Simplicity rules

With its appealing air of calm and nod to Scandi style, the house Malin Keatley calls home also holds a few bold design choices

- SEÁN O’CONNELL

SITTING ROOM

‘A modern rug under modern furniture would have been boring,’ says Malin’s interior designer Amy Sklar. Barcelona chairs, £6,720 each, The Conran Shop. For large antique kilims, from £400, try Vinterior. Izzy sofa, from £1,115, Sofa.com, would suit this space

HOME TRUTHS

THE PROPERTY Colonial-style home, built in 1913

LOCATION Pasadena, California

ROOMS Sitting room, family room, dining room, kitchen-diner, five bedrooms (three en suite), two bathrooms

PURCHASED 2015 PREVIOUS PROPERTY ‘We had a stone-built house in Sweden,’ says Malin.

For Malin Keatley, the Pasadena home she and her husband John moved into was always going to be their ‘forever home’ and accordingly she put love and care into planning its renovation. To help create a space that would meet the needs of the couple and their three daughters, Maja, 17, Stella, 14, and Tilde, 14, Malin called on the services of designer Amy Sklar. ‘She’d designed our first home, so when we moved back here after living in my native Sweden, she was the obvious choice,’ says Malin.

The brief was to create an interior that could grow with the family as the girls got older. ‘It also had to combine the traditional style of the property with Malin’s Swedish aesthetic,’ says Amy. And a vital part of the updating process was opening up the rear of the house to create a light-filled space that made the most of the almost year-round sunshine that California is renowned for.

KITCHEN-DINER