Welcome to the home of Ingrid and Vidar!

Meet the Aune Westrum Family! It has been a long process for them from when they first drafted the original plans for their new house to the time it took to finally move in. Now, at long last, their new home is ready. Brace yourselves because it is a feast for the eyes! Cheerful colours, exciting features, and personal solutions throughout. It is also apparent that functional storage solutions are important for this family. They started planning the storage setup for their new home long before construction began. Come on in and take a look around!

This is the Aune Westrum family

Ingrid and Vidar Aune Westrum have two sons Sivert (7) and Peder (3) and a cat called Madicken. Although they are moving into a completely new house, this enterprising couple have long had an interest and passion for interior design. For many years now they have been posting and sharing colourful moments and creative DIY projects on the @fjeldborg Instagram account from their Fjeldborg home, a charming timber house built in 1925. But they decided after many years in an old house that they wanted to realise their dream of building something new. Starting from scratch and choosing every single detail themselves. They call their new home Fjeldborg 2.0 and it sits majestically on a rocky outcrop with a scenic vista of the Sandefjord archipelago. “Building a house is all-consuming, exhausting and great fun” says Vidar with a smile.

Clear visions

When we met Ingrid and Vidar for the first time, their house was just a sketch on a sheet of paper. But even at that early stage they wanted to start planning the storage solutions. After living in a house with a mix of improvised storage spaces, chests of drawers and wardrobes they were determined to give top priority to practical and strategically placed storage solutions.

“Even though construction hasn’t begun, I’m already living in the house,” Vidar said at the time. I walk around inside it visualising our everyday life and routines. So I have a clear idea of what we need storage space for and where it needs to be.”

New year in a new home

It was Christmas 2020 when the family moved in and could start a new year and a new life in their newly built home. We were greeted by smiling faces, the smell of fresh paint, new woodwork, and there was hot coffee when we arrived to install the storage systems. Although it still required some work, the house had become a colourful, contemporary, cosy, and customised home. There were no “cut and paste” solutions here. Everything had been thought through with meticulous care and tailor-made for the family. Now, they were more than ready to unpack their belongings from the moving boxes.

Storage systems

It wasn’t until the ceiling, walls and floor were in place that the storage systems were ordered, even though they had all been planned in the early stages of construction. Ingrid and Vidar have three large storage systems in their house: the hallway, a large storage wall outside the bedrooms and a walk-in wardrobe next to the master bedroom.

“We wanted to think outside the box”

Ingrid and Vidar decided early on that they wanted to install large storage systems with lots of space where they could store as much as possible.

“We want storage space that is practical for our family and tried to think outside the box in order to come up with the optimal solution,” Vidar explains. “A wardrobe in each bedroom is the classic solution but does not suit us. We wanted to keep the logistics as simple and efficient as possible by keeping clothes, bedding and towels together. The idea of creating a large storage wall outside the bedrooms and the bathroom came to me early on. It was important that this space could hold what you would normally store in an attic. And it really has become an attic in the form of a cupboard. It works SO well!”

Gigantic storage wall

The plan was that the storage wall would function as an attic space, a place for home textiles and a wardrobe for the children. Together we planned the enormous storage wall in the corridor outside the bedrooms. And we are not exaggerating when we say that it is gigantic! The wall is more than 4 metres long and reaches 3.5 metres up to the ceiling.

Children’s rooms with play space

“We want the children’s rooms to have plenty of space for play. We feel that wardrobes and chests of drawers are impractical in children’s rooms. They take up a lot of space and quickly become chaotic. It is also much easier to put away laundered clothes while the children are asleep without having to tip-toe around in their rooms,” Ingrid adds.

The bottom part of the storage system is wardrobe space for the children. Gliding mesh drawers for folded items and low wardrobe rails make the clothes easily accessible for the little ones. And they are simple to adjust as the children grow taller.

Ingrid also created space for transparent plastic boxes in which to keep clothes and toys that their eldest son has grown out of and which his little brother will one day inherit.

“By keeping them visible, there is less risk of forgetting about them until it is too late and his brother has grown too big for them,” Ingrid says.

Making everyday life more efficient

Because of the height of this storage space, it was decided to have shelving at the top where boxes of items that would normally be stowed away in an attic could be stored. Space was created further down for towels, bedding, blankets, pillows and longer garments that are worn less frequently, like dresses and folk costumes. There is also space for all the sundry items that don’t have a natural place anywhere else in the home.

“So this solution is totally ingenious! When we have visitors they are fascinated by this wall, especially parents of young children. It really is ingenious to keep all clothes in the next sizes so easily accessible. The logistics of putting clean clothes away also work optimally. The fact that our wardrobe is right next to it makes this aspect of everyday life very efficient,” says Ingrid with a satisfied tone.

Walk-in wardrobe

The master bedroom and its walk-in wardrobe is adjacent to the big storage wall. The atmosphere here is more luxurious and mature than in the rest of the home. They have the walk-in wardrobe of their dreams, with dark blue-green walls, Graphite colour fittings and wooden detailing from the Décor range painted grey. The wardrobe is simply divided down the middle to create his and her sides. And at the top there is space for storing out-of-season items. Ingrid wanted plenty of space for hanging tops, tunics, trousers and so on, plus lots of drawers for folded garments, training gear and underwear. On Vidar’s side, there is plenty of space to hang up his shirts and trousers, as well as drawers for folded clothes and training gear. “We are so pleased with this system,” says Ingrid. “There is room here for everything. All the hanging space is a real time saver and you can see where things are at a glance. It is surprisingly easy to keep tidy and organised, plus there is much less for me to fold up! The plan now is to find a nice carpet and a lamp to install above the mirror to make this space even cosier. I intend to keep the luxurious feel that it already has.”

We fitted an accessory tray lined with velvet for Ingrid’s jewellery and small items plus a hook rack on the side of the unit for scarves and necklaces. There is also a mirror so that she can put on her make-up when the bathroom is occupied.

Like everything else in their home, the couple’s walk-in wardrobe has been planned down to the tiniest detail according to the types of clothes they need to store.

A colourful welcome

The spacious hall exudes a calm and welcoming feel with its russet-coloured walls and warm tiles on the floor. Hook racks and a shoe stand are conveniently placed just inside the door for outerwear and footwear that the family uses every day.

Space for everything in the hall

The white fittings inside are from the Décor range. The painted wooden shelves and drawer fronts give the interior an elegant and furnished look. The wooden fronts also hide the contents of the drawers from view, which is rather practical because it’s not always possible to keep them in exemplary order. The drawer fronts have a black knob which matches the style of the interior and the doors.

Ingrid uses transparent plastic boxes here too. They contain out-of-season garments that can be put away on the top shelves. Winter wear gets packed away and summer items taken out, and then vice versa, when the seasons change. Party shoes are kept fresh and dust-free in transparent boxes with lids on. Ingrid has also organised the footwear that the eldest son has grown out of. The next three sizes are together in a separate box. “It’s so nice not having to root around in an attic looking for shoes every time we find our younger son’s feet have grown,” she says.

It is not just clothes and footwear that need space in the hall. Rucksacks, umbrellas, reflectors and equipment for leisure activities all need storing there, and it’s useful to have somewhere to put parcels that need to be sent back. The hallway is the logistics centre of the household in many ways, so it is important to have a practical storage system there that meets all the family’s needs.

“We are delighted with the solution. It actually brings me a sense of joy every day because the hall is so easy and quick to clean. The dividers in the top drawers are great because they help keep things in order. Drawers get so cluttered otherwise with sunglasses, keys, reflectors and all sorts of things that end up there when pockets are emptied. The hooks for the children’s clothes and football bag are also an excellent idea that we had not thought of ourselves.”