Folkhögskole-room glow-up

Linnea moved from Östhem to Västhem, another part of the boarding. The whole school area is pretty and all the different houses that offer boarding are nice, but also all a bit worn down and old.

Her new room felt much bigger than the room she previously shared, with even a small little extra room attached to it! Still with the ugly red plastic floor though, ha ha, and not very cosy or inspiring... Time for a change! 
Here it is before:

After:

From another angle, before:

And after:

It's amazing what a bit of colour and greenery can do! I also loved the rug, the lights, and the chairs - my favourite part! Those were a super second hand find, 300 SEK for BOTH! Linnea wasn't convinced at first, she didn't quite have the vision, but fortunately she let herself get talked into them cause they really turned out great!

One of Mormor's handmade rugs for the little room, a battery driven lamp on timer, and a fake flower even in there. Very happy girl with her new room!

We celebrated the successful make-over with some (massive!) kebab sandwiches from the local pizzeria, om nom nom!

 

Sofiero Palace

After shopping, before leaving Helsingborg, we decided to go out to Sofiero for a quick afternoon visit, as the weather was stunning and I wanted to do something else than just shopping with this weekend.

It had been quite a while since we were here last, back in 2017 when we reunited with some of our Horsham friends here.

We took a walk in the gardens, which is really the main attraction. They had a special exhibition on display which we could enjoy:

The 80-meter long and five meter wide wall border is designed as a classic English Mixed Border, featuring a combination of perennials, bulbs, shrubs and annuals. It is divided into three different colour schemes, and the plantings are a mix of old favourites and new varieties of flowers.

In the past fresh produce was harvested here in the kitchen garden, but today it has a different focus. It is more for pleasure than practicality. The garderners place more emphasis on visual appeal and the vegetables grow in beautiful harmony.

The Royal Vineyard House, built around 1912 and constructed in the English style. Inside, various varieties of grapevines were planted. Over time they produced many delightful fruits for the royal family and even brought the King awards for his fine grapes.

Sofiero began as a royal summer residence in 1866, when Crown Prince Oscar and his wife Sophie moved in to a more modest version of the castle. After Oscar became King Oscar II, the castle was expanded into what we see today. 

In 1905, Sofiero was gifted to their grandson Crown Prince Gustav Adolf, and his bride Margareta of England. The couple, both passionate about gardening, were the ones transforming the grounds.

Gustaf became King Gustaf VI in 1950 and remained deeply involved in the park, planting over 5000 rhododendrons, many of which still bloom in the ravines of the castle. He spent every summer at Sofiero until his death in 1973.

That year, he bequeathed Sofiero to the city of Helsingborg. Today garderners and landscape designers work to preserve the legacy left by the crown prince couple, and visitors can enjoy the beauty of the castle park every year.

Inside the castle I really enjoyed the current exhibition called "Magnificent Majolica!", a tribute to the influential ceramic technique and trend majolica, as it appeared when it gained popularity in Sweden around the turn of the last century.

So colourful and in so many fun shapes!

It displayed majolica pieces from leading Swedish producers such as Rörstrand, Gustavsberg and Höganäsbolaget. Elegant, nature-inspired design in vivid colours.

Single room shopping!

Three weeks into the term, Linnea finally found out that she was getting a single room! Hallelujah!
So one part of our Skåne-weekend was the mission to go shopping for what else she might need now, that she had a whole room to herself. I had promised her a big rug for example, as the plastic red floor in the rooms is super ugly; and some big (fake) plants.

So after our overnight in IKEA-land we picked up Linnea and continued to Helsingborg. The plan was to cover Väla Shoppingcenter, but it took us all day to browse the second hand, and furniture shops. 
All three of us stayed in a hotel in Helsingborg for the night, went to Pinchos for dinner, and the next day we returned to Väla for some "normal" shopping. There was a need for new jeans for Linnea, and some other bits and pieces. 

All in all, mission complete, and we returned to Svalöv with all our new treasures. We set Linnea up, had dinner, and then stayed in a Guesthouse nearby for the night, before we continued on to our next stop.

IKEA Hotel & IKEA Museum

Mum and I decided we should go on a little trip this weekend. Linnea needed some help with her room, so we were heading down to Svalöv, but on the way we decided to do an overnight in Älmhult.

Älmhult is the birthplace of IKEA, where Ingvar Kamprad opened the very first IKEA store in 1958. This is where the story began and where its culture and design philosophy are still nurtured. It is still central to IKEA today, as it hosts IKEA’s global headquarters.

We booked in for a night at the IKEA hotel!

The first IKEA store is no more, it has turned into the IKEA Museum! This is a place I have been wanting to visit for a long time, as I keep seeing the signage for it every time I drive from Skåne to Skara.

A different kind of museum store.

The IKEA museum is designed to feel immersive, you step into the whole timeline of IKEA.

It shows not only how the company started, but how the IKEA furniture design evolved, from early wooden pieces to today’s flatpack solutions. 

There was rooms from different time periods recreated, to show how IKEA envisioned living spaces across the decades.

Certain classic IKEA pieces were showcased with their design stories, and their global impact. Really interesting! IKEA really is a global cultural phenomenon, and the exhibition delves into how IKEA spread to other countries, adapted to local needs and became a global lifestyle icon.

The exhibition also showed prototypes that never made it to the stores. It was a really interesting visit.

 

In the evening we went just across the road to the restaurant Grillen. Completely furnished with IKEA pieces of course, but offering a slightly more upscale menu than your traditional IKEA restaurant! We had some tapas looking dishes, and everything was absolutely delicious.

Kinnekulle Autumn Art

Nathan and the kids were only able to stay for a couple of days just for the funeral, this morning they already left again. Nathan was flying back home as he was only on compassionate days off, Lucas was going to a stand-up show tonight in Copenhagen, and Linnea needed to get back to school.

So Mum and I went for a little drive up Kinnekulle, as the many artists and craftsmen were having open studios for a bit of a 'Höstrunda'. I was looking for a gift for Erika, and had my heart set on some ceramics. Even though not many ceramic studios were on the route, I managed to find her a beautiful bowl, mission complete.

We stopped at 'Utsikten' (The Viewpoint), with great views of Lake Vänern:

Their sundaes had very local and funny names, but we still opted for waffles, with cloudberry jam, mmm!