Who lives here?

– In our small home there’s me, my husband Pehr, Aldo, 3.5 years, Frank-Morris who is 7 months and our dog Bosco, a Jack Russell Terrier. We live on Drottningsholmsmalmen, in what was once the stable of an 18th century farm, facing Drottningholms castle. The architect Sigurd Lewerentz (1885–1975) designed part of the garden after a trip to Italy, so it’s Italian inspired for real.

So you live next door to the king?

– Yes, he lives opposite us! I meet him sometimes when I walk the dog. He always greets us and is always in company of his bodyguards, dressed as happy 80’s exercisers.

Tell us about your Portal shelf!

– My shelf is fantastic! In this little house, there’s not a single straight line. If you use a spirit level, everything looks crooked. We have low ceilings and many small level differences, so we had to get rid of all the living room furniture and beds when we moved in. The neighbor hoisted the grand piano to the second floor and rumor has it that another one lifted the entire roof to get the furniture in! So it was wonderful to get the flat packages with the shelf. Josefine (Halfwordson, founder of Tônn) had set all the dimensions and we knew that it was made specifically for this wall. We could let the shelf go all the way up to the ceiling, which was fantastic, and it was easy to cut the ends off. Josefine had made a drawing where she showed us exactly where we should cut them.

Why did you choose this design?

– We had bought our first TV and it was about three times bigger than I imagined … For it to stay we needed to find a good solution – I don’t want the room to feel like a gaming center. I was a little scared of having a shelf taking up so much space because we have very few windows, the house is culturally marked and there are pillars from the old horse stalls everywhere. Am I crazy to choose such a mammoth size design? ”It will be the other way around,” Josefine said and she was absolutely right. We have this whitewashed structure on the walls and ceiling, I want it to feel a bit like a Sicilian outhouse, and by letting the shelf go all the way up, the room feels more spacious. It has inspired me to start putting other things on the walls too. It’s nice to hang things high!

How did you choose the color?

– I was so happy when I saw this color called Kamel. We have a light lime color on the walls and a slightly darker high gloss paint on the carpentry and the shelf came in and tied the two of them together perfectly.

What do you have in you shelf?

– I’ve never owned a shelf before, in our earlier flats I’ve romanticized the bohemian style and kept stuff stacked along the walls. In the end, we put all the books and old magazines in the basement – and then we got a water leak! Everything was destroyed. So now we have a mix of what everyone in the family likes to look at. Aldo loves it. He comes home from preschool, gets all his cars, and builds garages, helicopter pads, fire stations … We have a tacit agreement that he can play everywhere if he’s ok with me having my stuff there too. Now he builds labyrinths around my ceramic collection. If I respect his cars, he respects my stuff, and we can both play on the shelf.

What do you have in the drawers?

– We have a combined living and dining room and in the drawers towards the dining area we keep napkins and tablecloths – it’s genius! In the other drawer we currently have cables and chargers. We also chose to have two bookends. In the absence of my water-damaged library, it’s just a beautiful shape. 

Any favorite styling tricks?

– From a professional perspective, it’s important to find a balance between air and stuff to create a beautiful picture. In real life, I just think you should have a lot of things – it’s wonderful to visit homes with much to look at. In general, what you like, you find pretty, so I try to create a relationship with Aldo’s toys. He won’t always choose the cars made in wood or cognac-colored leather. I’ve given up on separating the adults’ bric-a-brac and the kid’s stuff, there must be room for everything.