Förstberg Ling transforms blacksmith's workshop into house for Hem founder

Swedish studio Förstberg Ling has converted a former blacksmith's workshop in Stockholm to create a light-filled family home for Petrus Palmér, co-founder of furniture brand Hem and design studio Form Us With Love.

Aptly named Home of Petrus Palmér, the house was created inside the old brick shell, which is located in a back garden of another property. Its features include a staggered roof and a large skylight that floods the interiors with light.

Malmö-based Förstberg Ling inserted a new floor that works with the angular roof. It only extends across part of the property, ensuring that the ground floor receives plenty of light from the skylight above.

The wooden beams of the new floor are left exposed and are offset by a series of neutral finishes like white-washed wood, white-painted walls and concrete floors, which create a backdrop for the family to display its collection of design objects and plants.

"We wanted to come up with a scheme that kept the very open and spacious feeling of the old workshop, while fitting in the necessary floor area," studio co-founder Björn Förstberg told Dezeen.

"The palette is neutral, featuring a lot of whitewashed wood, so that furniture and plants can stand out," he continued.

Palmér co-founded design studio Form Us With Love with John Löfgren and Jonas Pettersson in 2005. He then launched online retailer Hem – the Swedish word for home –  in 2014, working with designers including Luca Nichetto, Max Lamb and Nendo.

His home is filled with items from both of these business ventures.

On the ground floor, the living room features a grey Hai Chair by Nichetto, while a pair of white modular Alphabeta pendant lamps by the same designer hang above the dining table.

Behind this, a long kitchen counter in a deep green hue stretches the length of one wall, with a pantry, bathroom and the entrance on one side.

A concrete staircase leads to the upper level, where wooden boards provide flooring. Here, a small study is set in an alcove alongside two bedrooms, with furnishings including a splattered stool by Max Lamb.

A set of steps from the master bedroom lead to the second bathroom.

Förstberg Ling is an office for architecture and design established in 2015 and based in Malmö, Sweden. The studio also recently completed a house for Björn Förstberg's mother that features pointed roofs and reflective walls.

Photography is by Erik Lefvander.