A flat packed flat from IKEA. Doesn't get much more Swedish than that!

After our set back with the flat in Stockholm that fell thru; we have been burning the midnight oil trying to find somewhere to live and with February 1st as my start date for work, there has been no time to waste. Both Shaena and I have spent hours and hours on Blocket.se and other Swedish websites for classifieds and sub-lets and we’ve also thrown our names in the hat for a couple of first hand contracts in newly built brand new flats, initially thinking that we probably won’t get them but that there’s no harm in trying.

The first new development that we applied for and really, really wanted was a fantastic 3 bedroom flat in a suburb called Kallhäll; developed by IKEA in collaboration with Skanska. As soon as we found this flat we knew that we wanted it and applied straight away. We were number 32 in queue for a total of two available flats and patiently/nervously/eagerly waited and watched as more and more people dropped out of the queue throughout the different stages of the application process. When only 7 people remained ahead of us in the queue, we were bummed out when the listings for these flats were taken off the website and someone else got the contract… or so we thought!

As a fortunate twist of fate; the other day I was contacted by a property management company saying that “the two flats I had enquired about in another suburb were unfortunately not available but that they could offer us a similar sized flat in the same new development as long as we were successful in a credit check”. We passed the credit check and a contract was sent over for our review. 15 minutes after we received the contract by email; I also received an email from the lettings website where we applied for the first IKEA flat saying that we were now number 1 in queue and that we should contact them immediately!

So we did. Supposedly; the 7 people ahead of us in the queue had all failed their credit checks and luckily for us, all these flats are managed by the same property management company, which meant that instead of having no flats to choose from, we now had two amazing brand new flats to choose from! Imagine that!

We decided to go with the flat that we had originally wanted for several reasons, one being just that; that this was the flat we originally fell for. I am also familiar with the area already as I used to live in Kallhäll before moving abroad and know that it is family-friendly, close to nature, water, has a beach and a marina and that it is close enough to commute to Stockholm city. Another important factor was of course that the flat and the flat building looked absolutely stunning! …oh, and the rent was cheaper!

So, as I mentioned, these flats are designed and built by IKEA and Skanska through a concept called ‘BoKlok’ which translates to ‘Live Smart’ or ‘Smart Living’ and the goal is to build smart, family friendly, cost effective flats and houses that don’t cost a fortune to buy or rent. We have (as per usual) done our research on BoKlok and really think this is a great concept!

We are of course insanely excited and can't wait to move in to our BoKlok... and there is lots of room for people to come visit! *hint hint*

These show home pictures below are from another 3 bedroom flat with the same floorplan as ours:


…and this is how our BoKlok flat was made: