My Houzz: This Swedish Actor’s Home Is Full of Memories
Urban and family history meet in this Stockholm apartment, tied together by beloved, timeworn objects
Malin Crépin lives with her family on the heights of Södermalm in central Stockholm. The Swedish actor is known for her role in the film adaptations of Liza Marklund’s novels about crime-solving journalist Annika Bengtzon, for the critically acclaimed film Sami Blood and for her work with Swedish playwright Lars Norén.
Her family’s two-bedroom apartment doesn’t have much floor space, but it is filled to the brim with items of personal significance, beloved furniture and mementos of cultural experiences. Almost nothing here is new: Her things have been inherited or found and have come to her in a bit of a jumble.
Her family’s two-bedroom apartment doesn’t have much floor space, but it is filled to the brim with items of personal significance, beloved furniture and mementos of cultural experiences. Almost nothing here is new: Her things have been inherited or found and have come to her in a bit of a jumble.
The building dates to 1865. Right outside, a gravel path leads down to Monteliusvägen, a pedestrian walkway alongside Lake Mälaren that offers romantic views of the lake, Stockholm’s city hall and the old town. This picturesque neighborhood was an impoverished area for many years.
The winding stone staircase may have a strongly modern aesthetic now, but 100 years ago, this building must have been, frankly, a miserable and cold place to live. Despite the narrowness of the staircase, the previous owners actually had a grand piano in the apartment — it was taken out through the window.
“You do get used to not having an elevator; it’s good exercise,” Crépin says. “I don’t need to go to the gym — all it takes is laundry day. The communal laundry is in the basement, and sometimes you go up and down five times. Everything has been dragged up here: toddlers, grocery bags, furniture and suitcases — but it’s good not to have things too easy, I think.”
“You do get used to not having an elevator; it’s good exercise,” Crépin says. “I don’t need to go to the gym — all it takes is laundry day. The communal laundry is in the basement, and sometimes you go up and down five times. Everything has been dragged up here: toddlers, grocery bags, furniture and suitcases — but it’s good not to have things too easy, I think.”
Crépin was born in one of the buildings next door, but it is purely by chance that she and her husband found an apartment here.
The couple have been living here for 10 years. When they moved in, the plan was to stay only for a short time, just while the kids were little. “We chose not to spend all our money on a place to live so that we would get to travel instead,” Crépin says. “We probably do need to move again soon, especially when the children grow a bit bigger, but it’s so convenient here — it’s a three-minute walk to the kindergarten and a seven-minute walk to the school, with lots of shops and restaurants around.”
The couple have been living here for 10 years. When they moved in, the plan was to stay only for a short time, just while the kids were little. “We chose not to spend all our money on a place to live so that we would get to travel instead,” Crépin says. “We probably do need to move again soon, especially when the children grow a bit bigger, but it’s so convenient here — it’s a three-minute walk to the kindergarten and a seven-minute walk to the school, with lots of shops and restaurants around.”
From a modern perspective, the apartment may seem a bit small for a family of four, but Crépin says that, according to local lore, when the building was constructed, it housed up to 20 people in three very tiny apartments. Each apartment supposedly consisted of a living room with a stove to cook on and a small room where people had to sleep in shifts.
“When we moved in, there was patterned wallpaper everywhere, even on the bedroom ceiling,” Crépin says. “The walls were also in a really ’90s style throughout, à la Friends. But the floor plan was pretty much what it is now.”
Today, the interior consists almost entirely of flea-market finds, heirlooms and travel souvenirs. “I think many of us are getting tired of the monochrome look; it creates a gloomy atmosphere. I love the French château style, for example. That scuffed elegance — how do the French do it?”
The Ikea sideboard behind Crépin is one of the few pieces of furniture the couple bought for their home.
Today, the interior consists almost entirely of flea-market finds, heirlooms and travel souvenirs. “I think many of us are getting tired of the monochrome look; it creates a gloomy atmosphere. I love the French château style, for example. That scuffed elegance — how do the French do it?”
The Ikea sideboard behind Crépin is one of the few pieces of furniture the couple bought for their home.
Treasures they’ve collected are displayed in little vignettes. Crépin made the cactus-shaped candleholder herself, while the insect collection is from the Lidingö neighborhood in Stockholm and dates to 1940. She found it while scouring flea markets. In front of this lies a shadow puppet from Malaysia.
Crépin travels a lot for work, often to California, France and the U.K. Among other roles, she played the lead in the play Á la Mémoire d’Anna Politkovskaïa (In Memory of Anna Politkovskaya), by Norén, the renowned Swedish playwright. The part was completely French-speaking, which was quite the challenge — Crépin is part French but isn’t entirely fluent in the language. “Strangely enough, I felt freer in French because I felt I could be tougher and talk about more brutal things than I could in Swedish.”
The small sketches are by Crépin’s mother, done when Crépin was still a baby, and capture the streets around her current home.
The installation of the Swedish tiled stove was perhaps the biggest renovation the couple undertook in the apartment. The oven looks as though it has always been here, but they actually found it through Blocket, the Swedish Craigslist. It’s from the town of Sala, in central Sweden, miles away from Stockholm.
“It’s quite old, and at first, it actually seemed too refined for our apartment’s look and feel, but now I think it fits in really well,” Crépin says.
“It’s quite old, and at first, it actually seemed too refined for our apartment’s look and feel, but now I think it fits in really well,” Crépin says.
Her daughter Carla plays the violin. Crépin bought the couch from Swedish television presenter and blogger Elsa Billgren.
Between two of the three windows in the bright apartment, the couple built a cabinet that stores countless kitchen odds and ends, and much more. The many items on the counters and shelves look organized because they adhere to a harmonizing color scheme.
Find kitchen utensil holders
Find kitchen utensil holders
“The trick is to give the eye a break every now and then,” Crépin says. “Keeping some surfaces and walls completely bare, and then having other areas with lots of objects to look at.”
The counters are made of concrete and are well-worn. “It’s a good thing if it flakes and gets a bit scratched. We want it to look lived-in here.”
In the bedroom hangs a large painting by Danish artist Martin Skyt. It’s emblazoned with the words “Let the Kids Boogie” — a message Crépin wholeheartedly agrees with.
Carla and her sister, Frances, are so far happy to share a room, even though Crépin thinks there will clearly come a time when they will need more space.
Browse photos of children’s rooms
Browse photos of children’s rooms
The view looks past the geraniums in the window to the courtyard.
Each child has a shelf in this little dollhouse cabinet. “I have a neat and organized child and a messier child, which, funnily enough, is reflected in the state of each floor of the dollhouse,” Crépin says.
At the moment, Crépin works from home a lot, as she is writing her own script. She thinks it’s going great. “However, when I am about to read what I have written so far, I do get out of the apartment and go and get a coffee in a cafe, so that way I can get a little distance to what I’ve just written.”
Afterward, she returns to the tranquillity of her apartment, high above the noise of the city, to continue writing in the world that she created with her family and filled with a multitude of beloved and timeworn things.
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Afterward, she returns to the tranquillity of her apartment, high above the noise of the city, to continue writing in the world that she created with her family and filled with a multitude of beloved and timeworn things.
My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.
Browse more homes by style: Apartments | Barn Homes | Colorful Homes | Contemporary Homes | Eclectic Homes | Farmhouses | Floating Homes | Guesthouses | Homes Around the World | Lofts | Midcentury Homes | Modern Homes | Ranch Homes | Small Homes | Townhouses | Traditional Homes | Transitional Homes | Vacation Homes
House at a Glance
Who lives here: Malin Crépin, husband Markus, and daughters Carla, 7, and Frances, 4
Location: Södermalm neighborhood of Stockholm
Size: About 540 square feet (50 square meters)