Kitchen stories: In the home of @rachelemilia
We love visiting our customers' beautiful homes and in the second part of “Kitchen stories” we have visited Rachel La Chenardière, her partner Mattias and their children Edith and Ava in their late 19th century apartment in Södermalm, Stockholm.
When our daughter needed her own room, we had to move the kitchen to another room, which meant that we suddenly had a room with completely new dimensions. We then chose to customise everything from scratch and the old kitchen ended up in another home, which turned out perfect.
I really advocate using existing materials in the first place, but since the new room had completely new dimensions, we chose to tailor everything from scratch.
We went into the process with open minds and the attitude that "it will be fine no matter what." The only thing we knew in advance was that we wanted to bring in a lot of light and space, and not have too many overhead cabinets. But when it came time to make a decision, we had completely different proposals on the table. We wanted to create a kitchen with personality that still felt calm and harmonious, and I think we succeeded.
What has been your inspiration?
In terms of style, I find myself in a constant tug-of-war between the continentally messy and the Scandinavian minimalism. A part of me was inspired by kitchens with open wooden shelves and irregular shapes where a stain of red wine more or less made no difference - while the other longed for floor-to-ceiling white cabinets. In the end, our kitchen turned out to be a mix of both, which suits us well. The role of the kitchen has changed as our eldest daughter has grown, and now we have another baby. A room that originally was meant to look beautiful and clean at all times,has become more of a kitchen to live in. And surely you can call piles of unsorted laundry, spilled gruel and wilted flowers for continental clutter?
Rachel also runs the interior brand Merde Selection. A curious selection of vintage artifacts, one-of-a-kind homeware in a curated collection of vintage objects.
Each piece is carefully and curiously sourced to make a genuine impression.
See more from Rachels and Mattias beautiful home at @rachelemilia.
