Tranquil charm

WITH THE ABILITY TO SEE THE POTENTIAL IN ANY OBJECT, MARTINA QVENNERBERG HAS FILLED HER HOME WITH BOHEMIAN FOLKLORIC PATTERNS AND PIECES

- Johanna Flyckt Gashi

Martina Qvennerberg's house in Lund, a university town in the south of Sweden, is small, full of character and beautifully decorated interiors. A midwife by profession, she lives there with her partner Kennet Ruona. A lover of old furniture, she finds, renovates and sells a wide range in her shop Butik Lanthandeln (www.butiklanthandeln.se). However, many's the time a favourite piece of furniture from her shop finds a new home in Martina's own home, where it adds colour and texture to the crisp white walls and floors.

The house was built in 1876 and originally consisted of several smaller houses next to one another. Martina explains how it changed over the decades: "Four families used to live in what is now our home. In the 19th century, it housed just over 100 poor people out of necessity."

The couple moved here from a large old brick house in the countryside north of Lund where they lived for 18 years with their four children. "We had a large garden and renovated the house that had been standing on that plot for many years", she recalls. They also have a summer house, a large old wooden house with a garden in the Blekinge archipelago. "Kennet and I both felt it was time for something new and the thought of a simpler life in town was a nice idea. We drove a lot when we lived outside of Lund, but now we can ride bikes everywhere," Martina says, smiling.