An unlikely Pinterest sensation: the house of Maria Förstberg, a librarian and weaver, located in Linköping, in southern Sweden.
Photography by Markus Linderoth, courtesy of Förstberg Ling.
The structure, a pair of gabled volumes clad in corrugated aluminum, looks much like a child’s drawing come to life, and—in fact, it’s the work of Maria’s son, architect Björn Förstberg, and his partner, Mikael Ling, who are based in Malmo.
The natural plywood on the walls is sealed with Polyx-Oil, a wax oil from Osmo. The dining table is Ilse Crawford’s cork-topped trestle design from her Sinnerlig collection for Ikea.
Floor-to-ceiling white paint creates a literal dividing line between the two halves of the room.
A companion to the dining table, a cork-topped Ilse Crawford-for-Ikea desk for the librarian.
With its soaring ceiling and exposed beams and trusses, the design references barn construction. A full-height fridge and freezer are tucked into a pantry on the other side of the sink wall.
Open plywood shelves serve as storage and display. The metal pendant LED light, the w103 Sempé from Wästberg, is available as a single shade and in various combinations.
The cooking area has a stainless steel counter and simple white tiled backsplash. On the side wall, shelves stocked with Ikea Knagglig crates form an orderly open pantry.
The floor is concrete, which rises to form a bench along the perimeter of the room.
A simple bedroom under the eaves.
The utilitarian tiled bathroom has plywood components.
Tucked off the living room, the greenhouse is composed of translucent corrugated polycarbonate sheets applied to a framework of wooden studs.
A barn door opens to a back terrace.
Situated on a narrow lot in a still-under-way planned community, the house’s two corrugated steel structures are staggered: The volume in the foreground has two bedrooms and an art studio, and the other contains the kitchen and living areas, as well as a bathroom, laundry room, and greenhouse.