Hanna MW's renovation diary part 1: Finding, purchasing and decorating my dream home

In this five part series for Vogue Scandinavia, stylist and influencer, Hanna MW who has recently purchased a new home with boyfriend and Louis Abel founder Jimmy Kamhieh Loutfit, takes us on a renovation journey. Check in to see her plans, interior finds, style ideas and so much more.

Jimmy and I had been apartment hunting for quite some time until we found our dream home on a little street in Vasastan – one of my favourite places in Stockholm. This area is best known for its vibrant restaurants and cafes, museums, and parks.

Once we found the apartment everything moved quickly: we only had about five minutes to view the two-room apartment before we placed a bid and won. This process was all a bit scary to be honest; we just hoped that the place was as dreamy as we remembered it.

Related: Come inside beloved stylist Camilla Larsson's eclectic Copenhagen apartment

The day we were due to sign the deed and receive the keys, I was at a styling job in Barcelona. I booked my return ticket to coincide with this, but my plans were in the hands of the airline gods and my flight was delayed. I had to go straight from the airport to the contract signing with three huge bags in tow – I made quite the entrance! Much of the day was a blur and I don’t remember a lot except that it was a beautiful day and the sun shone brightly upon us (in more ways than one).

After we signed the contract and collected the keys, we went straight to the new apartment but just as we tried to enter the code into what we thought was our new building, it didn’t work. We started to think we had bought a different apartment – did we have to say goodbye to the cute street in Vasastan already?

We wiped the fog from our eyes and realised human error was at play: the address was wrong, but the streets were identical, so it was easy to become confused. When we finally found our building and walked into our very own apartment for the first time, the silly mishap was quickly forgotten. We were just so happy and relieved as we walked around – it was just as fantastic – if not more so – than we remembered. Home at last.

Related: Swedish designer Beata Heuman on how art informs her innovative interiors

We saw the huge potential to turn our new baby from a two-room apartment into a three-room. We scheduled a meeting with a draftsman to see if he was able to make our renovation dreams come true. We also wanted to redo the kitchen; our building dates to the 1920s and it was quite old and tired. It was of great importance to us both to keep the rustic, charming parts of the apartment intact, while giving it the fresh and modern facelift it needed.

Related: This peek inside Katarina Petrovic's dreamy minimalist wardrobe is set to inspire

In one area of the apartment there was the most gorgeous herringbone parquet flooring, and in other areas, semi-modern tile floor. Imagine our surprise and joy when the draftsman sent us photos to let us know he found this original floor under the tile – amazing.

Our initial renovation plan was to move the kitchen to what was a hallway, and a full makeover of the bathroom. The old kitchen was supposed to be our new bedroom, (complete with built-in wardrobes), and a refreshing lick of paint throughout the apartment. Quite a lot of work when I think about it and knowing what I know now and how much time the renovation required, maybe we wouldn’t have bought the apartment in the first place.

Here is a picture of the first drawing of the floor plan, that me and my friend and furniture designer Gustaf Westman made together:

Interior design is all I’ve been thinking about for the past couple of months – what to buy, how to decorate, and so on. During a trip in France, I found some unique pieces of furniture which I’ve dreamt about for some time – vintage Pierre Jeanneret, for example.

I find a lot of inspiration during my trips away and I found the most amazing art for our living room while I visited Fundació Miró Mallorca, a museum dedicated to the work of Joan Miró.

Related: What is ‘Danish Pastel’ and why are we obsessed with this interior trend?

Related: The 5 most stylish florists in Copenhagen for pretty and bold blooms

I really didn’t want to do any spontaneous buying when it came to the décor for the apartment. Instead, we thought long and hard about all our purchases – especially the bigger investments – which we decided to purchase first.

An object that has been on our wish list of interiors from the start is an USM Haller in black, and a bathroom with an English countryside feel.

Overall, we had a very clear idea of what sort of style we wanted our apartment to have. We both love and feel the happiest when we’re living in a colourful and harmonious home.

Stay tuned to see if everything goes according to plan...