What if our homes had feelings?

This is a brilliant question young Nora grapples with in the opening scene from Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value. It takes as its starting point an essay that Nora wrote at school in which she imagines she is her house. In a few realistic scenes, we see the house come alive with scampering feet, a smashed jar, a parental spat. “She wondered if the house liked to be empty and light, or full and heavy. If the floors liked being trod on. If the walls were ticklish. If it ever felt pain. And she thought that yes, it probably liked to be full …”

The house (pictured above and below) evolves from the 1930s to the present day. It becomes a silent character in the film – a subject Wallpaper magazine delves into in this excellent interview with the set designer, Jørgen Stangebye Larsen, who draws on his own experience of home to bring the set beautifully to life.

The Iconic Nordic House

We’ll be adding Dominic Bradbury’s latest book (the fifth in his Iconic House series published by Thames & Hudson) to the already-groaning shelves of the TMH library. The book has been co-authored with photographer Richard Powers and features 40 landmark modern houses across the Scandinavian countries. For us, it also functions as a bucket-list of Nordic house museums. Our top three? Finn Juhl’s House in Ordrup, Denmark (1942); Josef Frank’s modernist coastal villa, Villa Carlsten in Falsterbo, Sweden (1927); and Lilla Hyttnås in Sundborn, Sweden (1899-1912), Carl and Karin Larsson’s Gesamtkunstwerk (pictured below).

Room and Book

And while we are thinking of restocking our shelves, TMH contributor Dale Berning Sawa recently shared this beautiful black and white Insta grid with us. Room and Book is an online second-hand art bookshop that specialises in art, architecture and design books, exhibition catalogues and design ephemera (including a selection for under £10). Browsing their virtual shelves, we are reminded of our co-founder Albert Hill’s advice for burgeoning collectors: “Buy old books and present the printed pages in frames – either together in series or individually across the home, considering the impact of where something hangs.” (Room and Book is currently selling the expansive art and interiors books collection of Albert’s late father, Rod Hill.)

An experimental house tour, ‘60s style

The London Archives have recently resurfaced a promotional clip from the Barbican showing potential buyers around a flat in 1969. The tone is completely baffling. It shows a man wandering through the space with a shearling coat over one shoulder, imagining his future self composing a piece of experimental music in the comfort of his sound-proofed flat. Proof that there really is no such thing as an original idea. During our hunt for imagery, we contacted Barbican Life contributor, Peter Duckworth. Peter shared a series of features he’s written about the show homes of the Barbican estate, and the prescient mind behind them: Miriam Howitt, whose interiors are pictured below. We are told Miriam, who is 96, still lives in a “haven of pure modernism” she designed and built for herself in the 1960s. If we can share that with you some how, we will …

Camden Mews art sale

Ahead of the sale of their father’s home, the daughters of artist Alfred Harris (1930-2025) are hosting a sale of some of his artwork, tools and household items on Saturday 21st March between 10am-5pm. “It is a unique building and we love showing people around,” explains daughter Issy. “We are very proud of what mum and dad achieved.” Alfred’s home will be listed with TMH this spring and there will be a viewing host from The Modern House on hand to answer any enquiries. Email info@themodernhouse.com for address details.

Photography credits: © Sentimental Value (available now on MUBI); © Iconic Nordic House courtesy of Richard Powers; © Miriam Howitt