Stunning artworks give this ‘boho wild’ 19th-century apartment in Helsinbourg its distinct charm

A Swedish decorator and collector brings her bold vision to create unique spaces in her home. Marie Olsson Nylander is a self-taught interior decorator, but won’t be pinned down to any single label – she is also an antique dealer, collector, stylist and podcaster. As well as a mother of four. Marie defines her style as “boho wild”, and there is perhaps no better definition of it than this home full of reassuring objects, soft and dusty colours, vintage design gems and joyful chaos.

The large Swedish apartment in Helsingborg, a small town in the south of Sweden, close to Denmark, is her latest creation. She lives here with her husband, William, and their children. What struck her most about the house when she first saw it were “the windows, the entrance, the vaulted parts with the balcony. The whole feeling that this place gave back immediately drew me in. I think this flat is my destiny.”.

Marie had been looking for somewhere to live in the area for a year and had already seen the building, which she had always liked. “It’s in a very special area in the city centre. I knew the owner of the building a bit, so I sent him an email to see if there was anything available. We were lucky, because just the day before this flat had become vacant.”. It is a typical apartment from the end of the 19th century (it was built in 1884), consisting of a “parade” of large living rooms for entertaining and then another section, used as a sleeping area, with the bedrooms and servants’ quarters, the kitchen with its own entrance and a small room for the maid.

When it came to refurbishment and decorating, some of the walls were painted by her artist friend Mirja Ilkka from Helsinki, while she left others untouched, “because it’s a great background for photos. And leaving them like that allows us, if we want to one day, to paint them, as we have done for many other walls in the house. But I did do the ceilings. It would have been too much to leave those bare, too, in this big room.”.

Much of the furniture is secondhand or antique, but it always has to be comfortable – demonstrated by the super-furry carpets and the many cosy seats. “I wish I had 30 flats, so I could furnish them all,” she says. “I see a piece of furniture and suddenly I’ll imagine a room, or even a whole house, that could accommodate it. I am very fast,” she adds. “I often know immediately what to wear, what to do… And if I don’t know, most of the time it means I’m not interested.”.

Her home, she explains, is a mix of everything she loves. “The carpets, for example. The house is my project: so many things fit together, as if following an invisible thread, without me thinking much about it. I love furniture – old classics, vintage and new furniture by unknown designers. All objects that I find beautiful, attractive and that deserve a second chance. “I love our bedroom with the bow window,” she continues. “It’s very warm and light, it’s bright. I love spending time there, even for work, sitting on one of the leather chairs.

Most of all, Marie loves the colour pink: “It has to be a dirty, dusty pink with a hint of black. It’s nice in combination with brown or olive green, for example, because it makes both colours stand out. But I don’t wear a lot of pink, I prefer it on home textiles and cushions.”. A free spirit who loves to collect vintage pieces and rarities, an all-round creative who loves shades of colour and the softness of fabrics, Marie is interested in cracks in walls rather than perfect surfaces – it’s in the gaps of life that she finds her sense of beauty.