An agent for a Danish furniture company shows how she manages work and family in an all-white Milan home
An agent for Danish homewares brand Tine K Home moved to this oversized family home in Milan and set up shop with an almost exclusively white palette
cheat sheet
Who lives here Annemo Quist Picece, the Italian agent for Danish interiors company Tine K Home; her husband Marco Picece, an entrepreneur; and their three children: Philip, 10, William, 8, and Sofia, almost 5.
Style of home A three-storey stone house on the outskirts of Milan, built in the 1950s and renovated to become a home with office and showroom. The couple found the house online in 2013. Renovations began in early August 2014 and they moved in just before Christmas 2014.
Long-distance romances don’t always end with happily-ever-afters, but fortunately for Swedish-born Annemo Quist Picece and her Italian husband Marco Picece, theirs is a tale of two cities, three children and, after a long search, a place to finally call home.
When the couple’s paths crossed over a decade ago, the connection was instant, but the solution for making the relationship work across two countries wasn’t quite so obvious. “In the beginning, we divided our time between Italy and Sweden,” says Annemo. “I kept my apartment in Stockholm even after we had children. I would spend a few weeks there, then a few in Milan. It was really easy to jump on a plane with the kids and head to Sweden, where I had all my friends and my parents close by. But we gradually outgrew our home in Milan when we had our second child and were expecting our third!”
Finally, the decision was made to consolidate their properties and find a home in Milan that would accommodate the growing family and Annemo’s business as the Italian agent for Danish interiors company Tine K Home. An online search in 2013 quickly led them to a rundown property on the outskirts of Milan, but while it ticked a lot of boxes, it took some time (mostly thanks to infamous Italian bureaucracy) for all the pieces to fall into place and the house to be theirs.
Built in the 1950s, the 450-square-metre home was being sold by the granddaughter of the original owners and, even in an unrenovated state, it seemed to offer everything the family were after and more. “We wanted space and were ready to drive a little further from Milan to get it,” says Annemo. “I also wanted to work from home and be around when the children got home from school. But because the house was quite a bit larger than we expected, I decided to move my office and my showroom in.”
While Annemo had a strong idea of the look and feel she wanted to achieve (via an obligatory pre-renovation Pinterest moodboard), the home’s grander proportions and architectural attributes meant she had a lot of creative freedom. “Our previous
homes had a similar style but on a smaller scale,” Annemo admits, “so I couldn’t really put all my ideas into practice. Here, I finally could!” In August 2014, the couple rented a small riverside cottage close to the house and renovations got underway with an intended Christmas move-in date (always a dangerously optimistic deadline in the building world).
The living areas of the spacious home were divided over three floors, and much of the building work involved opening up rooms and bringing in as much natural light as possible. The kitchen was overhauled and now comprises a large openplan dining area and family living room, while more formal dining and living areas are located elsewhere. Annemo has loved being able to move her office and Tine K Home showroom to the one stunning space. “I totally fell for the high ceiling and arched windows in the room I chose for my office, as well as the enormous garden beyond,” she says.
When it came to the interiors, the style was largely driven by the couple’s existing furniture, all of which came from their previous homes. For the colour palette, Annemo didn’t stray far from what she knows and loves: a Scandinavian-inspired mix of white, black, grey and pops of pastel. “I’m not that into colour and feel more at home in a pared-down space,” she says. “All of my homes have had a similar style, although the proportions have been very different.”
Not unexpectedly – with a scope of work that included new windows, flooring, wiring, plumbing and painting – the initial Christmas deadline looked unlikely. But with the family’s rented cottage losing its charm at the beginning of winter, the couple gave the builders no choice but to wrap things up. On December 13, 2014, the family moved into the house and even celebrated Christmas there with 17 people and an enormous festive tree.
“Renovating the house was a huge job,” Annemo admits, “but worth every moment. I really appreciate the layout, which serves us so well. Had I started from scratch and designed a completely new house with an architect on an empty plot, I would have ended up with a house just like this one.”
“I’m not that into colour. I feel much more at home in a pared-back space” ANNEMO QUIST PICECE, HOMEOWNER
“The house was larger than we expected so I decided to move both my office and showroom in” ANNEMO