One of my favourite things about visiting Skansen in Stockholm is the opportunity to look closely at the details of domestic life. I've been visiting for over thirty years, ever since my brother moved to Stockholm, and I never seem to tire of it.
This little bed is a case in point. I absolutely love the gathered checked pelmet, the red and cream ticking, the combination of the two fabrics and the way the whole arrangement creates such a cosy little sleeping alcove. There is something wonderfully unpretentious about it, but the details are just so good. The proportions, the colours, the softness of the fabric against the dark timber. I would happily recreate this almost exactly in a project tomorrow.
I particularly like the idea of using a simple gathered pelmet to give a bed a little sense of enclosure. It doesn't need to be grand or elaborate; just a little fabric, thoughtfully chosen and beautifully made.
The bowl of gruel is a slightly less convincing part of the arrangement, but the bed itself gets an unequivocal thumbs up from me.