A fairytale Swedish country house elegantly decked out for Christmas
There is a sort of rustic elegance to the Swedish Christmas that somehow seems to withstand fads and trends. At this 18th-century timber-clad house in Sörmland – Sweden’s equivalent of the Cotswolds, just a couple of hours’ drive south west of Stockholm – you get the sense that Christmas might have always been like this. The house sits on its own small peninsula, surrounded by a magical landscape of forests and lakes, which feels like the stuff of fairy tales. Carpets of pine branches line the steps that lead up to the front door (placed so that you can knock the snow off your shoes), while the interiors are decked out with foliage, festive wreaths and twinkling candles.
And yet while Christmas may have always looked like this at the 300-year-old house, almost every element of its interior is entirely new. ‘We tore everything out and started again from scratch,’ recalls Sanna Nathanson, one half of the Stockholm-based design firm Studio Ramson, who started working on the project back in 2022. ‘It had been subject to a 1980s renovation and was all linoleum floors and low ceilings, so we were on a mission to change the materials to make it feel much more authentic,’ adds Ika Ramel, Sanna’s business partner, referring to the fact that the ochre-yellow, timber-clad house is very typical of the region.
What did survive the 1980s overhaul were a number of traditional kakelugn tiled stoves – notably, a blue-and-white Delft-tiled one in the dining room and a glittering emerald green example in a small hallway. These were taken apart on-site, restored and then meticulously reassembled. The lino was swapped for handsome wide pine boards, which were finished – in a typically Scandinavian way – with soap to give them a much warmer look.
Downstairs, the ceiling height was raised, while an ugly staircase was replaced with an elegant design drawn up by Stockholm-based Hidemark & Stintzing Arkitekter, with whom Studio Ramson worked closely right from the beginning. ‘They are the architects for many of Sweden’s royal castles, which meant that they were perfect for this project as they have a real understanding of heritage,’ explains Sanna. The layout stayed largely the same, with a kitchen, dining room, sitting room, a string of jewel-box salons and a bedroom and bathroom downstairs. Upstairs, there is a large landing – now a sort of reading room – with four bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Details, Ika adds, were crucial to creating a house ‘that felt like it had been this way forever’. In the capacious entrance hall, this took the form of a tumbled limestone floor, each slab carefully chosen so it didn’t look too perfect. For the kitchen, they commissioned the British handmade tile specialist Douglas Watson Studio to make hundreds of Delft tiles to line the walls. Many of these depict local scenes, including cottages on the estate and the hen house. ‘They are a nice nod to the kakelugn, too,’ says Sanna. Decorative painters from the nearby studio Abovo Antik & Ateljé were also called in to work their magic in other parts of the house, adding motifs and scenes above doorways (including a bear that has a special meaning for the owners), trompe l’oeil marble walls in the entrance hall and even an entire Rococo-themed study in a small downstairs room that overlooks the lake. ‘We gave them the colours we wanted and let them loose to come up with what worked,’ recalls Ika. ‘They basically moved in for six months and it was so worth it.’
The owners of the house, longstanding clients who’ve previously collaborated with Sanna and Ika on three projects, trusted the process. ‘The brief they gave us was to create an old country house that your grandparents might have,’ Sanna says. You can see this approach in the charming downstairs bedroom, which is papered in a large-scale botanical design. It references the home of the 18th-century Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus and adds storybook whimsy to the space.
With little existing furniture or art to work with, they enlisted the help of dealer and auction house founder Pontus Silfverstolpe – who is often nicknamed ‘the antiques detective’ – to source a handful of key pieces that could shape the mood for the house. And so came the extraordinary lacquer cabinet in the sitting room. This glimmers in the candlelight and ties in beau-
tifully with a pair of red mohair-covered sofas and the verdure Flemish tapestry. ‘Even though it is a typical 18th-century colour, this room was feeling a little grey, so we wanted to add some colour,’ explains Sanna, referring to the walls that have been treated in a traditional Swedish way using the painted rag paper known as lumppapp. What appears to be panelling is, in fact, a sleight of hand by the decorative painters. ‘Every detail takes so much time to implement and you can’t rush it,’ observes Ika. Thank goodness they did not.
Studio Ramson: studioramson.com
Paul Massey1/9In the study, a Rococo desk and a painted Rococo chair, upholstered in ‘Broad Stripe’ linen from Fermoie’s Carskiey Collection, are
positioned to enjoy the view of the lake. Walls with decorative designs painted by Abovo Antik & Ateljé showcase an 18th-century ancestral portrait.
Paul Massey2/9The cool hue of the bunk beds’ woodwork, bed curtains in ‘Strié’ cotton from Fermoie and an armchair in Le Manach’s ‘Amalfi – Carreaux’ in ocean from Pierre Frey, provide a foil for the yellow tiles of the chimney stove.
Paul Massey3/9The green walls tone with the tiles of the original kakelugn stove and highlight the still-life oil painting in a gilt frame in the hall.
Paul Massey4/9In this downstairs bedroom, the walls are lined with de Gournay’s ‘Botanical Studies’. Designed by Michael S Smith and hand-painted on individual segments of India tea paper, the illustrations were inspired by the home of the 18th-century Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus. The bed is upholstered in Manuel Canovas’ ‘Mia’ linen and the mohair throw is from Stackelbergs.
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Paul Massey6/9The main bedroom has walls covered in black ‘Lining Stripe’ cotton from Ian Mankin that set off the bold pattern and rich colours of ‘Field Poppy’ linen used for the bed canopy and curtains, and ‘Manousk’ cotton mix on the fringed sofa, both from Robert Kime, and an antique rug.
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Paul Massey9/9A view overlooking a boathouse on one of the peninsula’s lakes.
