Cecilia Engvall turned her parents’ small cottage into her dream home.
Everything happened as in the Russian proverb: there would have been no happiness, but misfortune helped. The fate of a small house in the Swedish countryside was decided by the divorce of its owner.
After the divorce, Cecilia Engvall’s life took a new turn: having sold a house on one of the islands of the Stockholm archipelago, she decided to move to her parents’ old dacha in western Sweden.
In the eighties, Cecilia and her parents spent every summer here. Since then, she has wonderful memories of walks along the lake and outdoor dinners. And now that she returned to this house, she wanted to turn it into the home of her dreams.
Her parents supported her: despite the fact that the area of the house was small, only 25 square meters, they had no doubt that the old house deserved a better life. Together they sketched out a plan for change: Cecilia knew exactly what she wanted, and her father knew how to draw well.
The changes began with redevelopment: initially the house was one-story, and Cecilia decided to build on it to create a bedroom on the second level.
This turned out to be not so simple: according to new rules introduced in Sweden in 2014, a house with an area of 25 square meters, which is used as a permanent residence, cannot be higher than four meters.
After negotiations with the municipality, it was possible to obtain permission for another additional meter and install the stairs leading to the second floor so that it did not take up too much space.
There was only room for a sofa in the small living room on the first floor under the stairs: a snow-white EKTORP from the IKEA store fit right into its bend. Apart from the sofa, there are no large objects in the living room – Cecilia wanted nothing to interfere with admiring nature.
To maintain an airy feeling in the house, the walls and furniture were painted white. It is ideally paired with different shades of blue, and golden accents add grace. Cecilia believes that there should not be too much color in a small space.
Most of the items were purchased from IKEA, some were brought from a flea market. The beautiful crystal chandelier that hangs in the double-height living room is a family heirloom.
But the main treasure is located outside the house – so its door is almost always open. Not only from the terrace, but also from the living room you can admire the view of the lake and mountains – for the sake of this picture all the alterations were started.
