Hope you had a great 4th!
After graduation travel to a way overcrowded Venice, it was so nice to come up north to the silence, emptiness and beautiful nature in Sweden. With all that’s going on in the world it’s so nice to have this place of solitude.
We were home to celebrate Swedish Midsommar. (Not the Midsommar you might have seen in the new horror movie!)
Midsummer takes place the third week of June and it’s the longest day of the year when the sun doesn’t set at all.
It’s a beautiful, lush green time of the year and all throughout the night you hear the birds on these light summer nights .
On Midsummer day families gather and sing and dance around the midsummer tree. All around Sweden you can find a celebration to join.
Parents, grandparents and kids dance around a maypole. For the first time we went to the local celebration in my town and it was adorable. The more things feel menacing in the world, the more I appreciate the sweetness of old Swedish traditions. I think the man who sang the songs have been doing it for years. It’s normally like that.
. It’s like stepping back in time and you feel like you’re in some innocent utopia.
Afterwards people have dinner. This is my mother (who hates being in pictures), she is the family cook and prepred a meal with of course herring, salmon, meatballs and lingon berry jam..
We set the table in the large kitchen and in the room with a view of the lake.
A few friends came over to join us and the rest of the family.
Here is Luke who just turned 18, with cousins Viggo, Irma and Zoe.
Irma my youngest niece is now 7.
Old midsummer night tradition says to pick seven different flowers and to sleep with them under your pillow. Then you will dream of the person you will marry in the future.
The exterior house is getting painted in the fall and I’m trying to figure out a paint color scheme. With the new yellow awning I bought last summer I need something to go with it.
I’m thinking of painting it off white with green window surrounds.
The guest house is covered in ivy and we have some work to do, but I don’t mind the overgrown look.
Luke and Viggo in the white painted entry.
The country I live in is called Värmland and it’s in the middle of Sweden. If you come here I highly recommend a visit to The Alma Löv Museum. My brother Joacim and his wife Lisa had a movie screening there and it was a real trip to visit.
The Alma Löv Museum is a contemporary art museum in the deep forests of Värmland, with a gigantic barn turned exhibition hall with all kinds of art rooms inside and creative art installations. Inside are the coolest places to discover and a couple of cafes.
The barn also has ten surrounding pavilions with different art installations.
It was founded by Belgian artist Marc Broos in 1998.
Here is the main area of the gigantic barn.
You can climb up to corner rooms in the attic area of the barn and find all sorts of wildly creative spaces.
All the way down stairs is a movie theatre with all vintage furniture and a cafe.
Luke is starting college in the fall and I’m going to have a very bad case of empty nester so I’m planning on spending more time out here in this peaceful country place.
If you want to follow along on instagram
@JILLSORENSENLIFESTYLE I post about interior stuff
@JILLSORENSEN which is a blend of all that I do
@ROOM_FIX Our E-Design a la carte service www.room-fix.com where we share design tips and inspiring spaces.
