Shop Visit: Lekker Home

Photo by Samara Vise

Photo by Omar Rawlings

Photo by Samara Vise

Photo by Samara Vise

Photo by Samara Vise

When Natalie van Dijk was searching for a larger space for Lekker Home, a Washington Avenue South End staple since 2003, she was concerned she’d have to leave the neighborhood that had become a second home to her and her co-owner husband, Curt Carpenter. But as luck would have it, she stumbled upon a 10,000-square-foot space with a storied past very much in line with the Lekker Home brand. The Wareham Street location was built in 1863 as a woodworking shop before becoming a furniture company in the 1920s. The building’s history was too good for a design showroom to pass up, and Lekker Home moved to its new digs in July of last year.

Lekker Home is still your go-to for modern design, especially midcentury-modern and European makers who are difficult to find elsewhere (Ferm Living, we’re talking about you). But you can also shop for gift items like candles and bath products and conversation pieces such as gold chopsticks, colorful Chilewich placemats, Blu Dot lamps, and an &Tradition sheepskin chair that van Dijk calls “the chair of the year.”

It’s all set off in a space with brick walls, wood-beam ceilings, and more windows than van Dijk has had time to count. There’s also an open kitchen that the Lekker staff and trade clients frequently use. Despite its penchant for Nordic design, the shop never feels severe. On the contrary, the soft colors and textures, adorned dining tables, and cozy bedroom vignettes give it a comfortable accessibility one might not expect from northern European design. Condo and townhouse dwellers will appreciate the furniture’s scale, while suburbanites make the drive for brands they aren’t likely to find elsewhere (most of Lekker’s furniture brands have been around for a hundred years or more). “We aren’t trying to sell our clients on a particular item, but rather educate them about a maker and a design,” says van Dijk. “You won’t find any knockoffs here.”

Lekker Home, Boston