Cheat sheet
Who lives here Jeweller Nadia Shelbaya, her husband and their two children.
Style of home A historic 1860s summer house in Østerbro, Copenhagen, reconfigured to become a free-flowing family home with a modern conservatory addition and heritage charm.
The family bought the house five years ago and the renovation took approximately two years.
Blackbirds are singing, sweet briar roses are in bloom and the distant sound of a lawnmower completes the peaceful scene. Occasionally a car passes on the other side of the hedge – the only thing indicating that a shopping strip is just five minutes away and that Nadia Shelbaya and her family actually live in a big city. “The neighbourhood was what we first fell in love with – the house came second,” says the rising star of the Copenhagen jewellery scene. “It is magical to stand in a flowering garden and be in the middle of the city at the same time.” Location was a decisive factor when she and her husband were house-hunting in 2015. They ended up at this address in Denmark’s oldest residential area, the Rosenvaenget neighbourhood in Østerbro, and Nadia has never regretted it: “I vividly remember biking through the neighbourhood as a young student after an evening out with friends, accompanied by the scent of lilacs and green gardens. I’m so thankful to be living here with my family today.”
Once the summer destination of wealthy Copenhageners who travelled here in horse-drawn carriages to relax and recharge, the neighbourhood has a rich history. As does the house, which was built in the late 1860s by a member of the prosperous Krak family, publishers of Kraks Blå Bog (Krak’s Blue Book), a national reference guide to the most significant Danes in the arts, culture, politics and business, since 1910. Here, with his family, the publisher spent his summers in the green surroundings of the Øresund strait, which forms the border with Sweden, alongside the rest of Copenhagen’s most affluent.
Today, Nadia and her husband have put their own distinct touch on the two-level villa, which needed more than a little TLC when they moved in. They instigated a thorough makeover, with a new floor plan, a reconstruction of the original conservatory and new decor that – like the refurbishment – is modern and yet has a touch of nostalgia that suits the old building. “It was a somewhat overwhelming