Colours with a history.

Published on this website: 2013-10-09

Frescoes on the bathroom walls
Text: Fríða Björnsdóttir
Photography: Gunnar Gunnarsson

During the 1940s, development in Kleppsholt began to gather pace. At that time, a single-storey house with a basement was built on Kambsvegur, designed by Magnús K. Jónsson, who is also recorded as its builder. Today, it is one of the few houses on Kambsvegur, perhaps the only one, that has not been “spoilt” by extensions above, beside and all around it until the original house disappears completely. It is therefore an interesting example of the architecture of that period in this particular neighbourhood.

Advertising manager Oddný Magnadóttir and master floor layer Hilmar Hansson had been looking for a house for some time when they came across the house on Kambsvegur. As soon as they walked in, they knew it was the one they wanted, and they moved in a month after taking possession. Various changes had been made inside, yet the spirit of the house has been remarkably well preserved.

The painting project grew

Master painter Kristján Aðalsteinsson, who runs Litagleði, laughs as he recalls the new owners initially saying that the walls would only need a quick coat with a roller before they could move in. Things turned out differently: among other ideas, they decided to have frescoes painted on the bathroom walls and patterned borders near the ceilings in the living rooms and hallway. Both took considerable time. Danish artist Anne Tine Foberg was brought in to paint the frescoes. She also designed the stencils for the living rooms and hallway, while Kristján painted the decoration. Anne Tine and Kristján chose all the colours in the house too: earth tones sharing the same base. Yellows and reds are most prominent, although some walls are olive green and others are painted in a pale shade known as an antique base.

Oddný and Hilmar decided straight away to make some changes to the kitchen and bathroom, both of which still had their original fittings. Part of the old kitchen cabinetry was retained as a base unit, although its blue-green colour gave way to a high-gloss dark red. Both rooms had mosaic on the walls. The old mosaic has gone, with new mosaic on the kitchen walls and the bathroom floor. The kitchen mosaic is green, while black predominates on the bathroom floor. Oddný tells us that finding the right colour for the kitchen grout was no easy task. Hilmar first brought home a pale grout, which made both the mosaic and the floor tiles look busier. Anne Tine found the solution by mixing red and yellow pigments into the grout. The effect was immediate, bringing a sense of calm to the kitchen.

A sideboard for the kitchen

The decision was made to remove the old kitchen units, raising the question of what should replace them. At Tekk-vöruhús, Oddný and Hilmar spotted a very large solid-wood sideboard that immediately caught their eye. Its upper cabinet rested separately on the lower one, so it was lifted up and fixed close to the kitchen ceiling as a wall cabinet. The lower cabinet stands beneath it, serving as a conventional kitchen worktop. A base unit from the old kitchen, with two cupboards and two banks of drawers, was moved and reused. Its worktop is somewhat lower than is usual today, but this was left unchanged because it was to hold the gas hob and sink. Lower cooking surfaces are increasingly common, allowing cooks to look easily into the pots they are stirring. All the kitchen appliances came from Raftækjaverzlun Íslands and have steel finishes.

The bathroom has changed considerably. All its fittings were replaced, and a freestanding bath on feet took the place of the shower: old-fashioned, yet very much in fashion. This brings us to Anne Tine Foberg’s part in the transformation. Oddný and Hilmar had heard about the artist through their friend Kristján, the painter at Litagleði. Anne had recently moved to Iceland and started working for Kristján that autumn. At first, the plan was simply for her to decorate the outside of the bath and silver its feet. In the end, she went on to paint frescoes on the bathroom walls, giving the room a Pompeian style. But let us start with the bath. Its feet were covered in silver leaf, then allowed to tarnish before being sealed with clear varnish to preserve their appearance.

Inspiration from Pompeii

Anne Tine says she then began thinking about how to make the bathroom “special”, as Oddný wanted. She thought of using Pompeii in Italy as the starting point for the decoration. It provided her models for the Three Graces, Euphrosyne, Aglaea and Thalia, who were painted using special fresco techniques on the walls above the white tiles. Wooden mouldings painted Pompeian red separate the tiles from the decorative painting. To give the mouldings, and the window, a slightly aged appearance, the paint was rubbed away in places, with all the care the technique requires. Anne Tine alternated light and dark colours in the pattern of goddesses. The walls were then given a crackle finish that makes the paint appear cracked in places.

The living room and hallway walls were to be decorated with patterned borders just below the ceilings. Anne Tine made the stencils and Kristján painted the patterns. Once the colours were applied and the pattern emerged, it initially looked rather too dark and prominent. After extensive, intricate work sanding and softening it, they achieved a finish that looks almost like ancient paint gradually fading with time.

The coat cupboard in the upstairs hallway extended into one corner of the kitchen. This was altered: where the coats once hung, there are now shelves with attractive wicker baskets for mittens, scarves and other small items. On the kitchen side, the corner now holds the oven and dishwasher.

Sunshine in Sól’s room

Upstairs there are two living rooms and a bedroom. As the household includes the couple’s daughter Sól, they needed to find a room for her in the basement, where she certainly has a lovely space. Kristján the painter suggested painting a sun on the wall above her bed, an especially fitting choice for a girl whose name means “sun”. The sun and walls are painted in shades of yellow that lighten and deepen with the daylight coming through the window.

The basement had two good-sized rooms and two smaller ones, with a long, narrow corridor in front of the smaller rooms. The corridor wall and the wall between those rooms were removed, creating a large family room and workspace. Hilmar designed and built a desk running along almost the entire outside wall, then bought drawer units from Húsgagnahöllin to slide underneath it. Here the family can come together for work and play: Hilmar ties fishing flies, Oddný works on the computer, and Sól studies her schoolbooks.