00

you can’t always get the home you want

00

‘DisorDer makes my heaD messy’

paula’s worlD

can you live in a house run so precisely it makes your own mother sigh in exasperation, yet still claim to have a cosy, easy-going home? paula eklund is adamant you can. she could be right. when ikea Family liVe turned up to shoot her ‘ideal’ home in the hague, netherlands, the children were all ill, she felt queasy and husband arthur couldn’t get home from work. still, the family and the home didn’t turn us away or buckle under the strain…

0000

‘Our home may be predominantly white, but it’s not a show home. Everything is washable, that’s the first secret. It is easy to maintain a white house if you keep a roller and a bit of paint handy. The unified scheme gives the house an order and calmness that means you don’t need to keep improving. The rougher finishes give the place texture. If it were too well finished it would feel cold.’ l tomelilla sofas and armchair, vintage

00

‘Our home is a total reaction to my childhood home. I had a messy musician mother and a military father. I could never find socks in the morning, and letters from school got lost and we’d say, “The dog ate it,” and he would have done. It actually was true! As a small girl I would clean up the whole house and spend my allowance on flowers. My mother would say, “Oh, please turn off the vacuum cleaner, dear”. When she comes here, she looks into cupboards and corners, sighs and says, “Even in here it’s tidy!” A messy home makes me get a really messy head. Some people don’t feel it, but unfortunately I’m not one of those people. Before this we had a yellow house. I mean really bright yellow. Our eldest son Nils’ bedroom was red, our daughter Noa’s was pink, each room had a different colour. Back then I was discovering what worked for me. You have to experiment. I just discovered that the more white I added, the calmer I felt in myself. I remember when I first moved in with my husband Arthur, a public relations advisor, it took more energy for me trying to ignore the mess! People think it takes more time living nicely but it’s not the case. It takes more energy not to live nicely. But even with one colour, I still experiment. It’s in my nature and part of my job as a trend predictor. I’m always sanding furniture, getting out rollers and paint and finding different textiles. The white mantelpiece used to be black – only last week – and I painted it. For the Dutch this was crazy, totally unbelievable. And the granite floor in the hallway I’m planning to cover with concrete. The reaction to that is usually “urgh!” but I want to make this my home, and I don’t want to be hemmed in by traditions – I’m all for bending the rules.’

making my home work For me

see more!XXX sofas with washable covers at www.ikea.xx/sofas

00

‘people think i’m chicken for only using white, but i came to this through a process. i don’t have anything i can’t wash in the whole house. it’s all washable. i wash everything so much. But that’s what is nice about things like our tomelilla sofa. it’s designed to rescue life’s mistakes. it’s 10 years old and some stains just don’t come out, so we have bought new covers. And it’s on wheels. I like wheels. I add them to old boxes I find, chests, chairs – anything that will be easier wheeled about.’ l regolit pend lamp shade 95 white [001-122-53] €xx lack tV bnch 60x45 white [101-053-46] €xx KULLA floor lamp white [001-210-02 ] €xx

00

‘Chores are life’s little pleasures – like linen drying in the wind. I involve the children in doing chores, it’s part of living as a group. Each has a card detailing what they do each day. when they’re little, like kalle and ella, they enjoy helping! the kitchen is robust and can handle them banging about. Footstools make things accessible and we have a calendar that everyone writes on. i use pictures, as even before they can read, the children want to know how many days until grandma comes. i bought a chest for the dining area and added wheels so they can clear away themselves. to push their creativity we paint a lot. the kids like to see their work so i made a display using ikea curtain rails.’ l henriksDal bar stool/backr 63 oak/Gobo white [701-103-21] €xx BekVÄm n step stool birch [400-

see more!choose a white kitchens at www.ikea.xx/kitchens

00

Be r

egul

ar a

nd o

rder

ly in

you

r lif

e, s

o th

at y

ou m

ay b

e vi

olen

t and

ori

gina

l in

your

wor

k Fl

aube

rt

00

liVing with paulaBy arthur‘When I met Paula, I was living in a typical male student home: a strange mix of stuff – bits brought with me from my parents, bits I’d picked up myself. It was functional but I was definitely looking to make a home my own, something that was part of me. When Paula arrived from Stockholm, with seven boxes of stuff and an open return ticket (just in case!), she brought her own ideas with her. Over the years I have learned a lot from her and we have worked together to create ‘our’ home, and I love its white minimalism. It’s interesting thinking back to where we lived before, with yellow walls and a red cupboard and brown floors. Slowly we have stripped away the colour. It’s especially important for Paula. She’s very creative and needs cleanliness around her; everything stored away. For her it’s functional for practical reasons, whereas for me it’s purely aesthetic. I love it when the sun streams through the windows into the kitchen or living room. It’s so bright it almost feels transparent. I love that feeling of openness – it’s energising. That’s when I sit back and think “wow”!’

00

‘Do you have to be uptight to be this tidy? i hope not! time is a luxury with four kids. you don’t want to spend it searching for things. i get my inspiration from life. I’m always losing my keys – how can I solve this? I’m always running out of time – how can I solve that? Using our walls stops us making piles on the floor. We have hooks across the wall at the front door for coats and jumpers – it’s practical and looks good. Things you don’t think about as decorative can be lovely – like pencils and jars full of paperclips – and still have a use. I have them on shelves in the study.’ l ikea stockholm armchair 1.5 Röstånga white [001-031-78] €xx helsingÖr rug 170x240 off-white [400-864-69] €xx iVar shelving, painted white and extended by placing second IVAR on top Burken jar/lid 1,1 l clear glass/aluminium [861-301-00] €xx kassett boxes, assorted sizes, white

00

‘the children grow so quickly and i don’t always want to change their rooms as their tastes change. so each of their rooms has a simple core collection of things. a bed with another one that pulls out underneath for friends to stay (try ikea oDDa or similar), a desk and storage boxes. most are old fruit boxes i’ve picked up, painted white and put wheels on. i inherited the jeans chair from my grandfather. my aunt sewed our old jeans together to make the cover. i love it. Just as i love Kalle’s wall-hung shoe tidy – it’s practical, keeps floor space free, yet looks good.’ l kVart wall/clmp sptlt white [000-947-96] €xx rationell Variera pot lid rack silver-colour (magazines) [278-661-83] €xx Valter bracket 28 birch, painted white [566-961-09] €xx tryggVe shelf 119x28 softwood, painted white [100-946-30] €xx grunDtal rail 80 stainless steel [100-113-95] €xx

PhO

TOG

RAPh

Y: D

an

iel

Farm

er w

ORD

S: n

atha

nie

l ha

nDy

00

Nils: ‘I would have more colour. The one word to describe our home is WHITE!!!!!!!!! I like white a bit but it would be good to see more some blue or yellow, or other colours. Life is easier in a tidy house and rules are OK but sometimes they work to my disadvantage and I have to do more chores than Noa. That’s not fair! I like my room best of all – especially the balcony, because I enjoy having my own space and privacy.’

Noa: ‘I have this great idea to paint my room like the sky – light blue with a yellow sun and white stars. Our home is mega fantastic and the best thing is the huge bed in my mother and father’s room. On Saturdays we all sit on the bed and watch movies. I don’t like the chore rota so much, although I do them in the end.’

iF it was up to me…