Casa Patricier

After 25 years in Italy, interior designer Christina Arnoldi has stylistically brought the southern atmosphere with her to a classic patrician villa in Copenhagen, which has been completely renovated with respect for the original but at the same time glows with international elegance from the 1940s. 

With a warm creamy facade, stairs and balcony with pilasters, pool and outdoor areas in sandstone, the classic patrician villa in Hellerup radiates a southern glow. After 25 years in Italy, a clear golden thread runs through interior designer Christina Arnoldi's style in this project.

"On such a deadly rainy day of denmark, the tiles and the warmth of the facade give a beautiful orange-gold tone. We have planted the garden with tall cypresses and 4500-year-old olive trees, which we have shipped here from Sicily. Both the garden and the home are styled in a slightly old school, Italian and southern French style from the 1940s.”

She is not just into one style, but seeks out the best from many places in the world and takes inspiration from wherever she is. For example, as mentioned, when she gives the Danish weather a golden counterpoint, while in the Italian latitudes she needs a little more of the clean, rigorous coolness that Scandinavian design can provide.

The 520 m2 villa is furnished with a mix of the best she has found in the USA, Germany, Italy and Denmark, brought together by her feeling for creating moods with velour, silk, suede, plaids, colors on the paintings, Japanese silk covers on armchairs, browned brass details and light, not least thanks to a collection of vintage lamps and mouth-blown Murano lamps, culminating in the pure work of art, the "inverted Christmas tree" above the dining table.

"It all falls to the ground with the wrong lighting, which in my opinion is the most important thing in any interior. Lamps are both sculptural and functional. 

"When you tear down and restore an old house from scratch, all sorts of things appear, Christina redid several things, as she pays great attention to every single detail, and if it doesn't sit there the first time, then it have to be done again .” 

One of the biggest challenges was the bathroom, where they have combined two rooms into a large 40 m2 bathroom, where the floor and shower are covered with a ton of heavy marble. "It required us to break up the floor and put six pieces of iron in to make sure the bathroom doesn't burst into 1st floor living room ," she says. 

The floors in the house also provides the desired contrast to the bright, light Danish frames and the interior and play together with the golden tones, which not least go outside again.

The distinct southern touch in no way disturbs the original architectural design. On the contrary, it has been her duty to respect the original.

"I never skimp on quality, and I have gone to great lengths to follow the original style with, among other things, handmade panels that correspond to the original, thin bars in the windows and hand-built radiator covers. My thoroughness is my trademark, says Christina

I don't see any problems that can't be solved. I am a problem solver and have a wide range of job descriptions. I am both a project manager, designer and architect when I solve a task. There is not a roof tile I do not know in this house.”

The 520m2 have been completely updated down to the smallest detail.

The first floor is devoted to the bedroom, wardrobe and crowning achievement the bathroom. An unmistakable sense of hotel hovers over the soft carpets, and the holiday atmosphere is emphasized with a look out to the sand-colored pool surrounded by bamboo deck chairs and stripped umbrellas in the garden.
 

Location: Hellerup, Copenhagen
Renovated: 2022
Space: 520 sqm