33 years of experience. A fresh perspective on your property.
I’m Abi, founder of Kärlek, and I’ve spent 33 years working across Interior Design, Home Makeovers and House Flipping.
Over the years, I’ve developed a keen eye for seeing a property’s potential, rethinking spaces, finding creative solutions and recognising opportunities that others might overlook.
I love looking at a property and imagining what it could become — how a room might work better, how a layout could be improved, or how a few thoughtful changes could make a real difference.
Now, through If It Were Mine, Here’s What I Would Do, I’m sharing that experience in a more personal way.
You get to walk through your property with me, ask questions, talk through the things you’re unsure about and discover possibilities you may not have considered.
You don’t need to have all the answers before we meet. You don’t even need to know exactly what you want to change.
That’s the beauty of having a fresh pair of eyes.
I don’t carry out the building or renovation work. I bring the experience and ideas, and show you what you could do. You decide what to do with them.
The perfect foundation
From as far back as she could remember, Abi has focussed all her energy on creating beautiful spaces; this is what she loves to do more than anything. As a child she remembers repurposing the family encyclopedia collection, turning large white books into elegant Grecian homes for her dolls.
And when she wasn’t redesigning the family house, Abi was learning the trades, she was in every way her Dad’s apprentice. Raised on building sites, Abi spent her childhood going from property to property as her Dad built and renovated houses.
Growing up in Tokoroa, Abi’s parents were entrepreneurial, hard working New Zealanders. They instilled a resourceful ingenuity in Abi, something that she has become renowned for.
Love it, List it, Repeat it
Abi’s inspirational process is to explore, and as a young woman she was eager to draw inspiration from new experiences. Like so many Kiwi’s Abi headed to the UK, but she wasn’t one for a typical ‘O.E’, instead she launched herself into her first solo Home Makeover project. A rambling big old Edwardian house in Nottingham would have been daunting to most people but Abi loved every bit of it. She sold the house, purchased another, and on she went until Abi found she had honed her craft. She was in her element.
“I love to feel the essence of each house and then to bring out the best in it, they are in so many ways ‘human’ to me. Sometimes the experience is like taming the beast, some houses fight you all the way, and some other houses breathe a sigh of relief, they seem to really enjoy all the pampering.”
In search of a connection with her ancestry and inspired by Scandivian design, Abi then moved to Sweden where she immersed herself in Scandinavian life, design and history. Abi found herself going to auctions where she would buy and then restore Swedish furniture and antiques by hand.
It was here in Sweden that she first started doing Home Makeovers for others, and realised that her unique skills could bring a project together in a life changing way for people.
Today, through If It Were Mine, Here’s What I Would Do, Abi shares that experience in a One-Off Consultation. She doesn’t carry out the building or renovation work. She brings the vision to life by showing you what you could do, and you take it from there.