your gorgeous home! I remember a segment about your stunning Swedish home being one of the first LILY posts I commented on. About a year ago? So cheers to one year of wonderful blog friendship!

    Warm hugs to you. Mon.

    P.S 3 av 5 har magsjuka haer hemma! Vilken himla roera…

    1. I'm enjoying my time, it's beautiful crisp summer days!!! Hoppas din familj mar battre. Vi far nastan magsjuka varenda gang vi kommer hem till Sverige och sproder det genom hela stora familjen. Men inte denna gang…!!!

  9. Wow… that is truly inspirational. The new rooms seem so open, fresh, and clean with the white paint. I especially love the turquoise chest that you painted yourself.

  10. oh how i envy you Jill! indeed if i could somehow transport myself to that first pic- i would! that view is heavenly! enjoy every minute of your stay and although i'm a colour lover, i do love your home in Sweden too. It fits right into it's surroundings with its calming white, plus you have fun splashes of colour:-). xx

  11. What a Fabulous house and you're changes are wonderful…makes a huge difference!
    Thanks for visiting Thistle Cove Farm, it brought me here.
    My similar project is Thistle Cove Farm; we've been working on it since 1995 and it's a labor of intense love. The farm, support buildings, pastures, garden and home have all needed work and, finally, are beginning to look like the beautiful homestead it's meant to be.

  12. oops…should have proof read; my apologies! Of course, that first sentence should have been written thusly: "…and your changes are wonderful…"
    I'm trying to do too much so I can leave to visit an elderly and beloved Aunt…pay attention, Sandra!
    -smile-

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