A home full of life

A HOME FULL OF LIFE

A TALK WITH METTE BRØNDGAARD

If there's one thing Mette Klüwer-Brøndgaard appreciates, it's a home full of life. This means a ton of playdates for her daughter, impromptu takeaway dinners with guests, who many times have invited themselves over, and neighbours popping in for a quick cup of coffee. "When I was in college, I lived a couple of years in Italy. The Italians have this open-door mentality, where friends and family are always welcome. This is a philosophy we have adopted in our home," says Mette, the co-founder of A Table Story – a company specialized in highly aesthetic tableware for rent.

The family lives in an apartment located in a historic building in the municipality of Frederiksberg in Copenhagen, Denmark, an area known for its majestic houses, wide boulevards and luscious green areas. "When we bought this place four years ago, we knocked on all our neighbour's doors to see how their apartments looked. And we were amazed to see details such as high panelling and ceiling stucco.

"The previous owner of our apartment had modernized it too much for our taste, so we ended up doing a complete renovation and recreating a lot of the original features," Mette says. However, what attracted Mette and Rasmus the most was the possibility of expanding and changing their home as the family moves through life. "It's the most charming thing about our home," Mette notes and continues: "For instance: Our downstairs neighbour is 85 years old and keeps three living rooms ensuite and a small bedroom. The couple upstairs has teenagers living at home, so they need more bedrooms and have decorated accordingly.

We saw an opportunity for a home to grow with us as a family, which really appealed to us. We can stay here forever." This kind of sustainable thinking permeates the interior as well – what goes in stays in. Every design solution is thought to be long-term; every piece of furniture is more or less for life. For instance, Mette and Rasmus have chosen to put in a handcrafted kitchen that ages beautifully and decorated the children's room with Oliver Furniture pieces designed to expand as the children grow, so it's unnecessary to buy new ones.

Honest and long-lasting materials are key because a certain amount of patina is inevitable in a home with children. "It can seem very polished in pictures, but when you take a closer look, you'll see a lot of our furniture has scratches and marks. Like the H. J. Wegner chair in the living room with my daughter's nail marks in the shape of a little sun. Yes, we choose our furniture carefully, and they bring us a lot of joy, but they are meant to be used," Mette says and continues: "This is something that often surprises people: That kids are free to roam as they please here – within reason, of course. When we're not amidst a global pandemic, our home is always filled with people. Our daughter goes to school right across the street, and she knows she can always have friends over."