For more than sixty years, the apartment at Dalagatan 46 was Astrid Lindgren’s home. She moved here in 1941 and remained until her death in 2002. Since then, the apartment has been preserved with very few alterations and used as a museum for small guided tours.

When the building was due for an extensive replacement of its plumbing systems and an upgrade of its technical installations, interventions in the apartment also became unavoidable. In many ways, the task was the opposite of a conventional renovation: to carry out major technical alterations while changing as little as possible.

The work began with meticulous documentation. Electrical outlets, switches, light fixtures, joinery and furnishings were measured and recorded in drawings before being dismantled, allowing them to be returned to their exact original positions. Behind the familiar interiors now lies an entirely new technical infrastructure.

With the exception of the floors, all interior surfaces had to be renewed. Woven wallcoverings with matching textures were sourced, and the colours and sheen of the walls were recreated in pale lilac, pink and grey-blue tones. The original ceiling finishes were reinstated, wardrobe frames were repainted while existing laminate surfaces were preserved. The floors could remain in place and were polished once the work was completed.

In the bathroom, the circumstances were different. The existing bathroom had suffered moisture damage and was a later addition with little connection to the apartment’s earlier character. Astrid’s surviving relatives retained a vivid memory of the previous bathroom: turquoise walls and a black checkered floor, but no photographs or drawings existed. During demolition, fragments of both the wall tiles and the flooring were discovered. Suddenly, the memory had a physical counterpart. These findings became the starting point for the reconstruction, with newly manufactured tiles in the original turquoise colour, a recreated checkered floor and restored period sanitaryware.

The kitchen also needed to be replaced. A new, functional kitchen was introduced, designed to have a clear relationship with the apartment without imitating what had been there before. The kitchen is not included in the guided tours.

After extensive work, the changes are difficult to detect. The apartment still feels like the home it once was – and this has been the guiding principle behind every intervention. Even the distinctive scent that filled the apartment before the work began has returned.