A unique floor for a unique couple
Jens-Peter and Julie moved to a falling down farmhouse in rural Denmark over a decade ago. They’ve poured hours and hours of work into the house, which, looking back, probably should have been torn down. But they wanted a project and a project they got.
In addition to eternally rebuilding the house, they have a lot of hobbies that require space. Hobbies like beekeeping, gardening, preserving what their garden produces, raising an occasional pig for their own use, dyeing with plant dyes, weaving, quilting, sewing and more.
So, when it came time to finish the floor in the room they call “the brewery” – in the traditional sense of a Danish “bryggers,” – they knew they wanted a floor that could handle all the different types of activities the room would be used for. It needed to be easy to clean, hygienic, durable, able to withstand a lot of different uses, and most importantly, it needed to fit their personalities.
Jens-Peter is Danish and Julie is American and over their more than 25 years together, they’ve developed an eclectic style that is a combination of both. Think Wegner chairs combined with a second-hand table from when the local city hall sold all their surplus furniture. That meant that they didn’t want an ordinary floor, they were looking for something that expressed their personal style and aesthetic.
The room is 40m2. It has cupboards along two walls, a large sink, some storage and a large built-in tub where activities like dyeing fabric or wool or processing meat can take place. Not only is it a hobby room, it’s also a room where larger gatherings are held since there’s room for a large table and lots of guests. So it’s truly a multipurpose room.
The walls of the room were already painted in a rustic red colour, using natural pigment paint and they wanted the floor to harmonise with that. There are many personal touches in the room, like stones they’ve gathered over the years on their travels and small niches in the wall where favourite objects are displayed.
They had many conversations with Sascha about what they wanted and looked through hundreds of pictures of floors and began to form an idea of what they liked. They spent time with the metallic pigments, picking just the right colours for the room. They had to really think about what they wanted – red with some gold accents. They wanted a look that wasn’t too mixed together, but where the colours were allowed to combine and flow in a natural way. Sascha listened carefully and understood what they were looking for and suggested that they add espresso and some black to give it more play and definition.
Jens-Peter, who is very hands on with all the renovations, worked with Sascha to prepare the floor. The previous owners had a lawnmower repair garage in the space, so the existing concrete floor needed to be levelled and prepared for the polyurethane floor.
The day came when the floor was created. Jens-Peter and Julie work up a bit nervous about how it would turn out. And it suddenly felt like it was a bit wild. But they took the leap of faith and are in complete agreement that it came out absolutely fabulous. It’s beyond their wildest imagination. And everyone who steps in the room is completely blown away. It’s like a work of art in and of itself. And yet it can withstand all the activities that they want to do in the room.
Jens-Peter says, “Sometimes, I just have to come out here and just look at it.”
And that second-hand table from the local city hall with the Wegner wishbone chairs looks right at home on their beautiful, unique floor.