“I think the thing that struck me the most was the sense of intimacy,” Francesca, one of our Remodelista cofounders, told us when she got back from a recent stay at Hotel Sanders, a new hotel in Copenhagen by Alexander Kølpin—a former principal dancer with the esteemed Royal Danish Ballet—across from the Royal Danish Theater. Kølpin (whose father is an architect, and whose family runs the Helenekilde Badehotel and Tisvildeleje Strandhotel on northern coast of Denmark) worked with London-based design duo Lind & Almond to transform what was originally three private homes built in the late 1800s, then another hotel, into a Danish-inflected space that evokes all the intimacy and romance of the ballet or a night at the theater.
“Every detail is considered: the lamps, the subtle color palette, and of course the lighting,” Francesca says; even the elegant uniforms that the staff wear were custom-designed, by Older Paris. “Candles are burning at breakfast, throughout the day and into the night. The overall effect is of a European home of humble elegance,” she adds. Here’s a look inside.
Photography courtesy of Hotel Sanders.
The Hotel, After
![a sumptuous area for lounging, in hushed warm velvets that evoke a theater curt 17](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/hotel-sanders-copenhagen-lounge-area.jpg)
![the hotel restaurant, sanders kitchen. \2\20;the dining room is small, t 18](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/hotel-sanders-kitchen-copenhagen-1-733x440.jpg)
![glassware stocked behind the bar, and a backsplash of oversized white tile. 19](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/sanders-kitcheen-copenhagen-cabinets.jpg)
![guests are welcome to eat in sanders kitchen or, should they prefer, & 20](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/hotel-sanders-kitchen-copenhagen-detail-733x743.png)
![a guest room, in hues of gray and ochre. \2\20;i love the paint detail i 21](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/hotel-sanders-copenhagen-guestroom-1-733x412.jpg)
![an adjacent sitting room. 22](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/hotel-sanders-copenhagen-guestroom-sitting-area-733x543.jpg)
![the stately windows are framed in dark green metal. 23](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/hotel-sanders-copenhagen-guestroom-dining-area-733x547.jpg)
![a guest room with olive velvet chair and a clawfoot bath. 24](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/hotel-sanders-copenhagen-guestroom-chair-detail-733x733.jpg)
![inside a guest bath, vintage style vanity and plaster walls included. 25](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/hotel-sanders-copenhagen-guestroom-bathroom-733x489.jpg)
![another guest room, in warmer tones. 26](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/hotel-sanders-copenhagen-guestroom-2-733x489.jpg)
![a bedside vignette. 27](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/hotel-sanders-copenhagen-guestroom-tray-detail-733x728.png)
![\2\20;we spent hours in the \2\16;living room\2\17; by the 28](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/hotel-sanders-copenhagen-fireplace-733x473.png)
![candles and caned furniture. 29](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/hotel-sanders-copenhagen-table-detail-2-733x489.jpg)
![a candlelit dinner on eclectic plates at sanders kitchen. 30](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/hotel-sanders-copenhagen-food-detail-2-733x475.png)
![single brass candlesticks adorn each table—an idea to copy at home. 31](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/hotel-sanders-kitchen-copenhagen-tables-detail-733x952.jpg)
![a festive feast. 32](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/hotel-sanders-copenhagen-food-detail-733x486.png)
![the vintage style rooftop conservatory, for getting some air. 33](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/hotel-sanders-copenhagen-conservatory.jpg)
The hotel’s priority is to make guests feel at home. Among the personalized services they offer: a behind-the-curtain tour of the Royal Danish Ballet (or a front-row seat to a rehearsal), “a day of drawing with the art students in the baroque sculptor garden behind the Art Academy,” an after-hours look at the Royal Danish Opera House, or a ringside seat in the kitchens of Copenhagen’s best restaurants. (And, should you forget something at home or the need arise, the hotel stocks “ties, cufflinks, white shirts, stockings, nail polish, hair spray, perfume, chargers, converters, and sunglasses in-house.”)
The Hotel, Before
![the remnants of the former hotel opera, before the renovation. 34](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/hotel-sanders-copenhagen-hotel-opera-before-733x549.png)
Headed to Copenhagen? More of our favorites:
- Reinventing the Museum Café: Apollo Bar & Kantine in Copenhagen
- Restaurant Visit: Fedtegreven Bistro Bodega in Copenhagen
- Nobis Hotel Copenhagen: 11 Ideas to Steal for a Minimalist-Maximalist Interior
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