Who is Kärlek?
Meet Abi
Kärlek (‘shar-lek’) meaning love in Swedish, is a business born out of Abi Wisnewski’s unique combination of skills as an interior designer, project manager, and property developer. Abi is the originator of the ‘Home Makeovers to Sell’ concept, and she has become famous for record setting real estate sales results in both the UK and New Zealand. Her talent lies in conceiving, planning and delivering Home Makeovers with smart, creative solutions that won't break the bank.
The perfect foundation
From as far back as she could remember, Abi has focussed all her energy on creating beautiful spaces; this is what she loves to do more than anything. As a child she remembers repurposing the family encyclopedia collection, turning large white books into elegant Grecian homes for her dolls.
And when she wasn’t redesigning the family house, Abi was learning the trades, she was in every way her Dad’s apprentice. Raised on building sites, Abi spent her childhood going from property to property as her Dad built and renovated houses.
Growing up in Tokoroa, Abi’s parents were entrepreneurial, hard working New Zealanders. They instilled a resourceful ingenuity in Abi, something that she has become renowned for.
Love it, List it, Repeat it
Abi’s inspirational process is to explore, and as a young woman she was eager to draw inspiration from new experiences. Like so many Kiwi’s Abi headed to the UK, but she wasn’t one for a typical ‘O.E’, instead she launched herself into her first solo Home Makeover project. A rambling big old Edwardian house in Nottingham would have been daunting to most people but Abi loved every bit of it. She sold the house, purchased another, and on she went until Abi found she had honed her craft. She was in her element.
“I love to feel the essence of each house and then to bring out the best in it, they are in so many ways ‘human’ to me. Sometimes the experience is like taming the beast, some houses fight you all the way, and some other houses breathe a sigh of relief, they seem to really enjoy all the pampering.”
In search of a connection with her ancestry and inspired by Scandivian design, Abi then moved to Sweden where she immersed herself in Scandinavian life, design and history. Abi found herself going to auctions where she would buy and then restore Swedish furniture and antiques by hand.
It was here in Sweden that she first started doing Home Makeovers for others, and realised that her unique skills could bring a project together in a life changing way for people.
Abi had spotted a gap in the market for Home Makeovers to Sell, she developed a business concept utilising her unique combination of skills that would see people maximise the untapped value in their greatest asset, and deliver extraordinary returns.
Wise counsel
Whether Abi’s customers want a Makeover to keep or Makeover to sell, Abi’s full service, end-to-end wrap around approach means that not only is the finished result full of ‘wow’ factor, but getting to that point is also a great experience.
Abi believes that everyone deserves to live in a beautiful home. She prides herself in the expert identification of where to spend, and where to save to get the just the right result for her customers, and provide great value for money;
“I like beautiful things, but I also love finding inexpensive things, when you layer a house with all those things there is both beauty and satisfaction in that.”
In Abi’s world everything gets done on time and on budget. Period. There’s no need for delays or surprises when things are well planned and managed. She also has a reputation for a very fast turn around, challenging the industry norm.
At her home in Auckland, New Zealand Abi has built a business based on Home Makeovers, with a team of talented tradespeople, all highly skilled at delivering a seamless experience.
To date, Abi has completed over 44 Home Makeovers across England, Sweden & New Zealand. Her Makeover to Sell projects have generated a cumulative $50.3 million in real estate sales, and she holds multiple real estate sales records in both the UK and New Zealand.
Many of Abi’s projects are available to explore as visual case studies on our services page.
