Not an address but an incredible Montana drive to Missoula. Cynthia and I drove Sara and Aasta back over the mountain to Missoula after they spent a day with us here in Helena.

Returning from Missoula on a coolish and gray day proved to be just the perfect atmosphere to watch for bald eagles. Cynthia drove the route along the Little Blackfoot River and I kept eyes peeled for the majestic birds. We spotted one after another along the river banks. Perched high in the trees overhanging the river the birds watched with eagle eye for dinner to pass by. While there certainly could have been more that we missed, we spotted 8 singles and 1 pair perched in the high branches of the cottonwoods and the eleventh was in flight cruising the winding route of the Little Blackfeet. It was pure Montana pleasure to view the eagles in the wild and a great day for a quick trip up and over the mountain and back again.

Sara and Aasta have been in Montana for the week and we were fortunate to have them come and visit us and let us give them the tour of the Sweden House. Aasta made herself right to home and enjoyed feeding the chickens and keeping her distance from the too energetic puppy. Delphi was terribly excited to have a “little people” in the house but she about knocked Aasta over with her excitement.

Aasta celebrated her second birthday in January and so we had to have a little birthday gift for her.

“Papa Loren” was kept busy trying to get the puzzle pieces first apart and then back together and then apart… and you get the picture! It was a good gift that Cynthia found at Lasso The Moon down on the Gulch.

The IKEA kitchen again proved its worth as the duo chefs prepared Chinese as we celebrated Chinese New Year.

Julia and Steffen joined us for the dinner.

Building a Swedish House in the middle of Montana has necessarily required travel south to Utah. IKEA Draper is just south of Salt Lake City and is home to a touch of Sweden from its Restaurant and Deli to the extensive showrooms and fully stocked warehouse. Cynthia and I have twice made the 800 mile trip in our Subaru and have spent much of 3 full days shopping at IKEA.

A year ago we made the journey and returned with a U-Haul filled with over 127 cartons of IKEA kitchen components. Assembly took some time but now we have an incredible and wonderfully efficient kitchen!

Our most recent trip brought us to IKEA Draper last November on the Friday after Thanksgiving- a rather busy shopping day. We spent all afternoon Friday and all day on Saturday checking merchandise, reviewing designs with staff and filling carts with cartons from the self-serve warehouse isles. It was both delightful and exhausting.

As I continue to finish trim and molding work throughout the house I also continue to open cartons to assembly IKEA furniture and cabinets, lighting and shelving. I would say I am rather experienced at interpreting IKEA assembly instructions.

Of the nearly 300 boxes and small bags of parts, screws, tools and bolts, I continue to be amazed every part required has been included and every part fits where it should and every piece of IKEA furniture looks great when assembled.

Until last Saturday! I was half-way into the assembly of the HEMNES shoe cabinet (white, two compartment) when I couldn’t find the part I needed from those set out across the floor of the sun room. I stopped and looked carefully and suddenly realized I was missing SEVERAL pieces! How could this be? IKEA has never let me down like this. How could multiple parts be missing?

Wait a minute. When I opened the box it was a typical IKEA package. The parts all fit together in the carton with absolute minimum wasted space. There was no room in the box for even one more small part.

It dawned on me. There must have been two boxes of parts for this cabinet, just like some of the kitchen cabinets that came in three, four or more packages for easier handling of the heavy components. Cynthia and I checked every package still in our storage area and there were no HEMNES boxes. I checked the computer and my receipts and the mistake was obvious and it was my mistake. I forgot to pick up both boxes when in the warehouse in Draper. I had left half of my cabinet 800 miles behind in Draper.

No problem. Even though it was clearly my mistake, Marie and Natalie were quick to answer my email and to provide help from the IKEA Customer Care Center. They confirmed my address and receipt number and date of shopping in Draper and sent a request for assistance straight off to the store in Draper.

George called me from Draper about an hour later. His call went to my voice mail as I was helping Julia and Steffen at their house set up their new IKEA PAX storage units that they had recently purchased. Our whole family is into IKEA. When we talked to Sigrid and Olle Saturday in Stockholm, they had just returned from IKEA with a new crib mattress for Lilian!

I returned the call to George and he picked up the phone and quickly confirmed details with me. He assured me it was no problem and the parts I needed would be Fed Ex’d to me first thing Monday morning.

Thanks George! Thanks Marie! Thanks Natalie. Thank you IKEA Customer Care!

Delphi enjoys our foot of new snow!

Our small sun room off the kitchen now has a finished floor. We decided upon using Marmoleum tiles which are a fairly green product, even in blue and white. The diamond pattern was inspired by numerous examples from magazines showing Swedish floors. Finstad’s Carpet One provided the materials and we really appreciated all the help we received from store manager Greg Gardner in setting up the order.

Ron Redfern was invited by Greg to be our installer for the project and we discovered he is a tile man with an artistic touch and a nod toward perfection. He worked on and off for several days simply on the floor prep. The room had previously been the laundry room with a floor drain so the whole floor sloped toward a hole located right in the main walking path through the room. It took several applications to fill and level the floor and Ron worked at it until it was excellent. The new tile blends ever so smoothly with the existing kitchen wood floor that we are really impressed. Thanks Ron for your excellent work. (You can also check out Ron’s work on the floor of the Red Atlas coffee shop at the Ox.)

Julia and Delphi testing out the new floor.

Repurposed Dayton’s Department Store upholsterd chairs from 1982 find a fresh look in the sunroom. Cynthia (and I) selected and purchased the chairs for our first home in Fargo on North 8th Street. They have been dismissed from living rooms several times as we brought in newer pieces but somehow they never went away. Most recently they were discarded during our downsizing and move to Denmark and were grabbed by Julia. We bargained with Julia upon our return to Helena and now they are once again back home in our house.

Frequently I browse the door selection at the Habitat Restore Store and I have brought home several and donated back a few.

Over a year ago Cynthia and I found this solid wood door (painted over) at the Restore Store and managed to haul it home. It is solid and heavy! It sat in the garage for awhile and then outside under plastic and then back in the shop. Finally the time came to do something with it or donate it back. I started scraping off the paint and was pleased at how easy that task was. I then used a belt sander and finally sanded by hand.

I went back to the Restore Store and dug through the box until I came up with 3 large brass hinges. They were painted and took some work to clean up but now look brand new. The old hinges cost $1 each as opposed to $6 to $8 for a new hinge. I have the time so it was worth the effort.

The door is an odd size so I built a custom jam. I then finished the door with a semi-gloss poly in 3 coats.

From the shop I had to lug the heavy thing into the house!

The door now serves as the entry to the Scandic guest room on the main floor and it reminds us of the doors at Chico.

While I saved a few dollars by using an old door, I gained far more in appreciation by repurposing a throw away into a focal point in our home. I find my time well spent in browsing at the Restore Store and I have found many great building parts. Several light fixtures come from there in parts and I have compiled the fixtures to meet our needs. I found 2 great sinks that I have put to use in the basement utility room and outside for a summer garden sink. I regularly sort through the stacks of trim boards and come home with needed items to trim out the house. And I bring lots of material back to the Restore Store to donate as I find it is much better to keep the clutter out of my shop. And if I decide I do need something that I had donated, I just go and buy it or a similar piece back. Works great for me!

Employment at Block’s Clothing in Robbinsdale in 1968 imprinted upon my teenage fashion mind that it was certainly okay to mix and match bright colored stripes, plaids and patterns that were on the way to be the fashion statement of the ‘70’s. These days I am more concerned to have just the right work clothes for repurposing this old house and I was missing an important item. A Carhartt jacket!

Thanks to pre-Christmas Eve B & B guests and good friends from Missoula, I now have the full apparel for house building work. What a nice gift.

Speaking of Christmas gifts, what a gift and privilege to live in the mountains of Montana and to be able to travel just a short distance and step out (or ski as the case may be) in our oldest National Park.

Cynthia and I had enjoyed a beautiful weekend in Yellowstone in August but the park is equally appealing in the Winter.

Weather has been unusually warm and the snow cover a bit thin but there was still good skiing to be had at Mammoth Hot Springs on the upper terrace trail.

Cynthia and me enjoying the sun on a day just a bit longer than the day before. Yes, we made it past the solstice and we are on our way to longer days of sunshine!

Julia is obviously pleased to be set free on skis and equally pleased to pose by one of the mammoth hot springs at Mammoth Hot Springs.

Photos by Cynthia (used by permission… sometimes)

Solbritt had already opened presents and sampled the rice pudding and all the delicious treats at her Farmor and Farfar’s home when we turned on the computer to Skype with her and her family early (for us) on Christmas morning. In fact, the sun had already set in Sweden while we still awaited the sunrise here in Montana. Kind of slow in coming this time of year.

With the computer logged in Cynthia and I opened our presents from Solbritt and grandpa promptly put on a new sweater from his favorite Stockholm men’s shop, The Dressman. YaYa donned a beautiful new scarf and pulled on cozy mittens. It’s the next best thing to being there to have Solbritt wish us “Merry Christmas”!

With Julia and Steffen close by, they dropped over yesterday afternoon to tease us into letting them open a couple of presents.

Cynthia hit the mark in size and color and both looked great in a new sweater and cape.

Late on Christmas Eve we went over to Steffen and Julia’s where Steffen’s family were already busy putting together a Greek feast. Daphne (Steffen’s mom) and his sister Alayna made tiropita and tzatziki. Steffen had oysters, felafel and meat and mushroom skewers all ready to eat by the time we got back from Lincoln. It was a feast to enjoy on Christmas Eve.

Ken and I enjoyed many trips back to the buffet!

As the Advent Candles burn down the aroma of Greek coffee filters up and fills the air in this Sweden House kitchen. A double batch of lefse and two or three batches of Cynthia’s delicious peanut brittle give us treats to enjoy as well as to share. The only thing missing are a couple of Swedish granddaughters!

It is a delight this Christmas for Cynthia and I to work in the kitchen or to serve guests in the dining room or to just sit by the fire and enjoy the warmth and comfort of our home. It has been work work work for the past year and a half (with still more to go) but we are at the point where we can truly enjoy living in our remodeled and repurposed home here on 12th Ave. It feels like home to us now and it feels good.

But we are off to Lincoln this afternoon and will have to leave the warmth of the fire for a quick trip up and over the pass and into the heart of the Rocky Mountains. The Christmas Eve service is at 5 pm at the Methodist Church so I will be there to lead worship and share the Christmas message. Upon returning to Helena tonight we will head down the alley and across the street to celebrate Christmas Eve at Steffen and Julia’s. Tomorrow we will head to Chico and be joined by Steffen’s family for an extended Christmas celebration and some leisure time to just sit and soak in the Chico Hot Springs.

I guess we will be celebrating Christmas for more than the usual 12 days as I got a jump on things this year when Cynthia came in the house the other day and invited be to open an early Christmas present.

By the shape of the package I was convinced that I already knew what would be revealed as the ribbon was pulled and the paper was torn apart.

På juldagsmorgonen, (Christmas Day), an 1894 watercolor by Carl Larsen, is just perhaps my favorite of all of his paintings. I was present when we purchased the print last spring at the Carl and Karin Larsen museum in Sunborn, Sweden. But Cynthia surprised me by having the print framed at the Ghost Art Gallery on the walking mall. She chose a beautiful birch frame with walnut insets in the corners. It sets the painting off wonderfully and we have just the right place to hang it in the living room of the Sweden House.

Cynthia and I are most thankful and grateful for our family and friends, our good health and meaningful work, and the opportunity to once again celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior and the grace, peace and blessing of the Christmas Gospel. May you and your family be blessed and comforted this Christmas as we send our greetings and wish the best for you and yours.

With love and our Christmas Greetings, Loren and Cynthia

Upon returning from Copenhagen in 2010 Cynthia and I moved into an apartment on Rodney Street while I began restoration work on our house. We needed to replace a few items of furniture that we had chaotically sold off in 2009. When the neighbor had a garage sale, we purchased two Ethan Allen hutches that had belonged to his grandmother. A sudden wind storm knocked them down and broke the glass doors of one hutch before we could move them into the apartment. We’ve been wondering what to do with them ever since. Well we discovered the answer.

The Ethan Allen base cabinet we discovered to be the perfect size to fit the little nook in the upstairs guest room. This will be Solbritt and Lilian’s room when they come to visit and we wanted to have a nice vanity and sink to make the room a bit more welcoming and convenient, especially when they become teenagers and perhaps live with us while going to school here in Helena to polish up on their English. (Of course this is my idea and it hasn’t been cleared with the parents so don’t mention it to them just yet.)

I primed the base cabinet with a top quality Benjamin Moore latex primer in order to get good adhesion after sanding the lacquered finish. Then I painted 2 coats of our white semi-gloss that I have been using on all painted woodwork.

The sink we found at IKEA and brought it home to use in the master bedroom but we liked it so much we decided to get 2 of the same for both bedrooms. Cynthia picked up the mirror at the Restore Store for $2 and I simply painted it to match. The second sink is coming from Portland with Aaron and Melinda. Thanks again to Aaron for helping out with IKEA purchase and delivery!

The sink in the master bedroom sits on an IKEA cabinet made to go with it. We brought this one home ourselves from the Draper IKEA in Salt Lake City. The 3 drawer dresser was repurposed with some effort of trimming to fit the space and then a few coats of paint. The medicine cabinet came with the house and was repurposed from the original downstairs bathroom.

The teddy bear was repurposed from an old fur coat in the early 1950’s and has been in my possession ever since. It is dressed in one of my first hand knit sweaters and it is wrapped with my old Swedish baby scarf. The origin of the scarf is gone along with the passing of my parents but my guess would be that it was a gift brought by Sigrid and Hildegaard when they came from Uddevalla to Minneapolis for a visit in 1953.

Swedish guests that come to visit might recognize the design in our downstairs guest room. Our “Scandic” guest room has the look of the hotel where Cynthia and I have stayed in Stockholm near Sigrid and Olle’s old apartment. The wall mounted headboard with attached shelves and individual reading lights comes from- you guessed it, IKEA, but has the design straight out of the Scandic Alvik in Stockholm.

Guests with extremely heavy luggage will appreciate the strength of the luggage rack repurposed from the ends of our butcher block counter top in the kitchen. The legs are maple and from an old school desk I found at the Good Samaritan Thrift Shop on Montana Avenue.

Okay, so not everything is repurposed in this house. Cynthia and I had fun on the IKEA website and finally came up with this desk arrangement after looking at all the pieces in the showroom. Desk, drawers, cabinets, lights and chairs are all IKEA and fit perfectly into our dual desk study space.

It seems at times that it is taking forever to complete this house make-over and I admit to being discouraged on occasion. But when I sit here at the computer and post these pictures I can see the hours of work that have gone into the various projects and it is quite fun for me to realize that much work has been accomplished in the last few weeks. The house actually looks quite nice and inviting for Christmas, now that Cynthia has been able to give it some polishing and decorative touches.

The recipe for a cozy Christmas tea is about there. We just need to add several guests to spice it up just right.

Cynthia and I may be half way round the globe from daughter Sigrid in Sweden but we sure enjoyed sitting in on dinner with her and Olle today. While we enjoyed our breakfast and coffee this morning here in Helena, we tuned into Swedish Television on the web to watch the 2011 Nobel Award Ceremony in Stockholm. Olle has been a local host to Nobel Laureate Brian Schmidt (born in Missoula, MT) and his family this week as they have been welcomed and introduced to Sweden. Today Olle and Sigrid attended the awards ceremony and also were invited to the Nobel Dinner. We watched and watched for a glimpse of Sigrid and Olle but the camera kept going back to the King and Queen and the 100 or so dignitaries at the head table (a really long table!). We were so excited for Sigrid and Olle to have this experience that we could hardly sit still watching all the events unfold on our little computer screen right here in the kitchen. How sweet is that?