Houzz Tour: A Small Top Floor Flat Full of Vintage Finds
To fashion blogger Maria Jernov, style is far more important than designer labels, and her home definitely reflects that
Kasper Iversen
25 January 2017
Maria Jernov makes a living blogging about fashion, following the most recent trends and knowing about whatever’s happening with the big fashion companies and the most expensive brands. So you’d think her home, in the heart of Copenhagen, would contain designer furniture and all the ‘right’ brands. But in this cosy attic apartment, expensive furniture and famous designs are practically non-existent. In fact, the 23-year-old fashion blogger and her boyfriend, Sebastian, have made a virtue of decorating their home with second-hand furniture, which they restore or paint themselves in order to create a personal touch.
“I don’t want to be too safe in my décor,” Jernov says. “Yes, Eames chairs are good-looking, and if one day I want them, I’ll get them. But to me it’s more important to follow my age and my budget by creating something I find cool and fun. And, really, most of the pieces I have at home are things I’ve sourced and made into my own.”
“I don’t want to be too safe in my décor,” Jernov says. “Yes, Eames chairs are good-looking, and if one day I want them, I’ll get them. But to me it’s more important to follow my age and my budget by creating something I find cool and fun. And, really, most of the pieces I have at home are things I’ve sourced and made into my own.”
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here Danish fashion blogger and the creator of mariajernov.com, Maria Jernov, and her boyfriend, Sebastian Barrett, who writes a blog for men called jesuissebastian.com, both 23
Location Copenhagen, Denmark
Size 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom; 68 sq m
Who lives here Danish fashion blogger and the creator of mariajernov.com, Maria Jernov, and her boyfriend, Sebastian Barrett, who writes a blog for men called jesuissebastian.com, both 23
Location Copenhagen, Denmark
Size 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom; 68 sq m
If you ask Maria Jernov what the most important thing about her home is, the answer will be: making it cosy.
“My home has to be warm. There have to be lots of blankets and cushions, and the sofa needs to be very comfortable,” she says. “I will never find myself in one of those white-box houses with a daybed, because it’s impossible to sit on a sofa bench and watch TV and really relax.
“I need people to know that we live here and we’re comfortable, so things are allowed to be out in the open. I don’t want it to be overly neat and tidy,” she adds.
Check out 10 great ideas for flats from people who’ve been there
“My home has to be warm. There have to be lots of blankets and cushions, and the sofa needs to be very comfortable,” she says. “I will never find myself in one of those white-box houses with a daybed, because it’s impossible to sit on a sofa bench and watch TV and really relax.
“I need people to know that we live here and we’re comfortable, so things are allowed to be out in the open. I don’t want it to be overly neat and tidy,” she adds.
Check out 10 great ideas for flats from people who’ve been there
You could say the décor is an expression of Jernov’s opinion on clothes and fashion. “If you only buy Saint Laurent and Balenciaga, then it’s really not about having good style; it’s about having the money to buy those labels, and that’s not an indicator of whether you have good style,” she says. “It’s much more important to be able to combine different items you think are nice. If you have the money, it’s easy to buy ‘good style’, but it doesn’t necessarily give you a personal style.”
In fact, the blue Beetle chair from Gubi is the only real piece of designer furniture in her home. Jernov has invested in the chair because she thinks it’s “super nice”.
In fact, the blue Beetle chair from Gubi is the only real piece of designer furniture in her home. Jernov has invested in the chair because she thinks it’s “super nice”.
The dining room furniture is a good example of Jernov and Barrett’s ability to take old furniture and give it a new lease of life. They found the dining table on a Danish second-hand site called the Blue Paper and then restored and painted it themselves.
“We got the chairs from a Hellerup Beach hotel [just north of Copenhagen] when they revamped the whole interior a few years ago,” Jernov says. “There were perhaps 60 similar chairs and I really wish we’d taken more of them,” she says. The chairs have been painted in the same colour as the table, and have also been reupholstered.
The delicate, old-fashioned blue is a deliberate choice. “Blue has always been my favourite colour,” Jernov explains, “and I find the blue of the dining table and the chairs incredibly beautiful.”
See ways to bring your home to life with handmade touches
“We got the chairs from a Hellerup Beach hotel [just north of Copenhagen] when they revamped the whole interior a few years ago,” Jernov says. “There were perhaps 60 similar chairs and I really wish we’d taken more of them,” she says. The chairs have been painted in the same colour as the table, and have also been reupholstered.
The delicate, old-fashioned blue is a deliberate choice. “Blue has always been my favourite colour,” Jernov explains, “and I find the blue of the dining table and the chairs incredibly beautiful.”
See ways to bring your home to life with handmade touches
Jernov feels quite uneasy if there’s no colour to create a warm and relaxed atmosphere. “Actually, I don’t like black. Those beams are a boyfriend compromise,” she says, laughing while looking at the ceiling beams, which she finds nice, but more Barrett’s style than her own.
“I’d also prefer to have herringbone parquet and three sofas, but as Sebastian argued before we moved into the apartment, ‘We all know you’ll get what you want at some point, Jernov, so let’s start out living the way I’d like to live.’ And, actually, I think it’s fun to furnish an apartment like we’ve done this one.”
“I’d also prefer to have herringbone parquet and three sofas, but as Sebastian argued before we moved into the apartment, ‘We all know you’ll get what you want at some point, Jernov, so let’s start out living the way I’d like to live.’ And, actually, I think it’s fun to furnish an apartment like we’ve done this one.”
Jernov thinks the colour of the sofa, which is also second-hand, is a bit too yellowish compared to the other blue tones, but she says its shape is beautiful. “And I can always reupholster it, even if it’s expensive. Just the fact that it’s blue makes me feel at ease,” she says.
Jernov loves to cook and does it almost every day. Her boyfriend vacuums and makes sure the apartment isn’t too messy. “The kitchen is used constantly and I love having things out, because we actually use them,” she says.
“I found my fish board at a second-hand market; we don’t use it for fish, but for pizza. My boyfriend once read that pizza trays are toxic, so when we get pizzas delivered, we have ‘pizza-fish’ while watching television,” says Jernov.
When it comes to the set-up and décor of the apartment, Jernov found her inspiration surprisingly close to home.
“I’ve found an incredible amount of inspiration in my grandmother. She’s extremely skilled at styling and decorating in layers,” she says. “If, for example, she has a chair in a corner, she will place a bookcase behind it in order to make layers, which I find crazily inspiring.
“She also has an enormous number of blankets, which she arranges in a manner that makes you think it’s a bit too much, yet totally perfect at the same time. And really cosy,” she adds enthusiastically.
“I’ve found an incredible amount of inspiration in my grandmother. She’s extremely skilled at styling and decorating in layers,” she says. “If, for example, she has a chair in a corner, she will place a bookcase behind it in order to make layers, which I find crazily inspiring.
“She also has an enormous number of blankets, which she arranges in a manner that makes you think it’s a bit too much, yet totally perfect at the same time. And really cosy,” she adds enthusiastically.
With two residents and a floor area of only 68 sq m, the storage space in the apartment is limited, but the couple have found several creative solutions to this problem.
In the bedroom, for instance, they’ve made use of the space under the sloping roof by fitting it out with a hanging rail and other storage, then elegantly covering the whole area with a white curtain.
In the bedroom, for instance, they’ve made use of the space under the sloping roof by fitting it out with a hanging rail and other storage, then elegantly covering the whole area with a white curtain.
“I’ve had the chest of drawers [above] literally since I was born. It was in my bedroom in Silkeborg in East Jutland, where I grew up, and I will never paint it,” says Jernov. “And no matter whether our first child is a boy or a girl, this dresser will be in his or her bedroom. It’s classic and streamlined, but it’s fun that the drawers still have my name in them, written by me when I was five, along with other little messages. It will never go,” she says.
While Jernov has found great inspiration in her grandmother, her style is quite different from that of her parents.
“Their home is more minimalist and Scandinavian. It’s beautiful and they have incredibly good taste, but it’s not the way I want to live. My mother worried when I got a completely blue dining room, but I think it’s mega cool,” says Jernov.
She does, however, have a few famous Scandinavian furniture classics on her wish list – among them, two of Le Klint’s classic black floor lamps with folded shades.
“I’m also crazy about getting a flag line [Flag Halyard] chair designed by Hans Wegner someday. Who in Denmark isn’t? But that will be when I have a five-bedroom apartment with parquet floors and stucco ceilings,” she says.
What do you like about this flat? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.
“Their home is more minimalist and Scandinavian. It’s beautiful and they have incredibly good taste, but it’s not the way I want to live. My mother worried when I got a completely blue dining room, but I think it’s mega cool,” says Jernov.
She does, however, have a few famous Scandinavian furniture classics on her wish list – among them, two of Le Klint’s classic black floor lamps with folded shades.
“I’m also crazy about getting a flag line [Flag Halyard] chair designed by Hans Wegner someday. Who in Denmark isn’t? But that will be when I have a five-bedroom apartment with parquet floors and stucco ceilings,” she says.
What do you like about this flat? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.
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wow, she seems really cool and wonderful and pretty, I wanna be her friend