Before & After: She Pivoted a "Corporate" Apartment Into a Cozy, Wood-Wrapped Home

"As soon as I saw the apartment, I knew it had potential, but the thing I really fell for was the light," says Kristine Aarflot, CEO and managing partner of Bryn Aarflot, an intellectual property law firm based in Oslo, Norway.

The 1,440 square-foot apartment, illuminated by large windows and skylights, is set on the fifth and sixth stories of a 1892 neoclassical building on a tranquil street in the city’s upscale Frogner district. "This is central Oslo, and I’m less than a 20-minute walk from the office," says Kristine. "But up here, it’s totally quiet."

Before: Entry

After: Entry

All the living space is on the main floor, which is mostly open, apart from three enclosed bedrooms. A staircase at the center leads up to a landing that opens to a 184-square-foot rooftop terrace. 

"The apartment had been intended to look a little industrial, but it was very, very cold," Kristine says. Although she initially planned to move in right after making some cosmetic changes, a closer look revealed that most of the surfaces, as well as the staircase, the floors, and the kitchen were in poor shape, and needed to be replaced or restored—so she reached out to architect Vibeke Jenssen, a partner with local firm Rintala Eggertsson Architects.

Before: Kitchen