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Welcome! Swedish Interiors, our first book, was an overview of the history of Swedish design and how various homeowners and designers have been inspired to use those design elements in their homes. In this book, we are thrilled to have theopportunity to delve further into one style of Swedish design—Swedish country interiors—a subject most close to our hearts. As antiques dealers specializing in Swedish eighteenth- and nineteenth-century furnishings, we have had the pleasure to travel Sweden extensively. In our journeys over the past ten years, we have found ourselves not only inspired but fascinated by the strong beauty of antique Swedish country furnishings and the rhythms of a long-ago way of life. Interviews with Swedish farmers, reminiscences with elderly Swedish relatives, research at the Nordic Museum, and visits to Skansen (Stockholm’s open-air museum) served to whet our appetites formore knowledge of Swedish country furnishings and design.

Before we knew it, we had become obsessed with not just furniture but every dust-covered tool we stumbled upon from this vibrant pre-twentieth-century flax-and-milk-based culture. We spent long hours hand-mixing pigment paints and learningthe secrets, frustrations, and joys of working with natural Swedish materials as we attempted to incorporate what we had seen in Sweden into our own homes and our store, Eleish Van Breems Antiques.

In writing this book we have looked back and considered why the country traditions in particular held so much appeal for us. The stunning formal Gustavian furniture of the cities is what had originally lured us to buy furniture in Sweden, but we clearly had fallen under the spell of the allmoge, a word that translates to “folk” or “of the people.” We both had homes of our own in the Connecticut countryside with children, husbands, and animals to tend to, so one might infer that we found the idea of farm living intellectually relatable. However, it is precisely the differences between our world and that of the Swedish country house that captured our attention. We were truly humbled and in awe of a people who were in tune with the rhythms of nature, and we admired their inventive mastery of precious native materials.

As we began to speak with other collectors and admirers of both provincial and peasant Swedish country style, we were struck by how the Swedish country way of life and the practical yet exciting hallmarks of Swedish eighteenth- and nineteenthcentury decoration are touch points that we could incorporate into our own homes. In Swedish Country Interiors, you will find numerous examples of Swedish country living that the homeowners in this book have embraced and from which they have derived inspiration including wall decorations, functional furnishings, natural upholstery materials, use of light, and indooroutdoor living, to name but a few. Although we are devoted antiquarians, our interest is not in showing pristine pastiches of Swedish folk interiors. What excites us is the opportunity to share how various homeowners live today in our very own countryside and city suburbs, blending within their contemporary homes the very best that Swedish country lifestyle and design has to offer. We thank each one of them for sharing their individual love affairs with Sweden and for allowing us to present the unique beauty of their homes with the world beyond their welcoming garden gates.