The farmhouse was an impulse purchase: Ellen Dixdotter, Jacob Holst, and their two young kids had recently moved from Stockholm to Copenhagen when, on a weekend getaway, they decided to take a look at real estate site Hemnet. “It’s not that we’re financially equipped for spontaneous house buying,” Ellen tells us, “but this old place, even in terrible shape, instantly felt like a friend.” The two happen to love a creative project: Jacob is an interior architect at Green Furniture Concept, and Ellen is the marketing and visual director for Danish fashion line By Malene Birger. They founded several successful Stockholm restaurants and their stylishly casual apartments have made the Nordic design blog rounds.
The couple tackled the renovation largely themselves “with a lot of help from family and friends.” But for the new kitchen, the linchpin of the overhaul, they collaborated with Nordiska Kök (translation: Nordic Chef), Johan Lundkvist’s Swedish handmade kitchen company that they discovered on Instagram. We ourselves are longtime fans of Nordiska Kök’s clean-lined, old-timey but ageless look and love seeing it in the context of a century-old house. Ellen offered to show us around.
Photography courtesy of Nordiska Kök (@nordiskakok), unless noted.
Above: Jacob and Ellen in their back garden. The farmhouse is in the seaside town of Österlen, in the south of Sweden, just over an hour’s drive from Copenhagen. Ellen describes the area as “fields of gold, apple orchards, blue ocean, and amazing restaurants.”
The couple, college sweethearts from Malmö University, spent recent weeks quarantined at the house with their kids—and with friends launched the handmade contemporary rug line Cappelen Dimyr.
Above: In place of a “tiny, worn-out Ikea kitchen,” Jacob and Ellen transformed five small rooms into their expansive new living quarters: the airy kitchen with newly exposed rafters overlooks a combination living and dining area.,
“We wanted a big, open space with raw surfaces—the wooden floor and massive stone walls in combination with a more delicate kitchen in sober gray-green,” says Ellen. Jacob, the avid cook of the family, envisioned: “An old house in the south of France where beef bourguignon is always on the stove.”
Above: The cabinets are from Nordiska Kök’s Shaker line painted Natural Colour System 3005-Y20R, and the counters are solid oak. Nordiska Kök’s millwork is built to order in a workshop near Gothenburg, Sweden.
Above: The sink is a Shaws Original and the faucet came from Sekelskifte (see others like it in 10 Easy Pieces: Traditional Bridge Faucets). The fridge and freezer are concealed in the tall cupboard.
Above: The work island came from an antiques market in the Languedoc, in the South of France, in ready to use order. The shiny stainless steel range is a Smeg. Ellen says she bought the peg rail “many years ago at a Stockholm antiques shop–Jacob thinks I’m a hoarder but I always find a purpose for my finds.”,
Above: A china cupboard with wavy glass—”a really good remake of antique glass,” says Johan of Nordiska Kök—stands near the drop-leaf dining table.
Above: “Jacob always wants to be ready to throw a dinner for twenty, so you wouldn’t believe how many plates, forks and knives, and wine glasses we have,” says Ellen, but they keep what’s on view edited down to a small selection.
Above: Van Dyke’s Restorers offers similar Porcelain 1 1/4-Inch Knobs with Screw Tops and you can source vintage versions on Etsy.
Above: The family are now back in Copenhagen and spend weekends at the farm. Here’s a glimpse from Ellen’s Instagram feed, @ellendixdotter.
Above: The view from the living room. Photograph by Ellen Dixdotter.
Before
Above: A souvenir shot by Jacob (@jacobholst) from when the remodel was in progress.
More farm-style kitchens that we love:
- Kitchen of the Week: A Maine Farmhouse Kitchen That Doesn’t Play By the Rules
- Steal This Look: A New Farmhouse Kitchen in London
- A 1700s Stone Farmhouse in the Hudson Valley, Discovered via Google
- A Modern Farmhouse Kitchen in SF, Before and After
