Today we are visiting Katarina Matsson, who works with content at Elle Magazine, but now is on parental leave with baby Hilma. When we approach Katarina’s townhouse we are struck by the cosiness of the area. Katarina invites us into the 2 floor house for a fika and a chat.

Hi Katarina! 

Who lives here?

Me and my family. We’re Katarina, Jakub, Milo, 4 years and Hilma, 9 months.

What made you move to this cute neighbourhood?

One of my oldest friends moved here, and her son is my godson. We really love the neighbourhood, with the houses built in the late 40’s and the surroundings drawn by Walter Bauer. It’s the world’s lovliest place. The neighbours have so many nice traditions that go way back to the 50’s, like for Lucia when the kids walk the Luciatåg with torches and a horse. Many of our neighbours are in the same stage of life as we are, the kids play together and I have a book club here. We are definately staying.

You spent one month in New York just now, tell us!

Me and Jacob lived in New York from 2010-2013/14, and felt that it would be really nice to connect our life now, with kids and all, to that time. We rented a friend’s apartment and it was lovely! Well, of course we fought here as well, but everyone slept well and it was such a good break from life at home. At home there is always some things that needs to be fixed, but during this trip we had the chance to just disconnect from those things. One thing, though, is it very expensive since the dollar is so high. Milo and I had a 55 dollar lunch just the two of us one day.

Going to New York is really what you dream of doing during your parental leave but can’t get together. What can you recommend?

It is really nice to travel there with kids. Well, there are no elevators in the subway, so you’ll have to have a baby sling and walk a lot. But going to museums with kids are very nice, we went to Museum of Natural History to see the dinosaurs, but Milo was more interested in the space stones that killed them. Also The New Museum was really nice, showing video art that the whole family could enjoy, and with a nice workshop for kids.

We know ALL of New York’s playgrounds by now. The best ones are the one next to Metropolitan Museum of Art in Central Park called Ancient Playground, and one in Williamsburg that I think is called Domino Playground.

We spent some time hanging out in East Village’s Community gardens, watching turtles and playing borkarövare. In general, it’s just so enjoyable to hang out in New York, there are always things happening in the streets – someone playing music or a nice window to look into. My best tip is to just stroll around, there are pizza slices everywhere.

What do you like about the Portal shelf?

We are book horders in a sick way, and always used to have storage problems. I love the fact that the Portal shelf is so nice and neat. It fits really well in our 50’s house.

Also, it can be filled with a lot of books, at some places we have books in double lines but the shelf still looks clean. It is nice to be able to put shelves on different levels, and they are really easy to mount.   We have one low Portal shelf on the ground floor and a higher one on the first floor. Both shelves are off white with pinewood shelves, a nice way to connect the two levels with each other. The same system but constructed differently.  

I easily get very attached to books, and things in general. We have a problem in our family: I love the stones from Denmark (where we went for vacation) and my fleamarket finds and all my stuff. My husband is not that interested in things but has a hard time getting rid of them. That is such a bad combo. Our ambition is to only have things in our home that sparks joy. But there is so much that sparks joy!

The high shelf is in the bedroom is mainly used for books, but also consists of a small shelf with a collection of perfumes, and some shoes. Don’t hide your nicest stuff away, put it on the shelf for things that sparks joy!