On the way to some curtains

We have an infinite amount of projects and, even though we have been living in the house for 7 years, in a sense, it feels like we have been just moved in.
We lack curtains, carpets, some things are still in a very temporary state.

One of the things that are crucial though are the curtains, not only for the sound, but of course mostly for the light. When the spring come, the longest days can be unforgiving.

The focus has been now the tv/piano room, as it has been impossible to play the piano when the sun has been hitting the room.

Where one of the curtain rods will be. Some of the supports have been already mounted. 

As the room has a circular form, due to the tower, we can't go for an ordinary solution and when thinking if we should have wood or metal, we went for a metal solution. 

The same kind of style will be applied to the curtain on the other window in the room.

The curtain rod

Our blacksmith, after few reminders, started to work on the curtain rod, which has to have the right shape. Sadly, it is not yet perfectly following the wall, so we will have to do some adjustements next time the blacksmith is home.

Support for the rod and end of it

There were a lot of discussions about the design of certain details. I thought we had been clear on it during the autumn, but everything couldn't be found, so we had to start from scratch and even though I wanted some other more "jugend" shape, that was the best we could agree upon.

Given the design of the curtain rod, we need to look into the curtains per se'.

And here we have some ideas that are not completely fixed yet.

Possibly 2-3 linen quite plain, as central curtains and then some drapery on the side, with the right kind of textile.

We thought of having something on green, to be a good match with the red of the wall. And from the initial idea, I am more convince that it should look as jugendish as possible, so the samples I have got I think will be discarded.

But I am volitile some things might change.

The first samples for the curtains

Apart putting up the curtain rod to get help in the shape, and decide the textile quality and style, I have also to find something to old the drapery together and rings to have the curtains on.

For the first, I might be asking the blacksmith as well...

We did it!

It took few weeks and we have finally made a room in the basement look decent considering circumstances (with the tiles we have and the little furniture we have and what we have to do in the basement, I guess we can't do better than this).

The room is actually finally clean and offer good surfaces for painting

The main problem with this is that the actually "ordering" of things have been pretty limited. Mostly of the chaos has just been diligently been moved by someone (guess who...) into another room that now will have to be completely sorted out/cleaned/fixed/whatever.
That is, this is just a partial achievement close almost to an illusion!

Shelves for the paint and a table where to store the things I need to work on

Things happens at times

It feels as we should celebrate since in the last weeks there are some of our projects that have made great step forwards.
First of all, I have finally completed the work on the attic window and I have put it back in its place after almost 2 years.
This is absolutely great as I can feel much more comfortable when it rains/there is wind/anything else. Finally, we have back a window there!

Bellevue got its window back

Of course, meeting relatives to the Pehrsson family boosted the historical investigation part and we have got also additional information. The textile that was weaved by Ellen Pehrsson for the stairs is long 4.4 meters and wide 95 cm.

The textile that was placed along the stairs

Additionally, I have actually carried forward the "torkvinda" (the outdoor dryer) project, by starting to oil it and paint it with the first layer. 

We have "just" to mount it somewhere in the garden and after that I have to give the final paint layers.

Oiled pieces

And this period is always signed with the "gardening" struggle (the garden is awakening and I simply don't manage to follow it up) and an illusion that there would be some spring cleaning. But of course, April means Easter and Isabella's birthday. The weather this year was great and we prepared a little jugend corner for our adult guests.

Coffee in the garden

It is in the walls...

Since the TV-show "Det sitter i väggarna" thought I had done enough research by myself and didn't need their help, I am keep trying to put together the puzzle pieces that are still missing of the quite interesting history of Villa Bellevue.
Finding traces of the owners between 1944 and 1952 has been problematic. This because they had a quite common surname, Pehrsson and the parish books were accessible publicly only up to 1944.
Eventually, I managed to find the woman who, as a girl, lived in our house during that time. Märtha was living in Lund when I contacted her, about 2 years ago. She was 90, so we thought of sending her a letter. After few weeks or months (?), she called us and we organized to meet her.

Märta in front of her house in Kvarnby

Sadly, that meeting has never happened as she is pretty senile and when it was time to pick her up she didn't even remember who we were.
I tried to contact her by calling another time, but she was pretty confused. After that, I decided to let her be.

About a year later, we got contacted by Gerd. She is a relative who, when Märtha got moved to a retirement home, found our letter in her old apartment.
She promised and visit and her, together with Bengt, have brought us some stories, some pictures and a nice good connection.

Nils Pehrsson

Nevertheless, the 1st of November 1944, Nils Pehrsson and family moved into Bellevue.

Move card sent by Nils Pehrson

At the time, he was working as representative (handels resande)for the chocolate factory "Brothers Kanold", but Nils was born of humble origins 1888 and moved a lot, from town to town and changed few jobs as well.

He married Ellen Johansson, who was also born 1888, in 1916. 

Ellen, probably around 1950, in front of the veranda

Towels weaved by Ellen before getting married

Still same woman behind the craft. Ellen Pehrsson

It took a while before they got a child, but eventually Märtha Alexina was born 1927.

As long-waited lonely child, she was very well spoiled and protected by her parents. One of the reasons to move to Åkarp was that Märtha, who was at the time 17, decided to study in Lund as a nurse.

For getting closer to Lund, they moved to Åkarp, so that she could then take the train to go to school. They previously lived in Kvarnby, in a house called Villa Lyckebo,. 

Similarly, they moved to Lund, in a house in Nilstorp, to make it even easier for their daughter. 

But Märtha was forced to abandon the studies since she got tubercolosis by some patience she was curing during her studies. 

She got to be in Hörby, hospitalized, and during the time being, also her parents moved to Hörby.
When she was back on her feet, she started to study social studies instead.

Bellevue. Probably around 1944

Bellevue, front facade

Nils was born in Fränninge. His father, Per Nilsson was an arrendator, married to Matta Bengtsson (Bengtsdotter). They lived in 1891 in Brunslöf 2. Nils' siblings, Ingrid and Anders, were born there 1892 and 1895.

Anders kept the Nilsson surname. He died 1916.

1901 they moved to Vomb, in Bruksgården where Per died. It is then that they moved in Norregård, where Nils is a dräng and Ingrid a piga. Ingrid would never marry and would end up in Lund where she died 1979.

Nils comes back to Norregård 1910 after being in Veberöd a couple of years, for then going back to Veberöd 1912.

Lyckebo (Maryhill) in the background. 

When Nils and Ellen got married, he moved to Limhamn. He was working for Hagerman and Malmgren, who were wholesalers. Nils at that point was a a stock clerk, even working as bookkeeper for this company which later in 1946 would be purchased for entering the ICA domain (at that time EOL).

Hagerman and Malmgren from 1910, predecessor of a modern supermarket

When working for Hagerman and Malmgren, Nils kept his contact with Lorentzon, the farmer he was a worker for in Veberöd. 

In 1919 though, Nils was involved in a small case that ended up at the district court of Torna and Bara. Suspected for perjury, Nils was inflicted of 3 years of punishment work (plus 2).

Basically, Lorentzon together with Julius Andersson did sell 10000 kg of cornflour containing 10% of seashells to Hagerman and Malmgren. 

Later on though, the highest regional court cut out the punishment as Nils was declared not responsible.

Of course, although there was some awareness of this part of the story, details about what had happened to Nils had not been spread to the family whatsoever. Everything points out to the fact that Nils was not involved directly but decided to take the blame for saving his employers. Maybe since he had the connection with Lorentzon he felt somehow responsible? 

We will never know, of course...

Articles about the event

What happened next? Nils moved away from Limhamn towards Malmö 1923, living quite central and starting to work as a business man/trader. It is unclear where directly, but it is obvious that he was quite successfull in the business as when he lived in Åkarp he  was working for a chocolate company located in Göteborg.

Nils business card 

As family Nils and Ellen are described as very neat and a bit strict. Ellen wasn't very happy if someone would be playing around on the piano, for example. 

Ellen and her cousins would spend a lot of time weaving. A part from towels, she had also created a wonderful drapery that hanged over our stairs when the couple was living in Bellevue.

Ellen bringing coffee in

When looking at the pictures of Bellevue from the second half of the 40s and compare with the earlier pictures from the Ingemansson, as well as the later ones from the Edler, it is clear that the house was very well kept still close to its original.

The name of the house probably disappeared when the Edler renovated the facade, although already in this picture it is quite obvious that the color is very white (it should be more light yellow). Of course that is a hard detail to grasp from a black/white picture. The base is clearly very grey though. 

The meridian is shining in front of a facade

Interesting to see how much vegetation was growing on the facade, almost half a window is covered!

On the veranda though one can see the vine half of its size of today, the same plant that Christer Freeberg remembered when he visited us.

When looking at the garden one can see the small gravel walk between the flower beds. It seems that the structure of the garden is closer to the original one, actually. 

Big lime trees existed back then already

Interesting enough the fence that beautifully defined the edge with the road in 1906 is gone and already substituted by a hedge. If it is the same as today or not, I can't judge, but the lime trees, which Inge Edler would cut himself, are still the same.

The hedge

When looking at the facade, I can still see the windows on the very dark and shiny tower. Windows (which we knew already had been kept original until 1958) in white but the door having mullion on the windows. That was a detail I have missed.

The lamp over the door looks quite different than today.

Ellen and Nils just outside the veranda

Nils with their dog outside the veranda

From these pictures we can also see few things that I have especially been curious about. How the balcony looked back then and which door existed on the veranda before Edler modernized it.

For the doors, it looks as a double door which we might have up in the attic - hopefully!

For the balcony, it is clear which was the style of it. Still the front decoration which was hyper visible in the Ingemansson pictures, is a bit blurred here, but possibly, we are getting close to see how it really was.
Over the balcony there are some constructions/poles that are fixated in the walls. We wonder what they were those for?

Sadly there were not much pictures from the Freebergs who bought the house 1952 and nothing about the house from the Larssons, who owned Bellevue 1920 - 1928.

I guess one can hope I will eventually find some traces with the Nilsson (1914 - 1919) or the Berggren (1928 - 1944).

I am doing it again!

In some strange way, lately I have managed to force myself to continue the work with the windows that has barely progressing for a long while. As the situation in the vind is probably compromise by my speed (water, wind and whatever must have gone in and impregnated floors and walls in the two years the window has missed) I decided that it was high time to put my act together and just do it.

Just few layers of paint are missing. The other side is done

I had to play around with the putty, which was a very painful and long process. I tried to scrape old paint off the wooden profiles, but that is almost impossible...
But I am getting there and I am so looking forward to finally have the window back over my bedroom.

The window had the lower parts rotten, so I had got a carpenter to fix it nicely

I suppose that the moment the window will go back in its location, we shall celebrate.

I have also continued with the frames for the windows up in the attic. This window I am attacking now got renovated when we did the roof and I left undone the inner frame. 

High quality picture, when I am oiling at night

Also here there are just few layers left and some retouch. Nothing major. Let's hope I conclude in few weeks. Then I can move on to the last window in the attic and the other two frames. I will though prioritize all the painting that needs to be done for the pool house...

March and spring

March can be potentially an interesting month. The garden is awakening at the first sun light, the days gets longer and the amount of things to do just explode as the garden kicks in.

Romeo is guarding the entrance during a sunny day

During this period I try to squeeze in even more.
1) I repot most of the plants. I don't know if also other human beings do this, but Feb-Mar (and often even April, as this year) I focus on the indoor plants.

Blurred example of the lucky bamboo after repotting

In the years I got some kalanchoe and I have managed to make the family expand. This year I am trying to make small plants from the ones I have, but they are not very popular anyway...

Baby Kalanchoe

2) The garden is getting alive. I start to cut when I can some bushes, like spirea or hortensia, before they start to grow too much. I also try to remove the carpet of leaves that are especially around the red beech. Spring flowers are popping up quite quickly.

Strong grape hyacinth are blooming

Daffodils (narcissus) taking space from the leaves

3) Seasonal change of clothes. Sometimes one can start already in March, not this year. Still pure set of winter clothes. In this case the improvement is that I got two clothes racks that I have put in the tower room, where once upon the time we had some huge and space taking wardrobes.
Now that they were gone, clothes have been hanged a bit inappropriately, so I am happy to have thought of this solution.
When it will get warmer I will switch the clothes...

Racks at the tower room

4) Easter. This is lent time and I decorate as always the house. I enjoy it a lot doing it with the kids.

This year påskris 

Not always fancy, not always jugend

Sometimes we need to look also for things that are not really matching the house style, but they are "needed" and practical.

One of the latest upgrades is a minor item that though makes a lot of quality difference in our lives. We have of course a ringbell at our main door, but if the gates are closed, noone will ever manage to catch our attention.
The previous owner had mounted a wireless ringbell, but the ringbell per se' has been standing under the rain a little too match and with humidity, the batteries have given up very easily.
We basically have never had it working in 7 years that we have lived here. Maybe a glimpse of life for the few seconds I have tried a pair of new batteries. But that's it.
I then saw a "beautiful" ringbell that use kinetic energy and hence, it works without battery. IP44 certified (water resistant, basically!).
Yes, it is a gadget. Modern. Nothing jugend. Nothing from the ancient time. But very very practical, I'd say.

Outside the gate. Yes, the weather is amazing here....

On the left lower part of the picture, the receiving part is plugged (in the kitchen) - note the fantastic woven wallpaper...

We have otherwise, always things ongoing. Mostly, cleaning, fixing, windows...
One of the things we have prioritized has been the basement. Not that we are "fixing" it properly, but we are at least ordering it a bit.

An unsorted part of the basement

Our basement is quite spacious and has several rooms. The laundry has in a semi ok status, then there is a small corridor that I use for planting when the weather outside is still very Swedish.

A big room where we have the ping pong table and the fuzzball table, with thousands of boxes I save (!).

A food cellar, that is now a storage of things to sell, some food, a lot of apple juice, some plants. It is dark and as most of the places in the basement, the cats have not had mercy and left a lot of trails that makes everything unfresh and smelly.

Finally, we have a small room with the heat pump and a small workshop. Though the ceiling has fallen and we really don't use the room.

The big room one reach when coming down has been used as a wooden workshop and repairing workshop. 

So, it has been messy also because when sawing there has been the highest particles generation that has spread generously everywhere.

Making it impossible to paint... (so we have entered in a evil loop where I have been blocked in the windows renovation, while Mattias was working on the wooden outdoor dryer).

Still a lot to do, but a bit more order

So, we have started to move things around, to make more space and to avoid this stall situation. The sawing equipment will be moved in the heat pump room and I just need to sort out all the mess I have in the painting area. And actually paint...

The repairing station

We have though successfully found a better position for the repairing corner. We have a tendency to seldom throw items, even if they are in a quite broken status. We do our best to fix them... sometimes we give up. More often we can use them a big more.

Our basement is not exactly "cosy" or hyper fresh. We would need to fix it. But for the moment at least we need to clean it and make it functional.

Let's see now when we can continue with this operation....