Country Swedish Inspired 2nd Story Addition/Remodel
Selected as the cover and featured story of a recent book on Country Swedish architecture, this one story Palo Alto home got a 2nd story addition, as well as a nearly complete makeover of the original structure. The search for authenticity led us to go to great lengths in order to accommodate the client's extensive Swedish antiques collection. The exterior walls were painted to match a Swedish king's famous summer palace with a paint we found in Australia with a high lye content, guaranteed to produce the patina of age in just a few years. In front of the house, a copse of birch trees were planted, and the residence is entered through a fairytale courtyard complete with a babbling brook.
Once inside the ancient round-top door, one finds the interior now organized by a series of arches, and walks on stone which was once the walls of a demolished French chateau. Further into the residence, stone gives way to pine plank flooring, reclaimed from logs found sunken in a Georgia swamp, so both gloriously old-growth, and ecologically green by virtue of having been reclaimed.
The owners' impressive antiques abound, enhanced by a new living room fireplace surround, hand-plastered just as it would be in a fine Swedish country home, and trimmed out by tiles hand-painted by a craftsman in Holland, in the style once popular in Sweden.
Up the new stairs, one finds a arch-top feature window, subtly obscured to prevent privacy issues with the neighbors, and plat-panelled newels we designed to mimic the country Swedish style. The upstairs features a subtly up-to-date home office with commanding views of the neighborhood, ,and a master bedroom featuring an antique bedstead centered under a ocular window which lets early morning light gently sweep through the space.
Make nook benches under dining windows for seating and reading