Name: Hilda Grahnat
Location: Malmö, Sweden
Size: 420 square feet
Years lived in: 1.5 — rented
It's hard to believe Hilda Grahnat is a student when looking through the photos of her home. Her tiny apartment is not the predictable student digs; it's so perfectly styled and well-maintained. One of Hilda's favorite hobbies is shopping for vintage housewares — her home is filled to the brim with these amazing finds.
Hilda is an inspiration. Not only is she a graphic design student and a photographer, she also has an online shop, selling all sorts of things from screen printed tote bags to handmade book clocks.
I couldn't wait to feature a Swedish home and I just knew I had to ask Hilda after following her blog, which blog often includes photos of her amazing home. Even though it's only 420 square feet, each of the shots in the tour contains interesting knick knacks and finds. She knows exactly how to curate her thrifted items. As a graphic design student myself, I'm inspired by her style and think you will be too…
Apartment Therapy Survey:
My Style: Vintage, muted with colorful details.
Inspiration: Magazines and furniture catalogs from the 50s-60s and blogs with people's real homes.
Favorite Element: The light in the kitchen is magical in the afternoon.
Biggest Challenge: Fitting everything in without it looking too crowded.
What Friends Say: "Wow, you have so much stuff!" and "I want to go thrifting with you!"
Biggest Embarrassment: The apartment building was built in the '70s, so my apartment is shoe-box-shaped and has ugly doors and kitchen appliances and no character at all. And I have too much stuff and not nearly enough storage space!
Proudest DIY: The lamp in the livingroom window. The lamp shade had really ugly fabric, which I stripped off, and the base was wood and gold. I spray painted the whole thing white and decorated the shade with strips of an old sheet.
Biggest Indulgence: The big IKEA desk. I used to have a mid-century teak desk in the same style as the dresser, but it was way too small and I got problems with my back and arm from sitting there too much. This desk is huge and great to sit at.
Best Advice: You can find almost anything at a flea market. Don't buy something new before you've searched for it at a flea market or thrift store. Used things are so much more personal.
Dream Sources: I don't have one. As a student and avid thrifter, anything I buy has to be cheap. So flea markets are the perfect source for both furniture and home accessories.
Resources of Note:
Everything in Hilda's apartment is either from Ikea or has been thrifted from stores around Sweden. Many of the items have also been inherited from older relatives. The book clocks are made by Hilda and can be found in her shop.
Thanks, Hilda!
Images: Hilda Grahnat
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I just love it that all your clocks say different times! What fun place to live.
Love some of her living room furniture, especially the white chair, but overall I think the apartment has a rather overstuffed, cluttery look. Hilda clearly has a good eye and has done a really nice job, but a good round of editing would make the place look even better.
Everything about this home is comfortable and welcoming (and bright!). You must have awesome thrifting karma to have found those living room couches, too!
great, it should be entered in the Small Cool Contest
best housetour EVER!
ohhhh. *swoon* I think I just died a little of envy.
This home is very charming - I love the vibe. It looks casual and comfortable.
She sounds like quite a talented and put together student. My college apartment wasn't nearly this nice. Jealous!
I wouldn't say this apartment is "overstuffed". There are a few too many knick knacks for my taste, but they lend to the home's charm.
love, love, LOVE!! i agree with terka27, best housetour EVER!!!
I'm in love with the shape of that living room couch! While cozy, it has a great look to it. Like an oversized wingback!
So cute,
I especially love your miniture Mora clock. I want one too!!!
I like the apartment. But I just want to get in there and take some of the yellow tulips outta that vase and put some in another as there's too many for that small vase.
I adore Hilda's apartment! I did a post on it a few months back on Alice in Designland. I think her bed throw is my favorite part.
I think she might like clocks! Very nice collection and display.
Just a bit of constructive criticism for the AT photographer or editor - recently I've noticed that the tours have featured more shots of close-up vignettes and people. While I actually enjoy these, the overall room shots - the establishing shots - have diminished in quantity and it make it harder for me to gain my bearings within these lovely spaces.
I love what I see, but I can't get any sense of how the place is laid out.
The narrative needs some copy editing, which is not Hilda's fault.
@hessilou, apparently Hilda is credited with submitting the images. So we're viewing her flat like she wants to show it to us and using AT as a vehicle to do it.
Lovely and charming.
perfect!!
It's a shame how some college students live – a few vintage pieces cost the same as Ikea furniture and a Bob Marley poster, kids!
Very cute! And all I have to say, other than that is, hon borde aldrig vara försent! (She shouldn't ever be late!)
I really like your apartment, and I love some of your furnishings! I have one suggestion; you may be able to rearrange the drawers on your dresser so the veneer grain matches up like one big piece of wood. Know what I mean?
wow. and the photos are gorgeous.
I love apartments like this. Gorgeous. Cosy. Retro. Modern. Love it. x
My first reaction to the couch was "No" because it has no arms, but suddenly I liked it. Actually I'd love to have one like it, but in red! I never would have thought to have art behind the couch, but can it be seen? And hanging eyeglasses on a hanger is uber-cool!
That sweet little sofa! (Loveseat? Settee?) Swoon!
Hard to believe you could fit all that stuff in 400-odd square feet, but I don't find it overstuffed at all. Probably because it's so sunny!
this house is fantastic! so sweet and quirky. so small yet there are so many cool things about it. very lovely!
I love this! So many elements I would love to copy---the scallop-backed sofa, the stacked suitcases, the plants on the window, the way the pictures are hung. This should definitely be in small cool.
I love Hilda's home! SO jealous of her string shelves and all that light!
So much perfect vintage stuff arranged beautifully. I wouldn't change a thing.
Thanks for sharing your sweet home with us over here at AT Hilda, its super cute and a breath of fresh air. Scandinavian style is boss.
This is such a great place! The light is amazing and I love the splashes of color and art/photos. I am not a generally a fan of having many small items on display because I hate a cluttered space, but the collection of clocks looks just perfect.
Love this. You have a lot of stuff, but it all makes sense where it is. I don't think it's cluttered at all, I think it's thoughtful and lovely.
@artsygirl- i thought the sofa was armless at first too, but it actually has dainty little scalloped arms. either way, a very nice pieceeen a couch like that.
hilda, this place is stunning and you have such style and maturity! when i was a student, i was living in a dank basement wth one tiny window and my decoration was a dying plant and a tom waits poster. way to let your living space reflect and inspire you!
whoops, deleted a line by accident, i meant, a very nice piece- i've never seen a couch like that. blush.
Another clock fan! I gave up my (rather meager compared to your) collection when we moved to a smaller place - but now I think it time (heh heh) to start a new collection - thanks for the inspiration.
Really love your sense of style.
I like it very well indeed Hilda! Your home radiates happiness. :o)
I am a reader of your blog!
I always thought your place was adorable and would love to see house tour!
I love your place (of course..haha), it's amazing how you manage to display your beautiful decorative pieces without looking cluttering. Going through your house tour was like reading a beautiful picture book.
Great place!
Light and airy, yet tiny and 'filled' with interesting collections. Quite nice! It must be a treat to sit at the kitchen table next to the row of plants and look out at the city!
LOVE this tour. What a great place to spend your college years! Or any years.
Very sweet space!
Hilda - Your creativity on a student budget is an inspiration. You write about the "magical" light in the kitchen. It looks like you have little or no window treatments in the kitchen to make the most of your sunlight.
Too Much of Too Much!
How wonderfully sunny, bright and interesting. I just *discovered) Hilda's blog recently and love clicking in on it. How timely!
I enjoyed all of the little treasures, very cute home!
I loved all the use of neutral fabrics without being boring. Beautiful place!
Very nice. Looks like a lot of Swedish apartments. I noticed that many of them have lots of windows, probably owing to the lack of sunshine in the winter, and large sills that plants and accessories can be placed on.
I've been a reader of Hilda's blog for a while. She has a great eye, great thrift scores and beautiful photography! It's a nice treat to see her home featured on AT and I can only imagine how amazingly she would outfit a larger place. Definitely a contender for smallcool.
So are we allowed to have write-ins in the small cool contest?
After the 4th picture of the clocks I began to lose interest. It is a cute apartment albeit a bit over cluttered for my taste. I think perhaps some pictures with a wider view would have given us a better concept of how the apartment was laid out.
So charming. I love the seating set you have.
i am in love with this apartment! hilda, you did an amazing job. it's unique and personal, and i think it has quite a bit of character! the only thing i would change is to have some colored paint on the walls. i realize that you rent, though, so that may not be possible. i don't find it cluttered at all. i love it! bravo!
wow, so many things, it must be a lot of work keeping it clean.
Love your place! I don't think it is cluttered at all since everything is so neatly placed. Love all the collections! Keep going!
This looks like an Etsy shop...and that's a good thing! The entire apartment is one personal touch. I love the gallery of photos.
Why isn't this entered in Small Cool? WIN for sure!
i LOVE this apartment! it looks like mine but cooler!
It's all in the details, this place. Very unique. I love the sunlight and the kitchen and the way in which the clocks and plants and photo booth pictures are displayed.
Amazingly tidy and organized considering the volume of her collections. Hilda seems to have an affinity for Chicago (yay!). I also share a fondness for globes/globe-themed items and vintage clocks and have a *very* similar NY subway map in my apt.
love it, it is practically perfect!
Love it! This place just makes me happy looking at it.
You should definitely enter the small cool contest!
So sweet! Kind of a place i'd like to live in during my study years.
Cutey cute cute. And as the blurb says-- "perfectly styled." Yes, "Her home is filled to the brim with these amazing finds" but it strikes me as a display, moreso than a home, With such a tiny space, why so much stuff simply for display?
Charming and cheerful - I like it very much!
experienced the feeling of precious treasures thoughout the apartment. Like the wall of photos there are several different shapes, however they were planned and it works, just lovely.
I need that many alarm clocks to get me out of bed in the morning. Cool place. I really was blown away buy the ramen noodles pencil holder. That couch could end up looking so grandma-y in another apt. but it works here. I like the creative idea of the picture on the floor behind the couch. I would never have thought of that.
I love the collection of clocks
Love it. But I feel like i've seen this apartment 100 times. Why is it on here again?
This is soo beautiful Hilda. Curious though, what is the source of the wire shelves in your kitchen over the microwave and the bedroom vanity. I have been seeing similar in a lot of Scandinavia homes
@layan the wire shelves are from a Swedish company called STRING: http://string.se/
Thanks @vuppe!
Your place is still, by far, one of my favorite houses. Even amongst highly stylized and very expensive homes yours is still one of the sweetest, cutest and friendliest homes I've seen.
Your kitchen makes me so happy. :) What a beautiful, sun filled home.