Max Åsbrink

Where are we, and how did you end up here?

We're in my apartment in Stockholm that I share with my girlfriend, 21 square metres with views looking over the water. I was offered an inner city rental where we could change a lot ourselves. So ending up here was a bit of a coincidence, we really love it though. As soon as we got the keys, the creativity started flowing. A lot has to fall into place when you're making a home for two in such a small space.

What do you love most about your home?

I love that it's so colourful and still feels calm and balanced. But most of all, I love all the solutions we've built ourselves. They serve a purpose and have also become a big part of how the apartment looks and feels. The loft bed with a crazy amount of storage, the new kitchen counter and shelves that make cooking practical, and the coffee table that actually fits in our tiny "living room". I'm also completely in love with the view, the natural light, the pink blinds we installed ourselves and the painting above our sofa that my grandmother painted.

Which colours did you choose, and what drew you to them?

We really like colourful furniture, which didn't make choosing colours any easier. The yellow chair and the turquoise sofa were especially tricky to match. But with the help of colour swatches and a university course in colour theory some years back, we got there in the end.

K54 — Maraschino, the windows and the view really are the heart of the apartment, so that colour choice got to lead the way for our whole palette. Early on it was between K67 — Rioja and K54 — Maraschino. We wanted to let a red colour take up a lot of space in our home, and the windows felt like the obvious choice. In the end we landed on Maraschino, as it worked better with the bold, cheerful colours of all the furniture and art.

K128 — Lotus, the ceiling colour was less obvious, since burgundy goes with so many different shades. We put up yellow, blue and pink samples on the ceiling and invited some friends over for dinner. Over the course of the evening we agreed that pink tied the red windows and the furniture together the most. So we went with the warm pink shade, Lotus.

K92 — Hygge, once Lotus and Maraschino were decided, we tested all of Klint's beige shades, and Hygge was the one that complemented them best. It feels really soft and warm in the afternoon sun.

Describe your interior style in three words!

Functional, colourful and balanced.