Alexandra Suhner Isenberg
Alexandra Suhner Isenberg, founder of nightwear brand The Sleep Shirt, has led an international life. She was born and grew up in Canada, but met her Swedish husband in London. Together they moved to Sweden where they now live with their two young children in a 70s wooden house in the province of Smaland.
The first thing you notice about Suhner Isenberg's home is the absence of clutter. Rooms feel spacious and open - there are decorative items that hold stories - but the overall feel is one of calming simplicity.
Here, she takes us a tour of her fuss-free, beautifully curated home which proves that sometimes less really is more.
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1 The living room
"The living room is temporary, because the wall on the end is soon going to be torn down. We currently have a playroom next to it, but the kids are getting older and have less toys now. When we expand the room, we will likely buy a new (probably pink) sofa but most of the rest of the furniture will stay.
"The planter box was one of my favourite pieces belonging to the previous house owners, and I was so happy when they offered it to us. I bought the giraffe in a flea market in Normandy last summer. We were at the end of a long trip to France, and the car was already completely full. The giraffe was only 35 euros and I couldn't resist it, but it was a nightmare fitting it into the car. We were staying with a knitwear designer and she had given me some pieces she didn't want anymore, so the giraffe ended up traveling back to Sweden wrapped in Margiela and Chloe knitwear and stuck in between cases of wine."
2 The hall
"This wall hanging was a gift from a friend, Dougal Graham. The skull part is carved from antler, and placed on wood that sits over a set of antlers."
3 The dining room
"The chairs are the Mogensen J39 and the table, which fits 10 people when extended, belonged to my husband's grandmother. The storage furniture is from vintage auctions, but we are looking into some other options for storage since I have a lot of china and glassware and serving dishes, and we are running low on space.
"Every December we host a big glögg (Swedish mulled wine) open house, so I have bought enough glassware for 80 people. Much better than using plastic, right? The ceiling lamp is from Co Bankeryd and I was going to buy a second one for the other end of the room but those glass balls are a nightmare to dust on the inside."
4 The dining room
"The Dala Horse is such a stereotypical Swedish decoration but I love them. I was so lucky to find the big one at an antique store two years back - the old ones are really hard to find, especially that size. We bought the sugar skulls in Mexico in 2018."
5 The kitchen
"When we moved in, the kitchen was so brown. The backsplash, linoleum floors, and counter tops were all dark brown, the wallpaper had a black, cream, and brown stripe, and the cupboards were a medium wood colour. It was so dark and depressing in the winter, so we decided to go with something simple and functional since we are always in the kitchen.
"I wanted enough storage so that the countertops could be practically bare and my friend suggested the black island to offset all of the white, which turned out to be a great idea. Like 99 per cent of the homes in Sweden (my unofficial statistic), we went for an Ikea kitchen, and the counter tops are Corian. That lighting over the island is also from Co Bankeryd and it's beautiful."
6 The terrace
"We just finished the patio last weekend. People in Sweden put a lot of effort into their outdoor spaces, which strikes me as strange since we have a very short summer here. I guess this is the way to make the most of the warm months, especially in a year where people won't be travelling."
7 The den
"The equivalent of an all-room (allrum) in other countries would be den, except in Sweden the allrum is typically the room that you enter at the top of the stairs in a two-storey home. Instead of finding yourself on a small landing and in a dark hallway, Swedish homes will have a large den area with bedrooms leading off the room.
"Hallway space is often a waste, so I love this concept. We originally wanted to paint the ceiling and floors white, but in the end we decided to keep the sauna-feeling of the wood ceiling."
8 The den
"I got rid of so many books when we moved from Canada to Sweden, and I'm left with a select number of fashion and photography books, as well as some favourite novels and biographies. The rabbit is a Smorkin' Labbit from Kid Robot and the skull painting was a gift from an artist friend, Nora Renaud."
9 The master bedroom
"The bedroom is pretty simple and minimal. We bought an expensive mattress, but the rest of the furniture is either old family pieces we found in the barn at the country house, or items I picked up at the local vintage auctions. That's the benefit of living so far away from Stockholm (four hours) or Malmö (two hours) – the flea markets and auctions are really good here, and the prices are low."
10 The bathroom
"This was the first room we renovated when we moved in. Swedish bathrooms usually have a wet room concept and I will never go back to a separate shower area. It is so much easier to clean a wet room and there are way less cracks and corners to get dirty. Baths are also a rarity in Sweden. We added a separate plumbing area and drain in case we wanted to add a bath into the open shower area, but it's unlikely to happen any time soon. If we feel like warming up, we can use our sauna."
11 The hall
"Obviously, my favourite art pieces are the ones my children created. I designed this layout with clips so that it is easy to change the pieces of artwork. The idea is that many of the clips can either hold a portrait or landscape piece of art, without overlapping too much. A few of the pieces are permanent but most of them get rotated every few weeks."
12 The lake
"Our city name, Växjö, means road over lakes. The city is surrounded by lakes and this is a spot about ten minutes walk from our house. My dog Wanda, a husky mutt who is immigrated here with me from Canada, loves to swim here. There are spots like this all around the lakes in the city. They usually have a small dock and there is often a fire pit where people can sit and BBQ. The Swedes do this year round - roasting sausages and drinking hot chocolate outside is a common winter activity."
13 The office
"I'm lucky to have quite a big room for my home office. The desk is an adjustable one so I often work standing. All the materials are organised in boxes and I have a chart so I know what is where. You can't see the table, but I have one that expands to the middle of the room which I use when I am choosing fabrics."
14 The office
"These are all pieces given to me by artist friends. The centre piece is by Dougal Graham, the woman in black is by Sawan Yawnghwe. The paperbag is by Neil Gilks, a former classmate from Central St Martins, and the furniture paintings were from an acquaintance from years back when I lived in London."
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