The dream of a classic, solid brick house

When Elin was little, the family moved from Copenhagen to a quiet residential neighbourhood with beautiful old houses north of Copenhagen. Here, they are close to the countryside, close to the children’s school, and at the same time the couple can quickly get to appointments and their jobs in Copenhagen – either by train or bike.

So, it was a high priority for the couple to find a house in the same area, as the family had grown out of their first home. Julie had always dreamed of living in a classic brick house with original details such as bay windows and plaster mouldings, and when the detached house from 1930 was put on the market, Julie and Peter quickly snapped it up.

The previous owners had already renovated the entire first floor and basement when Julie and Peter were handed the keys in January 2022 – including three brand-new bathrooms with, for example, an elegant freestanding bathtub and brass VOLA taps that matched the house perfectly.

Julie and Peter could therefore concentrate on transforming the small rooms on the ground floor into a functional and modern home with space for family living, children’s birthdays, Christmas gatherings and more than 20 guests around the dining table.

Life in their dream home was therefore marked at the outset by extensive construction mess in which two load-bearing walls were replaced with iron beams, two different floors were replaced by a new and exquisite herringbone floor in oak, all the plaster mouldings were restored, and the old kitchen was replaced with a pebble grey Shaker kitchen that matches the old house. 

“The previous kitchen was very small, and we wanted to make the rooms larger, and create a coherent living space on the ground floor while optimising the layout to meet modern living requirements with a centrally placed kitchen,” says Julie.

 “I’m so glad that we replaced the half-wall, raised the structural beam and created a large, open-plan kitchen-dining room. The kitchen is more than a place where we cook our meals. It’s somewhere that we come together

both mornings and evenings, where we bake at the weekends, where the children play and dance, and where we serve our guests drinks. You’ve probably heard it before – everyone always gathers in the kitchen,” says Julie.