Cathy Nordström’s summer house is a three-minute cycle from the beach in Torekov, a fishing village in Skåne, Sweden’s southernmost county. In August, when the schools are shut, it’s not unusual for Nordström to return from the shops to find eight bikes stacked up against the front of the house and a horde of sandy children inside. “It’s kids, Nerf guns and Lego everywhere, all the time,” she says. “But that’s OK. It’s a summer house: it’s supposed to be lived in.”
Nordström, a Swedish textile designer, spent her early childhood in Surrey but even then would go to Torekov for the summer. In fact, much of her extended family have sommarstuga (a summer cabin or cottge) in the village. “As a child, I had so much fun here,” she says, “but as I grew older, I tried to rebel against the whole idea. It wasn’t until we had our own kids that I saw how much they appreciate their freedom here. They scream with joy whenever we arrive.”
The family spent their first summer in their new house, which comfortably sleeps 10, in 2020. Solidly built in the late 1970s, it required only minor repair work, leaving Nordström free to layer the lively, light interior with patterned textiles and vintage fabrics, creating a scheme that is more eccentric English country cottage than minimal Scandi cabin.
Their biggest job was to swap the existing cold tiles in the open-plan living space – which is organised around a spectacular stepped fireplace – for a wooden floor. “It’s softened the whole feel of the room,” Nordström says. The pale flooring, walls and curtains create a blank canvas against which patterned soft furnishings vibrate. In the main seating area a jumbo gingham sofa faces a pair of spotty armchairs (one of Nordström’s own designs). Between them are the bold stripes of a bespoke Indian dhurrie rug. Cushions are liberally scattered and arranged according to the season: yellows and blues for summer, reds at Christmas.
This visual busyness continues upstairs, where a lemon gingham headboard abuts floral William Morris wallpaper. Elsewhere, a vintage, geometric röllakan Swedish rug is tucked under a bed that has been draped in an antique American quilt and an Indian kantha. Scatter cushions are propped against the pillows for good measure. Ruffles abound.
When Nordström moved to Sweden aged seven, she remembers her mother indulging her newfound love of pattern in the Stockholm branch of Laura Ashley: “She bought me a bedspread and curtains in this lemon, pink and green fabric, which I adored.”
Nordström worked in advertising and graphic design before training to become a pattern designer in 2014. With three small children at home, nap and night times were spent studying. She worked for big names such as Ikea and Uniqlo before founding her eponymous textile brand in 2019, designing and producing fabrics, wallpapers and accessories that are hand-printed in Sweden.
“The decision to produce imperfect patterns was deliberate,” she says. “It creates a more layered and personal interior.”
When it came to furnishing her own sommarstuga, Nordström was determined to buy only secondhand. “In the kitchen, nothing is new,” she says. “The glasses, the cutlery, the plates – even the bowl we use to make pancakes is secondhand.”
Most of the furniture is sourced either from Blocket (a Swedish website for secondhand goods) or from flea markets. Her advice is to hunt for quality pieces from reputable brands, then customise them with your own choice of fabric. “The chequered sofa was a flea market find I bought for the equivalent of £80. Obviously the fabric [from Romo] adds to the cost, but it’s still so worth it. I get a rush knowing I’ve bought secondhand and the piece is totally unique.”
For lightness, Nordström has opted for shapely bamboo chairs and occasional tables, often topped with colourful candlesticks and patterned, pleated lampshades. Many of the wooden pieces have been reinvented with a lick of paint.
“Don’t be put off by the colour of the wood,” says Nordström, pointing out a shapely, butter-yellow side table in one of the bedrooms. “When I first saw this, it was really baroque and heavy. Now it’s a fun focal point,” she says. “It’s good to have some humour – something unexpected – in your home.”
Nordström’s advice to those wishing to play with pattern is to not be afraid of getting it wrong. “I get it wrong all the time,” she confesses. “The worst thing is, when I think a new rug is going to look great and I get my whole family to move the furniture out of the way and I roll it out and I can tell instantly it’s not right.”
The solution? “Don’t get attached to things: if you’re buying secondhand, you can sell it again and find something else. Evolve your ideas. And when the house starts to feel like it’s giving you an embrace, that’s when you know you’ve got it right.”
Get the look
Empire shade in berries egg & spoon silk screen ikat, £63, Pooky.com
J46 chair in red, £217, hollowaysofludlow.com
Cotton stripe rug light blue, £101, rugvista.co.uk
Malu rattan magazine rack £70, Laredoute.co.uk
Pink poppy frill cushion £40, East London, eastlondonparasols.com
