Elsa Lindfors

Elsa with her fiance med Johan Augustsson in the 30-ties

After the school was closed in the 50-ties, the building was sold to a very special lady, Elsa Lindfors. She lived in this place for a long time, nearly 60 years. I know a lot about this history because a got in touch with her grandniece. Her grandmother was Elsa's sister. 

She was born in 1911. She was raised in a family with two younger sisters. She learned very early to sew, she made clothes for her sisters herself. Later she had even her own company in Ljungby, a sewing atelier (damskrädderi) with some employees. Very rare for a woman for that time. She was very independent. She never married but had several relations. Later she planned to emigrate to Amerika North Dacota/Chicago) but after some years she came back and she bought Sjöbygget Skola on the country side. She painted the rooms in sixties style: orange, brown and oliva green. She always had dogs, mostly Schäfer or Boxer. She took care of the ones not threaded very well and needed a new home. 

This is a picture from Elsa in her 40-ties, just before she went to Amerika. It was in black & white but she colored it herself. 

Already in her 50-ties she went in early pension because of a disease, a normal procedure for a single woman in that time. Wit a lot of creativity and resourceful thinking she could manage financially, she bought at auctions or made it herself. 

After this early pension she focused her creativity. She was talented with a good feeling for color and forms. She loved to paint. Not professional but as a autodidact. The former classroom was her atelier. She was only living upstairs. Her family still have a lot of paintings. She had some exhibitions in Ljungby. She was only living upstairs. Downstairs, beside of her atelier, she had big table and a piano. The family remembered the Christmas celebrations (with a Swedish Julbord) because of the good food she made.  

She also liked gardening. Older people from this neighborhood told me her garden was always full of flowers. She was always outside in the garden. Today we still can find traces of that times. We found already the old compost place and some of (mormorsväxter) grandmothers plants (like the Hungarian Iris). We put the small old plants in a nursery to develop again, so now we have more of them again. She had also black currants or svart vinbär (they are still there 😋), gooseberries (Krusbär) and strawberries. The garden always delivered: she made a lot of compotes, syrups, juices and marmelades. 

She was creating concrete sculptures. Today we still find three fisher man at the pond, an old man watching the gate, a hare, some flowers and some frogs in the garden. When the big storm Gudrun (2005) destroyed a lot of woods around the house, the neighbor found her walking around totally confused in her nightgown. She thought it had become war. Around 2008 she sold the house and moved back to Ljungby again. She died in 2009, you can still find her name on a wall in the graveyard in Ljungby. 

The Ungarian Iris

From that time the building was completely renovated. They saved some old details, but it is a pity, also some disappeared. Everything was painted white. They changed the classroom to a living room, made a kitchen downstairs and upstairs a bathroom and sleeping rooms upstairs. The school got a new purpose, now it was used as a holiday home. But as far as we know they didn't use it very often. 

We, Peter and Brün, bought it in 2015. We want to take good care off the old building and build up the old nice garden again.