This light and airy contemporary home is more than twice its original size, having expanded to keep pace with a growing family

Charlotte and Niels Erik Thomsen moved to this house, located in a small village in the south of Jutland, Denmark, 15 years ago. Since then, they have had three children and as their family has grown, so has their home.

‘When we first moved in, the property was small — only stretching to about 100m2— old and out of date,’ says Charlotte, who is one of the owners of Dinesen flooring. The Thomsens have since overseen two lots of extension work. The first took place when they had been in the house eight years and the second got under way four years later.

‘We made the rooms much bigger, knocking down interior walls and uniting the kitchen, family room and living room and giving them high ceilings,’ explains Charlotte. ‘The house is now more than twice its original size — now reaching 260m2. We only had one child when we moved in but suddenly we had three so we had to make it bigger!’

Charlotte and Niels generated all the ideas for transforming the property. ‘My husband and I had some ideas, which we made into drawings,’ she says. ‘Then we approached a local architect we knew and asked him to make some blueprints. This process took about a year.’

As well as creating a large family-orientated space, the Thomsens put in skylights that allow natural light to flood the house during the day. They decided not to fit blackout blinds in the main room to enable the family to benefit from the house’s rural location and gaze at night sky. ‘We don’t have any blackout blinds at all, meaning we can see the stars at night. The house is located in a very small town with a population of around 2,000. It’s a very peaceful area with forests and lakes.’

The interior is illuminated by spot lighting, which lines the internal perimeter of the downstairs living area. One benefit of such a vast space is that it can accommodate imposing fixtures with ease—the impressive Flos Taraxcum88 chandelier by Achille Castiglioni hangs beautifully from the high ceiling. It overlooks a Delphi sofa by Erik Jørgensen and a red Egg chair by famed Danish designer Arne Jacobsen.

The floor is covered with Dinesen douglas fir planks, which are 35mmthick, 300mmwide and treated with lye and white soap. The shelves are made of the same material. ‘We had the shelves made from the same douglas fir —they were a bespoke fitting,’ says Charlotte.

The bathroom has also undergone some substantial renovations, being extended from5m2 to 16m2. It features a round bath with inset whirlpool jets from Dan Spa and can hold five people. The floor is tiled with black granite.

The exterior of the house has also undergone a transformation. Niels Erik has a plumbing business and has, among other projects, worked on shop facades all over Europe. He used his skills to give their house a new metal roof. Charlotte explains: ‘To start with the property was a red house with a black roof. However, my husband owns a plumbing company so he was able to make a new roof out of zinc.’ The exterior also features a decked area, again made from Dinesen wood.

This article was first published in idFX Magazine.