In Malmö by St:Knut, this young couple have made their dreams come true when they renovated their nice apartment in the 1930s house that they live in. There we find this nice, dark green shaker kitchen in the basement color “Barrsko”g. They made a special design when it comes to the kitchen island. On the kitchen island side, opposite the refrigerator, there is an open shelf solution – perfect for placing things you want to access easily. They have also chosen to integrate a wine fridge.
We had a chat with them during their renovation process, about their renovation dreams and plans for the 1930s apartment in a listed residential building in Malmö. What kind of kitchen was there like in the apartment before? How do you renovate a listed building correctly?
The kitchen is currently finished, this interview was done during the course of the work. Therefore, we can offer both before and after photos.
– Hello! What type of apartment is it that you have bought?
– We looked for over a year for an apartment, preferably a third one that didn’t need too much renovation. We ended up falling in love with an apartment in a small 1930s house at S:t Knut in Malmö. The apartment also consisted of two one-room apartments that were built together to form a larger 2-room apartment. So it still ended up being a renovation object, and also with one less room than we had imagined.
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– The apartment we bought thus consisted of two small 1:s that were combined into a 2.5-a by tearing down a small wall in the hall. Otherwise, not much else had been adapted to the larger surface. The kitchen was still original since 1936 and the floor plan definitely left more to be desired. The apartment was in incredibly good condition, including the old kitchen, but in order to use the space we had to tear down some walls and build a completely new kitchen. We also have two super small bathrooms which are not the most practical, they work so far but the next step will probably be to do something with them as well. There is also a lot of work in the form of rewiring electricity, making new sockets, drawing water to the kitchen, creating new storage options, repainting, etc. – which may be seen as minor changes in comparison, but which take a lot of time and planning. At the same time as we do this, we are in the process of agreeing with the board about how much of our attic we can buy, so the plan is for it to become a multi-storey apartment in the future! However, it is a larger project that we will take further.-
– We are almost done! If it ever becomes… The floors are to be repaired where we had to tear down walls to make room for a new kitchen, but otherwise the most invasive part of the renovation is completely done. We are going to repaint a room, but then only the most fun part remains, getting to put in a new kitchen and decorating!
– From the beginning, we intended to do as much as possible ourselves, but as the start-up of the project dragged on, we reconsidered. We still needed tradesmen to run electricity and water, but also to demolish the load-bearing wall – so in the end it was our tradesmen who made the most extensive changes. They ran electricity, tore down walls, drew water, fixed surface layers on ceilings and walls and painted. What we have done ourselves is that we have torn down a couple of smaller walls, fixed old moldings that are to be put back and painted some. We have also worked a lot on getting storage solutions because the wardrobes that were there from the beginning are gone. We therefore need to build space for both wardrobes and shelves, but also arrange a little more storage in our bathrooms. In addition, we have sold all the furniture we have and we have an idea that everything we buy for the apartment should be used in some form, so a lot of time is spent looking around for furniture at flea markets and auctions. It also took a long time to get the right feeling in the kitchen, it’s probably what we spent the most time on so far actually.
– It was super difficult to demolish. In an apartment this old, there is of course a history, and it is difficult to face the realization that you are “destroying” something that has existed for so long. The kitchen in particular was hard to get rid of, it was built in solid wood that was in such an incredibly fine condition that it could probably have lasted another hundred years. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that practical, especially now that the apartment has gotten bigger and it’s not a kitchen for a 1st anymore. So perhaps it wasn’t the demolition that was the most difficult, but finding a worthy alternative to replace it with. In the end, we arrived at the fact that we were absolutely sure that we wanted to build a new kitchen in solid wood, buying a throw-away kitchen had felt directly wrong, but also that we wanted the old kitchen to be used in a other project.
– Dare! Try yourself out, and let it take time. Our biggest problem has been time, and unlike other renovations, we have a TV recording we take part in, had a slightly more definitive deadline. If you have time, you have the opportunity to make mistakes and try different solutions, I also think that we would have dared to do more things ourselves if we knew we had more time. The cost will also be easier to manage if you divide everything into sub-projects, something we also did not have the opportunity to do. And then the most important of all; try to renovate with respect for both the building and the environment. If it is possible to reuse materials, do so, or sell/give them away to others who renovate. If you need something new, check second hand first, people want to get rid of everything from paint to entire kitchens, and if you have to buy new, think carefully about what you buy and the durability of what you build. We’re not going to say that we’ve been perfect in following this in every part of our renovation, but if we had it to do over again, we’d definitely put more thought into it.
– The kitchen. Definitely. For us, it is the kitchen that makes or breaks the final result, considering that it will be visible from almost all sides of the apartment. We don’t know if there would have been any difference in our decisions if we hadn’t had an original kitchen from the beginning, but already when we saw the kitchen that was here from the beginning, we understood that we had to be very careful about how the new kitchen would turn out. Not only from a sustainability point of view, but also that it should be a kitchen that fits in with the style of the apartment.
– We looked for inspiration at various companies and inspirers on social media. We quickly agreed that it was a shaker kitchen we wanted, but then there are choices about color, design, drawer interior, knobs, material, company, etc. There are a lot of decisions to make when it comes to a kitchen! It is also important to get it right, it is still a room you spend a lot of time in and we are both very interested in food. Then, as I said, we wanted it to be sustainable as well. The goal was to build a kitchen that would look as nice after 84 years as the original kitchen did.
– We have just been able to move back into the apartment after 6 weeks of living with our respective parents. We even put up a poinsettia! That has long been the goal. Now that we are back in the apartment, the next big goal is probably to be able to lie down on the sofa after a day’s work and not feel like you have a lot of things to do around painting, sanding, measuring, planning or contacting various craftsmen. We don’t even own a couch yet! – so unfortunately there is still some way to go until that goal is met…
– We are on Instagram under the name @skapabo, where we try to update about all major and minor events in the renovation.
Natalie at the stove in the newly renovated kitchen
The kitchen island is placed next to a wall where a beautiful glass cabinet sits.
Finally, Fanny and Filip say this about their fully renovated kitchen:
– The most important thing for us was to build a new kitchen that could last a long time. Solid wood was an obvious choice and with the help of Skandinaviska Shakerkök we were able to design our dream kitchen. It meets everyday needs and now three years later it still smells fresh of wood when you open a cabinet door, but above all it will be able to last for a long time.
– Fanny & Filip, Malmö @skapabo
About the green shaker kitchen:
Kitchen type: Shaker kitchen.
Color: “Barrskog” (Pine forest)
Countertop: Ceasarstone in the shade “Shitake” and comes from the company City Marmor in Arlöv.
Knobs and handles: Beslag Design
Sink: Nordi Tech
Mixer and detergent pump: Primy.
Fridge/freezer: SMEG
Wine cooler: mQuvée
Kitchen hood: Fjäråskupan and is of the “blender” model
Micro, oven and hob: Siemens
Wall shelf: Norrgavel (brown-oiled oak)
Bar stools: Källemo and called “Cobra”
The lamps above the wall shelf: Lampe Gras
The lamp above the kitchen island: Muta – model “Ambit rail”
Instagram: @skababo
Photo and text: Gina Mannberg for Scandinavian Shaker Kitchen
Styling: Julia Sjölin
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