Hands down, the personal homes of architects and interior designers are among our favorites to cover. They tend to be less polished (in a good way), less trend-motivated, more interesting than projects for clients. This converted barn by Danish architects Elisabeth A.P. Eriksen and Mads Bay Møller is an example of the magic that can happen when design professionals turn their expert gaze to their own homes. “We wanted to do the things that we, as architects, aren’t always allowed to do [when working with] clients,” they share.
For Elisabeth, the remodel was an especially personal one. She grew up on the farm surrounding the barn in Svartingehus, an old fishing town on the island of Bornholm in Denmark, and as an adult, she would return with Mads and their kids to spend summer holidays there. During those stays, “we would imagine how we could transform the barn [which was being used as a garage and storage space] into a home for our family,” she says. “We had a vision to show the possibilities of transforming old agricultural buildings instead of tearing them down and building new.”
That became the guiding principle of their remodel: “We wanted to keep as much of the barn as possible. That meant, for example, reinforcing the interior barn wall with steel beams, so it wouldn’t collapse. The contractors were shaking their heads at us—normally they would just tear it down and build a new wall. But for us it was important to use as much of the existing resources as possible; plus, the old wall showed the history of the barn and gave it a tactility, which is difficult to achieve in new buildings.”
Elisabeth and Mads also prioritized sustainable design, “experimenting with raw surfaces and using as many natural materials as possible,” all while trying to stay within a tight budget (Ikea to the rescue!). Below, they give us a tour of the newly transformed home for their family of four—plus cat and three Indian runner ducks.
Photography by Elisabeth A.P. Eriksen. (Follow them on Instagram @laden_svartingehus for all the details.)
