Inside style experts' homes: Cathy Strongman - in pictures

Cathy Strongman is a British Copenhagen-based freelance journalist who’s written for publications including Dwell, Elle Decoration, The Times and The Evening Standard. She writes the monthly Greener Living page for House & Garden, has authored four books, including The Sustainable Home and appeared on ITV as an architecture critic. Since moving to Denmark two years ago she continues to work for the UK press while also writing the Easyjet Copenhagen guides and regularly contributing to The Copenhagen Post. You can see Cathy’s pick of Danish design, architecture, culture, fashion and food on her blog
Photograph: Cathy Strongman

The original panelling and plasterwork are so beautiful that we’ve left the walls fairly bare. The table we had made from pine and plywood with a very thin layer of corian on top – it’s completely indestructible and has survived spills and bangs from kids and adults alike. The plastic chairs cost a tenner each from Cobbled Yard and the high chair is a classic design from the 1960s that I found in a local antique shop. Duncan’s Gran bought back the 1950s drinks trolley from America, the mirror my parents found in their attic and the Plopp stool by Oskar Zieta is a bashed-up prototype that I got for a steal.
Photograph: Cathy Strongman

I’m a design junkie so it’s taken a lot of self-control to keep this room so minimal. Much comes from London – the Sax coffee table by Terence Woodgate is an ex-display model, the G-Plan sideboard is from second-hand shop Pictures & Light in Stoke Newington, the lamp stand was languishing in my uncle’s garage and the Van Amburgh side table I found at Thorsten Van Elten. The black CABI U sideboard is from the Danish shop HAY as is the Little Nobody chair created by Komplot out of recycled plastic bottles. My sister gave us the wooden set of London landmarks (on the window sil) from Muji to remind us of home.
Photograph: Cathy Strongman

I discovered modernism while studying history of design and it remains my favourite era. Hence the Isokon Penguin Donkey, the Eames House Bird and the Lucienne Day fabric that my mother-in-law whipped into a cushion. I found the old desk lamp at Cobbled Yard in Stoke Newington. The Senator Series armchair by Danish designer Ole Wanscher was a 30th birthday present and the spray painted image of the queen a first wedding anniversary present, from my husband, Duncan. I like the contrast they create with the original ceramic wood-burning stove; my dad insisted on lighting it once and smoked out the entire apartment.
Photograph: Cathy Strongman

We’re lucky enough to have guests most weekends so this is my study but also an extra bedroom. The sofabed is from ILVA. There’s a Tab floor lamp by Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby and a cluster lamp by Kathleen Hills, which I bought with one of my very first pay cheques. The heaving CANO bookshelves are by the Swedish designer Johannes Norlander and on top there’s motley assortment of pictures and family photographs including those of my great great grandparents. I didn’t want to clutter the whole flat with family shots and yet I love looking at them in other peoples’ homes. Putting them all together in the guestroom seemed like a good compromise.
Photograph: Cathy Strongman

We rent this two-bedroom flat. It’s a classic Frederiksberg apartment, built in 1902 with three grand reception rooms at the front and this long corridor with the maid’s room (now the nursery) and the kitchen with a separate staircase at the far end. The oak floorboards are untreated – once they get too messy the Danes just sand them down – and the lights hang from ceiling hooks, which is trickier than it looks. Ours was not a happy household the day Duncan put up these E27 lights by Mattias Stålbom.
Photograph: Cathy Strongman

We kept our daughter’s gender a surprise, so her bedroom is blissfully pink-and-princess free. The cot is by Leander and decorated with a Donna Wilson blanket and elephants sewn for me as a child. The changing table is an old Danish chest, painted white with a top frame from John Lewis screwed into the back. Above it hangs a Flensted mobile and my sister-in-law’s wedding invite designed by Rob Ryan before he hit the big time. The red light and sideboard are from IKEA and the round table from Kartell. My most valued possession of all is the chair. It doesn’t look like much but I inherited from my much-missed Gran.
Photograph: Cathy Strongman

Duncan and I moved to Copenhagen a couple of years ago, mostly because we fancied a bit of an adventure. We’ve never regretted the move. Copenhagen is a compact, thriving and safe city with wonderful parks, beaches, cycle lanes, independent cafes and bars, brave modern buildings, kooky boutiques and glorious design. The Danes are baffled as to why we left London and by Britain’s sudden infatuation with everything ‘Dansk’, but I think it’s because from a very early age their lives are saturated with great design. Everywhere you look from the airport, to schools, restaurants and even the hairdressers there are functional and elegant objects. They also entertain at home a lot more and move a lot less than we Brits so they really take pride and invest time and money into their properties.
Photograph: Cathy Strongman