Fixing "cremekoppar" in a Jugend cabinet

 As usual, lately, time is not enough for documenting everything that is happening in the house, even though the step forwards in our eternal project (fixing up this house) have been also limited. 

It feels as the last four years, time and energy have been even more scarce than before.

Several months back I bid on a fine Jugend cabinet, not too big, to have in the last free corner of the living room, where the piano is. I was more hoping to get a furniture for Mattias' vinyl collection, but I didn't find anything suitable while this cabinet seemed in my head perfect for the spot. 

The cabinet in the corner of the room, behind the couch

It is just today, many months later, that I finally cleaned it up at best as I could (the velvet has stains and dust that I didn't manage to get off). I probably need to give it a hand of "Fulgentin". It took me some time even to just remove the tag from the action house...

A cute detail from the cabinet

Mattias few months ago asked me what we should put in there. To be honest, I had no idea, except some very faint thought of placing a bit more visible some "cremekoppar" (creme cups?) that I had bought possibly few years back and that have been in their beautiful boxes since.

I love porcelain, especially the old Swedish one. I bought once a big set and since then I bought three more (not as big) and indulged in looking at many more on the internet, but restrained myself from buying anything more as space, even in a house like ours, is limited. 

But this. I saw them passing by on an auction and fell in love with the simple and elegant design. I had no idea what a cremekopp was and I still think that the usage of them will be very limited (some form of broth, some chocolate creme or what). They are more cute than useful. 

A good display of my 11 (+1) cups

This specific set should include (I think) about 13 unique cups as each of them has the king emblem on them. His motto and some historical detail about Rörstrande is written on the back of the little plate. 

One of the cremekopp, the "first" one. 

Eventually, today I moved them from their "hiding" place and managed to find a good way to display all of them (minus one, as it is a doublet). 

Picking up apples

 Of course we have been picking up apples also this year, but this post is not about that. I will spare the story telling on our efforts this year in another moment.

However, I try to keep some themes in the house. We have iris a bit everywhere, in the garden, on vases, on mirrors, on the windows... but then we have plenty of apples, as said.

I did found this textile tapestry on some online auction and, well, I simply just liked it a lot.

I thought that a gracious, jugend like, lady picking up apples would make a great connection with the yearly effort of collecting (and throwing) as many apples as possible from trees where apples are almost up in the sky.

I think its placement is possibly not the best one, but it is at least placed where some softening of the environment is needed. Although, probably a carpet would be a more proper investment.

Mattias hanging the apple picking lady

A Christmas picture of how it looks

Even the toilet...

 ...deserves proper attention :-)

In reality I have even long term plans for this room, as it is almost intact from 1958 when the Edler had moved in in Villa Bellevue. The same tiles were found in the bigger bathroom and as far as I have understood, they were also in the kitchen, at the time. 

The toilet is breathing 60s with its style

I sadly haven't had the time to look behind the paperboard that is today on the walls. I have seen a picture from the previous owner where the walls had some yellow medallion wallpaper, but I do not know if that is from the 70s or earlier (I doubt it was the original one).

The roof is lowered - I guess for adding the ventilation, but who knows, maybe there are other interesting traces there if one would there to open up? - but my understanding is that this was a small wardrobe room from the start. 

Windows and doors were in dark brown with a slight tint of red. 

I am probably repeating myself from previous posts where I have described the toilet and what I have deducted/found around it, but I do not remember everything I wrote in these years :-)

Nevertheless, although I have the ambition to one day fix this room but simply patching where the column for the upstair bathroom has been placed, paint doors/windows with the right shade, have once again the 60s-70s bathrooms accessories (hangers, mirrors, etc.) and have the most appropriate wallpaper on the wall, right now we are happy to just add some minor decorations.

A perfect jugend newspaper holder

As the space in the room is quite limited, being it pretty small and narrow, I can't add much furniture in it. But the walls can be decorated. 

It is probably a bit suboptimal, in a toilet from the 60s, to have a jugend decor, but I think the mix and match works quite ok in this context.

The latest addition is then a jugend embroidered newspaper/magazine that matches the toilet rolls holder on the wall and can keep some of the "toilet cultural material" in place. 

It at least got some attention through this blog post! :-)

A turn of the century feeling

 We have ben very inspired when watching the old pictures from the Ingemansson. When looking at the dining room picture, I indulge in staring at the details and trying to understand how did the room look back then.

There are of course missing details, like the chest panel. But I see a drapery where there is the sliding door, there is some textile decoration over the left door and well, there is a nice wall pendulum.

A dinner at the Ingemanssons, 1909

Now, I have been looking for several year to find a wall pendulum that I would like. I think the one in the picture is slightly biger than the one I finally managed to purchase. 

View over the wall pendulum

It is not exactly in the same spot, but at least in the same room, and right now it is surrounded by a jungle of plants, since we want to save them from the kittens, which are still quite wild and interested in destroying my vases/plants!

The pendulum is from 1907

The watch maker was from Nyköping and was called Frans August Nilsson

Sadly, we haven't yet tested it. It would be nice if it would be working :-)

Something else that we bought, that is semi working (and ideally it should be connected with the few ringbells we have in the house) is an housekeeper bell display (in swedish betjäntklocka/pigklocka) which I think gives a very nice touch to the kitchen, the housekeeper's kingdom.

The housekeeper bell display

There, now we are ready for service ;)

It would be wonderful to find out how many bells we had, where was the display originally and so on. But I guess we will be content by having two of the bells still existing and working. Amusingly enough!

Wall paintings restoration

Since the previous owner, one of the walls in the entrance has revealed a mystical painting. He also had kindly shared some pictures of the house works he had conducted in the few years he had lived in Bellevue, and few pictures were focusing on those paintings and showing that one of the walls, now covered by the turqoise structured wallpaper had some underneath.

We had started to remove some of the wallpaper to see how it was going here.

The room ready for being treated for restoration.

Sadly, when removing all the wallpaper some parts of the painting were gone under some concrete layer. Some were clearly made when electricity was installed, but a big patch role is still unclear.

Part of the wall with the patches for the electrity and for something we still don't know

Cristiana, the restorer, is working on one of the walls

Also, the wallpaper glue has minor damaged the surface. The structured wallpaper is not the only wallpaper that was there. We have found traces of a wallpaper in grey tones, probably from the 60s and a darker green one, that should have been used after the Svenssons moved in 1974. 

Trying to reconstruct the paintings 

The pattern is quite "free handed" so it was very nice to observe the new creation take place. 

Details over the painting

Of course, the bigger work was to handle the big surface where there was no trace left of any painting, also because the basis was different, material wise, than the original one.

Started to create a background for the new paintings

One can see clearly how the original painting is ruined. The yellow color was the background color of it.

As the wall turned out

Details over the wall. It is almost impossible to see that this is new.

The pictures speak out by themselves, I think. We haven't aimed at having a perfect surface, but rather recreating the paintings and try to melt them in, to make them look a bit torn as well. 

Details of the wall

It is nice to see that what has changed is not only that now we have a more genuine and colorful room (well, not that the turquoise was white, but it was a very "suffocating" color there) but the light is reflecting in a very different way. I often think that someone has left the light on, but it is just how the surface is reflecting the sunlight from the window.

The room is done!

There are few things still to do here. 

One is that the surface is quite brittle, especially where there is glue from the wallpaper and the top color layer is very fragmented. 

We have evaluated using some protective layer or even a wax, but the first would not let the wall breath and with a water leakage (we have above one of the bathrooms) it would be a disaster to fix it up; the second instead would make the color quite dark and would have the same risk in case of leakage.

We will therefore try to find some plexiglass sheet to have at neck height for avoiding that people would be careless with it and hopefully keep it to deteriorate at a slower pace.

The furniture is moving back 

The room looks completely different!

The second is that there are minor details that need to be retouched. Just my usual pedantry, except for one of the electrical cable that is quite visible under the wall. As Cristiana said, one gets a bit blind when working with something like this and needs to take a pause before the final touch.

I believe I was a bit blinded too when overviewing the work!

A before-after serie of pics

This work has brought up some question marks on the details of the room. From the big patch (when was it done? Why? ) to the ceiling, as it looks lowered and the paint on that and the cornice has not many layers. White there would have not worked fine with that wall, as the rest of the wooden parts were dark red (and yes, that needs to be fixed, of course). Possibly there is some original ceiling behind that? 

I wonder if we will find out during our lifetime...!

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

Another piece of Allan's furniture

Mattias took advantage of a day of vabbing (taking care of Oscar being home sick) for continuining his task of reviving the furniture he saved from Allan's house.
This time it is a different kind of cupboard, which in swedish is called linneskåp. I guess it was mostly used for storing sheets or kitchen related textiles.

As always my pictures are not as pretty as the ones from other blogs, also because I took them at night and sadly, in the room where the piece is placed there is barely light. The flash of the phone camera did quite a bad job...

The linneskåp

As most of Allan's furniture there is a strong jugend footprint in it, with the typical apple motif on it (which we have in few sideboards, chairs, etc.)

Mattias did clean up the whole cupboard and repair the ironwork

Now, the cupboard has been in the "black room" for several months. We really don't have a place for it but I thought it could be placed in the tower room, which one day will become a playroom for the kids. Problem is we have to carry it up. We are searching for volunteers :D

In Jugend style

There has been some progress done with Allan's furniture (what we have saved here), but it is now few months that things have put on ice.
We have still few pieces that are in need of help and some of them are a bit on the way.
Nevertheless, what Mattias have managed to take of so far has certainly a patina, but also quite some charm.
In these months I have indulged myself in online auctions and Tradera (the local ebay) auctions as well, always with the mindset to enrich our home with Jugend details. This is going to be a very long operation but I hope that at least that everything is getting better without ending in an unpleasant excess of useless things.
Now, this is some of the new pieces (or Allan's pieces)

1) A big drawer. Probably ideal to have in a bedroom, but as our bedrooms are crammed with furniture already, this one ended up in the entrance to store hats and gloves (I guess it will be rather empty during summer time).

Few new things in the entrance. A drawer, a stool, the radio and a candlestick

2) An old radio. We have no idea if it works or not, but it is just very beatiful. A bit more art deco than jugend, but still nice. Right now it is over the drawer, but I think a more suitable place needs to be found

All available radio stations

3) A stool and a candlestick. Those are things that I have bought through auctions.

The candlestick. A a drawing of Stortorget in Malmö with the pharmacy "Flakta Örn"

 The stool is in reality a piano stool, but I thought it worked great here as it is the place where we and our guests take off jackets and shoes. The candlestick was just plain beautiful.

The stool, it has the same "decor" as the built-in couch that we have under the stairs

4) At Erikshjälpen here in Åkarp I bought instead the Malmö drawing. I decided to buy it because there was the pharmacy "Flakta Örn" in a corner. The pharmacy was the working place for the pharmacist Anders Nilsson who lived in Bellevue 1914-1919.

All together.

5) The big glass cabinet. This turned out to be an incredible piece of furniture. I haven't yet filled it in with books and other things, but I am getting there. It maybe is a bit suffocated behind the Samsas, but I really can't figure out a better placement.

The glass cabinet

The painting need to be lifted up and centered again. And surely we need to find a better placement for the things on top. Note Pico sleeping on the IKEA couch on the right

6) A nice little local detail in term of a small soap plate (I guess) from "Svenska kalkförsäljnings" in Malmö. There were two on sale on Tradera and I managed to get the one that unfortunately had some minor defects. Still, I love the super perfect jugend line

Jugend in a nutshell in this small plate

7) Finally, Oscar has been longing to have a desk in his room since this summer. Isabella has one, so why not him as well? Luckily, among the furniture from Allan there was a desk which has also the same style as Isabella's. 

He was then super happy to get it in his room, which is slowly getting to something more "harmonic" and a bit less temporary. Still, there is space for improvement, but I think the bases are now defined.

The desk with the Jetson armchair where we sit when Oscar is falling asleep

It is a bit tiny space compared to other bedrooms, but this was the maid's room (we think) afterall

When a cord matters

In our home lamps and candles are very important. The house is big, with big areas and when the winter darkness reigns, having small sources of light make the environment warmer and cozier, of course.

I believed that I did put up this lamp already on the blog, but obviously that happened just in reality.
This summer I put down the lamp, bought at Erikshjälpen, hoping that it is at least resembly in the stile some jugend window lamp, because when we bought it it was connected with a dreadful white plastic cord.
We also managed to misunderstand each other, so it got cut pretty short and it hanged horribly on the window.

The lamp is shining at the window

I went and bought a more "old fashioned" looking electrical cord at Byggfabriken and finally, after several months and a bit of reminders and nagging, it was fixed by the local electrician (Mattias) and it got back to its place.

A close up

When doing this the base for the lamp of course broke. So, we have still some minor tasks left for completing this operation: fix an old fashioned plug and get a new socket for the lightbulb.

I accept bets on when this will be handled :)

Jugend addi(c)tions

Trying to decorate home is a constant ongoing process/project. I try to find (affordable) time typical items (hence jugend) which need to try to have also a pratical side. During the past months, apart possibly overbuying a lot of old plates, we have added few items.

Jugend vase

Sadly, I haven't taken a decent picture of this vase in a good environment. But the vase is really beautiful and fits the rest of the "home".

A jugend textile (sadly, I am horrible in taking pictures)

It is very typical swedish to have old textiles with texts, quotes and words of wisdom. In this case the text says something like "Enjoy every delight with thankful mind, take care (?) of the roses that life brings to you, take care most carefully of the childhood memory, the most beautiful time of all that is".

Since we have no tasks at all, or half done projects already, we got the opportunity to save some old furniture in a questionable state and now the whole "Black room" (that is house the entrance + staircase room is identified) is filled with semi dirty furniture (appreciated by the cats so they have something to label...).

Cleaning is ongoing, then we have to decide what to do with it, despite them being time typical.

Some of the saved furniture