In my shelf – Betonggruvan

In my shelf: Flora Wiström

Josefine Halfwordson
15 december, 2019

In our new blog series we step into the homes of PORTAL shelf owners.

Today we are visiting Flora Wiström in her apartment on Södermalm in Stockholm. She works as a blogger and writer and also arranges writing couses with her friend and colleague Yrsa Keysendal. That Flora works with books is hard to miss by visiting her: there are books everywhere.

We enter the apartment and are immediately greeted by the livingroom, painted green. We’re here to talk about Flora’s shelf and books – two things that we both love.

Hi Flora!

Who lives here?

Me and my boyfriend Johan.

You have a lot of books in your shelf, tell us about how you sort them!

Maybe it has to do with my need for control, but I sort the books by which ones I have and have not read. And also by paperback and hardcover. I love to own books, as a trophy of how much I read 🙂

Which book do you want to recommend?

Röd Självbiografi (Red autobiography) by Anne Carson. It is a very thrilling lyrical novel, an interpretation of the myth about Herakles and Geryon. Geryon is a monster that falls in love with Herakles, but Herakles is not that enthusiastic. It’s such a strong story about desire. I just read it in my book club and could not stop reading. It is a very well-written and quite peculiar book.

Hyllsystem PORTAL – FLORA – 15710 kr

What about the little drawing behind the plants?

It was a gift I got on my 24th birthday. My boyfriend Johan and I had then been dating for a few months, and since he is an architect he decided to draw me a little cabin where I could sit and write. It was so cute that I could not stop crying. It was never supposed to be built, but more of a sweet gesture to encourage my writing.

You released the book Hålla andan this year, tell us about it!

It takes place at a public swimming pool. Those places make me feel very uncomfortable, you are exposed and it is so associated with going there with school and being undressed. But there is also something nice about dressing rooms. When I had decided on the location, I involved every part of in the swimming facility in the story, from the roof and the reception to the sauna and the staff room.

The main character is a young elite swimmer that one day disappears. Her siblings are trying to understand why she went away, and it is a story about relationsships and performance. The cover of Hålla Andan is made by Sara Edström who also designed my first book Stanna. She is also the designer of the new issues of Annika Thor’s books.

Tell us about your shelf.

I used to have a smaller version before, when I lived in a 24 sqm apartment. I then had three sections of the shelf, but after I moved in here and got more space I could add one more section.

When I had just moved in, my best friend and I painted the pinewood shelves in our underwear. I love that they are all painted the same color as the wall, and that the shelf takes up an entire wall. The books and things in my shelf really get to be the main characters in the room. It is easy to move things around in the shelf to give the room a new feeling. I just read that it is good for a room when things move around from time to time. Good for the energy.

Hyllsystem PORTAL – FLORA – 15710 kr

Thank you for having us Flora!

Flora’s shelf consists of white shelf ladders and pinewood shelves painted in light green.

Buy Flora’s shelf HERE

In my shelf: Katarina Matsson

Josefine Halfwordson
3 november, 2019

In our new blog series we take a step into the homes of Portal shelf owners.

Today we are visiting Katarina Matsson, who works with content at Elle Magazine, but now is on parental leave with baby Hilma. When we approach Katarina’s townhouse we are struck by the cosiness of the area. Katarina invites us into the 2 floor house for a fika and a chat.

Hi Katarina!

Who lives here?

Me and my family. We’re Katarina, Jakub, Milo, 4 years and Hilma, 9 months.

What made you move to this cute neighbourhood?

One of my oldest friends moved here, and her son is my godson. We really love the neighbourhood, with the houses built in the late 40’s and the surroundings drawn by Walter Bauer. It’s the world’s lovliest place. The neighbours have so many nice traditions that go way back to the 50’s, like for Lucia when the kids walk the Luciatåg with torches and a horse. Many of our neighbours are in the same stage of life as we are, the kids play together and I have a book club here. We are definately staying.

You spent one month in New York just now, tell us!

Me and Jacob lived in New York from 2010-2013/14, and felt that it would be really nice to connect our life now, with kids and all, to that time. We rented a friend’s apartment and it was lovely! Well, of course we fought here as well, but everyone slept well and it was such a good break from life at home. At home there is always some things that needs to be fixed, but during this trip we had the chance to just disconnect from those things. One thing, though, is it very expensive since the dollar is so high. Milo and I had a 55 dollar lunch just the two of us one day.

Going to New York is really what you dream of doing during your parental leave but can’t get together. What can you recommend?

It is really nice to travel there with kids. Well, there are no elevators in the subway, so you’ll have to have a baby sling and walk a lot. But going to museums with kids are very nice, we went to Museum of Natural History to see the dinosaurs, but Milo was more interested in the space stones that killed them. Also The New Museum was really nice, showing video art that the whole family could enjoy, and with a nice workshop for kids.

We know ALL of New York’s playgrounds by now. The best ones are the one next to Metropolitan Museum of Art in Central Park called Ancient Playground, and one in Williamsburg that I think is called Domino Playground.

We spent some time hanging out in East Village’s Community gardens, watching turtles and playing borkarövare. In general, it’s just so enjoyable to hang out in New York, there are always things happening in the streets – someone playing music or a nice window to look into. My best tip is to just stroll around, there are pizza slices everywhere.

What do you like about the Portal shelf?

We are book horders in a sick way, and always used to have storage problems. I love the fact that the Portal shelf is so nice and neat. It fits really well in our 50’s house.

Also, it can be filled with a lot of books, at some places we have books in double lines but the shelf still looks clean. It is nice to be able to put shelves on different levels, and they are really easy to mount. We have one low Portal shelf on the ground floor and a higher one on the first floor. Both shelves are off white with pinewood shelves, a nice way to connect the two levels with each other. The same system but constructed differently.

I easily get very attached to books, and things in general. We have a problem in our family: I love the stones from Denmark (where we went for vacation) and my fleamarket finds and all my stuff. My husband is not that interested in things but has a hard time getting rid of them. That is such a bad combo. Our ambition is to only have things in our home that sparks joy. But there is so much that sparks joy!

The high shelf is in the bedroom is mainly used for books, but also consists of a small shelf with a collection of perfumes, and some shoes. Don’t hide your nicest stuff away, put it on the shelf for things that sparks joy!

For the low shelf Katarina has chosen 101 cm off-white ladders and pinewood shelves. Her shelf consists of five ladders, six 123 cm pinewood shelves and three shelf extenders.

Buy Katarina’s low shelf HERE! Just send us an email if you want to change anything or customize this shelf. We will happily send you a sketch.

For the high shelf Katarina has chosen off-white 237 cm ladders and pinewood shelves.

Buy Katarina’s high shelf HERE! Just send us an email if you want to change anything or customize this shelf. We will happily send you a sketch.

In my shelf: Linnea Paulsson Neppelberg

Josefine Halfwordson
22 september, 2019

In our new blog series we take a step into the homes of Portal shelf owners.

Today we are visiting our art director Linnea, who lives on the third floor in a Funkis apartment in Midommarkransen. Linnea welcomes us with baby Helle, 7 months, on her arm. The 2 room apartment is not so spacious but is feels much bigger thanks to the light you get this high up with contact with the trees outside the windows.

We visit on a Monday. This Sunday she went to Ulriksdal’s garden flower self-pick so the apartment is filled with flowers. –I have a principle. When summer is over but there’s still flowers outside I pick at least one bouquet per week. It makes me feel so much less affected by the change of seasons. We grab the cakes on the table and start talking about the home and their Portal shelf, placed on a whole wall in the livingroom. It is a combination of high and low shelf ladders and shelves all in pinewood. –We thought about painting it all in the wall color (Skimming Stone from Farrow and Ball) but then Helle came and now I kind of like that the pinewood has darkened. Maybe we’ll paint it some time, but I think that will be in our next apartment. I like that the off-white shelf ladders go really well with our wall color. We used to have a String shelf but got tired of it and sold it on Blocket when we hade some other re-arranging things going before Helle came.

Who lives here?

We’re a family of four. Me, Erik, 33, Bo, 3 and Helle, 7 months. We moved here 3 years ago when I was very pregnant with Bo.

You have so much nice ceramic pieces, where do you find it?

I thrift some at flea markets and some in Gustavsberg when the craftmen open their studios twice a year. It is such a nice trip to go there, have a fika and stroll around too look at their work. Some of my favourite things are also found on trips to Japan. It is the mix that makes it, isn’t it?

What do you like about the Portal shelf?

Mostly I like that it is so easy to customize and build up to fit your wall. And it is actually really nice that the space between the ladders are high, so that it doesn’t get so crowded if you know what I mean. I work with–and collect–magazines and they are often quite high which is perfect. Maybe our shelf is a bit hard to combine with kids climbing and picking stuff out, but I mean you will just have to move things around for some years…
I didn’t want a TV since it is the ugliest interior piece I know. But Erik works with television so we had to compromize and got a 32′, the smallest we could find. It fits perfect in the 80 cm shelf. We put it so that it is easy for Bo to get all the pillows in the apartment and make a cosy corner in front of it.

Linnea has chosen off-white ladders and pinewood shelves. If you have a lot of different or small things it can be a good idea to have the same material on the shelves all through, it gives a clean impression.

Buy Linnea’s shelf HERE! Just send us an email if you want to change anything or customize this shelf. We will happily send you a sketch.

Barbro Segerfelt

Linnea Paulsson
5 maj, 2019

In our new blog series we take a step into the homes of Portal shelf owners.

Today we visit Barbro Segerfelt, more known as Babbe. She’s also my grandmother. She’s 94 years old and lives in a beautiful apartment in Nacka, close to her daughter and grandchildren.

When she invites us in, the first thing that hits our eyes is a buffet of cakes that have been prepared for our visit. She’s dressed in a light blue color from head to toe, witch perfectly matches the interior in her apartment.

In Babbe’s bedroom she has a Portal shelf from Betonggruvan, she tells us that she’s happy to incorporate something new in her old home. She chose the white shelves and shelf ladders because she wanted something light.

What’s your favorite thing in your shelf?

The sculpture of the girl sewing. It’s from my childhood home and has been with me since 1925.

And the photography picturing my husband from 1946 is also very important to me. We met at a wedding, I was bridesmaid and he where best man, I basically proposed to him that night. The next day he came to my parents house where I lived and rang the door bell and the rest is history.

The big painting is a portrait of Babbe’s grandmother. She were born in 1868 and died at her 90th birthday after celebrating for two days with her family.

What kind of books do you have in your shelf?

My favourite books are my cookbooks. It’s important that I can reach them easily, because they are the ones I use the most. I really like Hiram, I have all her books and I have used them so much that they are almost falling apart.

I also have a lot of books about children psychology, since they were a part of my profession as a preschool teacher. But mostly I read biographies, like one about Astrid Lindgren.

We talk about how the use of bookshelves has changed from when she grow up. Then people didn’t fill their shelving systems with anything but books. Babbe remembers her childhood home where the walls where papered with books. Today shelves look different because people read more online and don’t buy as many books as they used to.

What do you like about the Portal shelf?

I like that your able to adjust the shelving system after what you like to have in it, not as a traditional bookshelf.

Thank you Babbe for having us!

Babbe has chosen white ladders and white shelves, a really nice clean shelf when having things with a history in it. A really good idea when having more than books in your shelf is to group the items. Gather the books on one side of the shelf and let there be space for smaller items on the other side. It gives the shelf a lighter impression. We also love the crimped lampshade that gives a soft cosy feeling to the room.

Buy Babbe’s shelf HERE!

In my shelf: Flora Wiström

In my shelf: Katarina Matsson

In my shelf: Linnea Paulsson Neppelberg

Barbro Segerfelt

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