As Roy and Ola Norberg settle in to enjoy the holiday season with their children Theodore, Cornelia and Vincent in their beautiful turn of the century home in southern Stockholm, it's hard to believe it was anything other than the idyllic space they enjoy now. But eight years ago when they purchased it, the house was in rough shape — it was falling down in places and was buried under decades of linoleum, particleboard, carpeting, scary '70s wallpaper and a leaking corrugated metal roof. Taking on much of the renovating themselves, they steadily stripped away all the bad later additions, replaced the windows with authentic ones, added a new tiled roof (discovered in drawings of the original house), replastered the walls by hand and put in new doors, switches, handrails and other details that were in harmony with the age of the house. Now a fire crackles in the original ceramic stove in the living area, rooms are candle lit and the house smells like hyacinths and pine boughs. Happy holidays indeed. More here on Lantliv.
(photography by carina olander)