Once the cabinets were in, it was time to put up the wainscoting, which was painted a pale gray.

I had hoped to find a wallpaper that looked like stenciling, and I did!

Lucky for us, Torsten is a jack-of-all trades.

I couldn’t be happier with the way the wallpaper looks.

You can see how the wallpaper wraps around the room.

Corner and ceiling moldings complete the look nicely.

Our refrigerator didn’t arrive before we left, but Torsten sent a picture.  I love the shape and the color!  Now to find the perfect skinny cabinet to go next to it!

The window still needs molding, but I had to play with placing a Dala horse on the sill.

Or perhaps he looked better in one of the high cupboards?

I even had a few things to put inside the cupboards.

It’s really looking great, but there are a few things to do, like the hood and tile black splash.

I love the little details, like the porcelain knobs on the kitchen cabinets,

We used similar hardware on the door.

We chose a vintage style for the light switches and…

…outlets.

The faucet, too, has a vintage feel.

After weeks of construction, it was fun to put out the towels I’d made.

I had fun adapting some Aunt Martha patterns.

I added a Dala horse to each one.

Even though they are a bit corny!

 

While we only took a day and a half off from working on the house while we were in Sweden, don’t think it was all work and no food!  From the very first day, we made sure there was coffee and a little something to eat, even if the atmosphere left something to be desired.  In Swedish, a coffee break is called a fika (FEE-kah).  And in Sweden, fika is taken very seriously.

Luckily, Bertil and Sonja left us a dining room table.

Berit and Gunnar came often to help—and bring fika!

And our neighbor, Byns Mats and Annacari welcomed us with a pensionärer kaka — a special and delicious cake.  Good thing I’d brought linens!

For awhile we had to move the table into the bedroom, but that didn’t mean we skipped fika!

My Aunt Evelyn was responsible for keeping my family in contact with our Swedish relatives, and I thought it fitting that I bring her china with me to our Swedish house.

I used it for the first time when Sven-Eric and Anna came for fika.

It was very special.

Fika isn’t always something sweet.  Sometimes it’s a sandwich.   Don’t you love a country whose cheese puffs are shaped like hearts!?!

And if we had Coke instead of coffee, there was no problem keeping it cold!

One day, when I had to drive to Vansbro to the hardware store, I stopped at the Vansbro Konditori for semlor – wonderful buns filled with almond paste and whipped cream!

Sometimes we brought a Thermos of coffee from Torsten’s, sometimes we got coffee at the mini-mart, and sometimes family or friends brought coffee.  Luckily, a few days before we left, we got our electric stove and were finally able to boil our own coffee!

So, as you can see, we worked hard, but, like good Swedes, we didn’t skip fika!

 

At the end of December, we returned to Sweden with the plan to get the new kitchen done in just under a month!  We were down to bare walls and floor.  My first job, hammering in all of the nails on the floor to be sure everything was smooth!

I mentioned in an earlier post that the existing window came down too low to allow a counter under it, so we bought a new window.

You can see how much lower the other one was.  You can also see that it’s very dark out!  Sunrise was at 9:30 and sunset at 3:00!

We covered the walls with new plasterboard and decided to paint the ceiling white.  Bob suited up and put on four coats of paint–two of oil based sealer and two latex.

In the meantime, I painted the panels for the wainscoting a pale gray.

I had chosen linoleum tiles for the floor, mostly gray with a few red.

Torsten and Bob did a good job of interpreting the design I sketched out on a piece of plasterboard!

Ever since we’d bought the house in September, I’d been planning the kitchen on Ikea’s nifty kitchen planner.

So off we went to Ikea, plan in hand.

Bob and Torsten looked over installation brochures while we waited for assistance.

Here’s our kitchen – in boxes!

It took two rooms to put them all!

And then the fun began!  Torsten and Gunnar figuring it out.

Is it all going to fit?

The Ikea system uses rails that are mounted on the wall, and the cabinets hang from them.

You have to love the Swedish instructions, because they tell you to take a “fika” (coffee break) after getting the rails up!

We did as told, then the guys started hanging the cabinets.

Let’s see, put tab “A” in slot “B”.

Like all old houses, are walls weren’t exactly straight, but with some tweaking, everything went up.

It was exciting when the doors started going on.

I couldn’t resist putting a Dala horse in one of the cabinets!

The new stove fit perfectly between the cabinets and the wood stove!

Once the cabinets were in, the wainscoting was next.

A little electrical work….

….and the proud installers!

Next, the finishing touches!

I think at one time, every Swedish house had a vedspis – wood stove.  Often they had one in the kitchen and one in an upstairs apartment.  Many houses still have them, but many have been removed.  Our house had one originally, but it had been replaced by the freestanding fireplace which we removed when we dismantled the old kitchen.  They are quite different than wood cookstoves in America.  I decided right away that I wanted one, and when I mentioned to one of my Swedish relatives, Sven-Eric, that I was going to look for a renovated one, he told me he had two in his barn, and I was welcome to take one!  I learned this on my way to the airport, so I didn’t get a chance to look at them.  Luckily, Torsten took charge and uncovered them.  One was cracked, but one was in good shape.  Well, relatively speaking!

Before we returned to Sweden, Torsten and his mason friend, Mikael, got the vedspis put in place for us.  First they had to shovel a path to the barn where it was stored.

These wood stoves aren’t freestanding, so a brick base had to be built.

They could see where the original vedspis had been.

This part is for wood storage.

It is cast iron like the stove and has two doors.

Once the base was built, the vedspis was set on top.  Nice and level!  The top left door is the firebox, the one below is the clean-out and the big one is the oven door, with a built-in thermometer!

More bricks to surround it.

The right side is complete.

Mikael is leaving a space for a water cistern next to the firebox.

Then the bricks get covered with a special cement.

It’s beautiful!  If you compare this photo to the first one, you can see that Torsten did a lot of work removing old rust and, undoubtedly, years of grime!

Here’s the wood storage with the doors on.

The stove was in relatively good shape, leading Mikael and Torsten to speculate that it was in an upstairs apartment and not used too much.

You can see the layers of paint on the old chimney–and evidence of a chimney fire!

We had to grind all of the old paint off so it can be re-cemented.  Ugh.  It was a nasty job.

We found an old copper cistern on an online auction site.

The heat from the firebox heated the water, so you always had hot water to wash your dishes!

Did you know there is really something called Stove Black—and it does just what the name says?

You can see what a difference it made!

The cement will be painted white, as will the hood which will be built over this and the electric stove.

And it makes the kitchen so cozy when you have a fire!

Thank you, Sven-Eric, Torsten and Mikael!

 

 

 

When we bought our house in Sweden in September, we knew the first thing we wanted to do was remodel the kitchen.

It had a large, freestanding fireplace that kind of blocked the door as you entered.

We knew it had to go!  Let me tell you, it was one heavy dog!

There was a lovely window that let in a lot of light, but it was so big, that there was no room to put a counter under it.

And the sink and stove were right next to each other.  I thought it would be nice move the sink under the window.

There was an island and two floor to ceiling cabinets on the left in this photo….

…one of which held the oven.

And on the opposite wall was a huge refrigerator and huge freezer!  It was all quite cramped.

We decided to take it all out!

Right down to the bare walls.

So that’s what we did!

It’s amazing what you uncover in an old house, like an old doorway, layers of old wallpaper and signs of a chimney fire!

I loved looking at the old wallpapers, and tried to preserve a little of each.  This is the oldest and original, from 1930 when the house was built.

This one, which has orange in it, was next.  It almost looks like old linoleum.

There was this rather plain basket weave.

My color scheme for the new kitchen is white, gray and red, so imagine my delight when I found this one in those very colors!

Tearing out a kitchen is a big job–and we did it in two days–then headed back home.

Of course we were anxious to get back and start on the new kitchen, but that had to wait.