i always love when we get to look into homes around the world and unexpected places. today we’re traveling to the home of the very talented icelandic product designer, björg juto. her family has been in the apartment for two years now, slowly remodeling it to their taste. it’s a wonderful blend of her background (icelandic mother and swedish father), full of delightful pieces with their own stories. their are great elements of fun throughout the home, just like in her own work.  click here for more images of björg‘s home, here to see her feature in the regional roundup: iceland, and here for more of her work. [thanks, björg!] -anne

[above: This golden sofa was bought at an auction in Sweden about 30 years ago and has been in the family since. It can turn the most humble abode into a palace and looks good just about everywhere.]

This is a view of one of the living room corners.  From here you can usually hear a gentle guitar melody as one of our sons practices playing his guitar, entertaining the family at the same time.   The decoration on the balcony door is homemade, the picture of the cat is drawn by the guitarist and the pillow made by the childrens great grandmother, one for each child.  On the table is a cake dish that I flocked and can now be used for something quite different than serving cake.  Things of a similar nature will be sold on my website soon.

This is a view inside the kitchen.  I bought the fabric for the tablecloth in Sweden.  It is called Birdland and is designed by Ann-Cathrine Sigrid.  It is one of my favorite things, so colorful and lively that it always raises my spirit.  The bowl on the table is part of a set from Arabia. We needed something for this wall in the living room so we decided to take a picture of the whole family where each family member was engaged in a typical activity for their character. The picture was then printed on a large canvas. The chairs are from all over.  The white one is one of two chairs from a primary school in Sweden where my grandmother used to teach several decades ago.

This large hand-stitched wall carpet was given to me as a present by my grandmother when I got my first tooth.   She kept it for me for a long time and now I am finally in an apartment where I can place it in a location that does it justice.

This century old cabinet we inherited from a relative, the chair is from the primary school in Sweden and the teak desk was bought second hand on the internet.   The ceiling light is by Le Klint. The picture is by the swedish artist Evy Loos.

The shelves were built for our library of books.  They are great for storage and can store endless amounts of stuff.   The rug is from Droog design.  The ceiling light is a german Siemens light, made in the 1930′s that was once a ceiling fixture in a primary school  in Reykjavik where my grandfather used to work.   The stool belongs to the golden sofa.  The Ericofon telephone was bought through the internet. The chair in the back is from an estate and the monster on the wall above it is homemade.

CLICK HERE to see the rest of Bjorg Juto’s home after the jump…

We got a few old doors from an old house in downtown Reykjavik and this one is used as a decoration while it waits to serve its original purpose once again. The chair we inherited as well as the calfskin and the bucket that houses all of our excess electronic equipment cabling. . . I made a mold of Piccachu and made a few out of plaster.  They now decorate our piano which regrettably nobody knows how to play.

This dresser belonged to my grandparents.  It used to be filled with their tablecloths and now it contains mine.   It is built by my grandmothers brother around 1930.  The hanger is from a primary school in Reykjavik and the toys have been in the family since about 1920.   The dress is waiting for my one-year old daughter to be old enough to wear it.  It is a danish design from Ziestha.

This is a danish cabinet and in it we keep our cups and glasses.   I fell head over heals for the choice of colors, pitch black on the outside and bright yellow on the inside.  Just wonderful.

The jar and the little chair are homemade, the bird is a flute that I have never been able to play properly and the stones are from Iceland.  They are naturally covered in clay and soft and gentle to touch.  The picture is by the Icelandic artist Jóhanna Sveinsdóttir.

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