From renovation nightmare to newly built summer retreat

They wanted to create a place for relaxation and family time. Instead, Elin and Fredrik Björnback got stuck in a renovation that consumed both energy and money. The solution became a new house and more free time together.

As a little girl Elin Björnback ran around barefoot at the family’s country property. Today it is her children who celebrate long summer holidays on Ingarö i Stockholms skärgård. The house that previously stood on the scenic plot was built in 1915, and when the Björnback family inherited the country property in 2021 the plan was to renovate.

– It soon turned out to be both more expensive and more complicated than we first thought. We had managed to put quite a lot of money in before we gave up and instead began looking at solutions to get a new house in place for the summer of 2022. It was pretty hard to realize that we needed to rethink, says Elin Björnback.

A house that lasts for generations

After visiting one of their houses, Elin and Fredrik Björnback decided to schedule a meeting with Sommarnöjen. The wish was clear: a summer house that blends into the neighbourhood of red houses with white trim.

– We wanted a house that would last for many generations and to build on the style that fits here, says Fredrik Björnback.

It was also important to have a smooth project – the parents of small children did not want to repeat the renovation ordeal.

– The process with Sommarnöjen never felt heavy, even though of course there were many decisions we had to make along the way. We chose to handle the building permit application ourselves, but if we were to do this again today we would have let Sommarnöjen take care of that as well, to spare ourselves that headache, says Fredrik.

"So much better than we had imagined"

Ground work after the demolition of the old house was completed in October 2021. The new one was delivered in March 2022. Elin and Fredrik brought a thermos and a chair each to follow the build from the front row.

– From the moment the lorries rolled in with the modules on the plot it took six hours, then we could step into the house. It was really impressive. Then, of course, there were a few more weeks until the final inspection and handover, says Fredrik.

– This summer will be our fifth in the house and you can hardly tell anyone has lived here, it doesn’t show wear in that way. The standard of the material choices is so high, says Elin.

A natural place to stop over

As this is being written, the family has just sold their house in Nacka. The summer at Ingarö will therefore be particularly long this year, while Elin and Fredrik look for their next primary residence. No problem when the country property works just as well in everyday life as during vacation.

– Our summer retreat is a place where we can do everything we can at home, only without the stress. We can do laundry and cook, because all the functions are there. At the same time it is built for outdoor living, with patio doors that are almost always open to the garden where the children play football. This turned out so much better than we had imagined, says Elin.