A second home

Picturesque Croatian holiday village or the coast at home in Sweden? Malin and Finn had for a long time found it hard to decide where they would create their holiday home. Then the pandemic came and made the choice easy. As a bonus they got not only a holiday cottage, they got a second home.

– We had basically decided to buy an apartment in Novigrad in Croatia when corona came. I had even been down there and placed a bid, the day after I came home the pandemic broke out, Malin recounts.

Instead their attention turned to Yngsjö in Skåne with its long stretches of beaches and beautiful pine forest. With two teenage daughters and a dog they saw the advantages of being close to both school and work.

– We were in complete agreement that we did not want to renovate; we have neither the interest, time nor knowledge. And after some searching we realized that we would not find the cottage we were looking for, so we began to look for a plot instead, Malin says.

Eventually the couple found a natural plot of almost 3,000 square meters surrounded by pine forest with only a couple of hundred meters to the sea. On the plot stood three small shabby houses from the 1950s.

– There isn't an architect in the world who could have transformed it into a dream home. So we decided to demolish and build new. It was then I came into contact with Sommarnöjen and fell head over heels in love with the house style. They also offered everything I wanted in terms of simplicity in the building process itself, Malin says.

Nature is always present here

Sommarnöjen stepped in as the main contractor and took full responsibility for local craftsmen and quotes. The house choice became Tidlös Sommar 80 with a loft. To make the most of the plot, the couple selected the Äng floor plan with large windows and terraces on two sides.

– We wanted the feeling of sitting right in nature without any walls in between. For us it has been about creating a place on earth where we can get away from our stressful life and just be together with proximity to the sea and the forest. A place where the stove is always warm when family and friends arrive. A place where we simply are.

A few lessons Malin is happy to share are to be prepared that everything takes longer than you think when it comes to approvals, demolitions and building permits. Even if you choose a turnkey contract you need to be involved to avoid misunderstandings.

– As in all projects you encounter challenges and of course that was also true for us. Now that we have our fantastic house there is nothing that casts a shadow over our experience. The quality and the aesthetics of the house have in fact exceeded all our dreams. We could not be more satisfied!

Since taking possession on January 5, 2022 the couple has spent every weekend in the house. The tradition has become to leave on Thursday afternoon and then work remotely on Friday. By Friday evening the teenage daughters arrive, often with friends.

"This life we would not have had if we had bought an apartment in Croatia. It didn't become a holiday home. It became a home. A second home."