Scandinavian decor: 10 Nordic design ideas to know
Scandinavian decor concepts are in style for a number of causes: pared-back, unfussy, uncluttered areas – and a successful mixture of type and performance create aesthetically pleasing, but sensible interiors. The mixture of unpolluted strains, a light-weight and brilliant atmosphere, and pure supplies that typify considered one of these rooms has enduring enchantment, in any case.
With busy trendy lives, householders at the moment are extra conscious of their furnishings decisions and purpose to discover a stability between streamlined minimalism and opulent consolation for his or her adorning concepts.
Right here we discover the easiest of the Scandinavian décor development – and how you can successfully and superbly use this in style inside design aesthetic in your house.
Scandinavian decor concepts – how you can embrace this minimalistic development
What’s Scandinavian design, you ask? Anticipate to see Nordic influences offered of their most refined type but. Clear strains, modern surfaces and a impartial palette strike a complicated smart-casual stability.
Undertake Scandinavian design ideas to create an area that’s targeted, purposeful, and options only some significant and cherished gadgets.
Right here we have a look at the totally different options in addition to the aesthetic of Scandinavian design, with skilled steerage to assist inform a brand new room.
1. Add delicate curiosity and detailing
(Picture credit score: Paul Massey)
The strains and crosses of this Scandinavian front room ceiling reveal the fantastic thing about its construction and structure, and create a full of life counterpoint to the calm area beneath.
In outdated homes it may well pay to analyze the unique ‘bones’ of the home although it is very important contemplate the situation ceilings could also be in should you expose them.
Using white paint right here might have helped to hide flaws in addition to create a softer impact that blends in with the room. This versatile impartial is likely one of the hottest paint concepts for Nordic interiors, and it’s simple to see why. Adorning with white affords a clean canvas that illuminates darkish areas –a typical concern in Scandinavian international locations – and may make even small rooms really feel spacious, gentle and brilliant.
2. Work wooden into your design
(Picture credit score: Sola Kitchens)
Wooden is a staple in a Scandinavian kitchen, however this season it’s being reinterpreted with contemporary and fascinating strategies.
Right here, three-dimensional surfaces that shift with the sunshine convey a contemporary twist to wooden within the kitchen. ‘Mixed with modern flat-fronted doorways in crisp white, skinny vertical wooden slats present texture and depth, enhancing the stress between plain and sample,’ explains Sofia Bune Strandh, CEO, Sola Kitchens (opens in new tab).
SKOG, which means ‘forest’ in Swedish, is the title given to this putting new wood-focused design from Sola Kitchens. ‘It’s referred to as SKOG partly as a result of the picket slats resemble the outlines of bushes, but in addition the title displays the embracement of pure supplies – a typical high quality of Scandinavian design,’ she provides.
3. Go for a white-one-white scheme
(Picture credit score: Noah Webb / Lucie Ayres / 22 Interiors)
Evoking purity and cleanliness alongside confidence and class, white bedrooms concepts are a timeless alternative for a real Scandinavian scheme.
‘The rationale individuals like white room concepts is as a result of it’s so versatile,’ says artist and shade skilled Annie Sloan (opens in new tab). ‘There are such a lot of various shades of white from heat white to chill white and the beauty of adorning with it’s that no matter your model of inside – be it up to date or nation – white-on-white is a scheme that’s assured to look stylish in a Scandinavian bed room.’
Designed by Lucie Ayres, founder of twenty-two Interiors (opens in new tab), this area makes use of texture to perfection. Texture in inside design is important, and isn’t merely nearly how décor and smooth furnishings really feel, nevertheless it’s additionally about ‘visible texture’ – utilizing totally different supplies so as to add curiosity and breathe life right into a room. This is a crucial aspect of the Scandinavian design ethos.
4. Put the concentrate on furnishings
(Picture credit score: Sarah Shields Pictures / Whittney Parkinson Design)
The primary objective of Scandinavian design is to enhance each day life. Furnishings is due to this fact not solely about trendy class, but in addition about performance – it ought to serve a objective and stand the take a look at of time.
‘Choose just a few key items of furnishings in every room that look good but in addition work exhausting, paired with just a few rigorously chosen equipment, fittings or smooth furnishings to tie the room collectively,’ says inside designer Whittney Parkinson, founder, Whittney Parkinson Design (opens in new tab).
For a Scandinavian sunroom, for instance, a cushty couch and chair, easy ground lamp, just a few massive rigorously positioned houseplants, a woven rug, and accent cushions works properly. Keep in mind to solely make area for gadgets and furnishings that you simply really love.
5. Go for a monochrome shade palette
(Picture credit score: Sarah Shields Pictures)
As a rule, Scandinavian design is straightforward and minimalist. In the case of shade, Scandinavian kitchens main in gentle hues for a sensible cause – suppose white kitchen concepts or wooden kitchen cupboard concepts in paler finishes. ‘The Scandinavian international locations are very darkish within the winter and light-weight colours and supplies will replicate the little gentle there’s,’ says Sofia Bune Strandh, founding father of Sola Kitchens (opens in new tab).
A black and white adorning scheme is a courageous alternative, because it requires cautious enhancing and a powerful design eye. The sort of Scandinavian inside may also seem ‘flat’ should you don’t introduce texture and delicate tonal selection. However put collectively rigorously, it’s a good way so as to add drama and magnificence. ‘The consumer had one request for this area: black, white with somewhat heat, says Whittney Parkinson. ‘We achieved this through the use of a mixture of wooden finishes and paint colours. It truly is a triumph of the senses. ‘
6. Instil a Scandinavian serenity in a piece area
(Picture credit score: Mary Wadsworth)
The house workplace is one room that has turn out to be important in lots of our areas. Despite the fact that all of us have totally different work types and wishes, there are some elementary ideas to comply with.
Take into account a peaceful shade scheme that stimulates and means that you can get targeted,’ says inside designer Bobby Berk (opens in new tab). ‘For me, meaning adorning with clear white partitions and minimal shade, usually related to Nordic design ideas.’
‘After I work I wish to remove visible distractions and plenty of ‘stuff’ – piles of paperwork and supplies on a desk not solely look messy, however they will additionally pull focus from the duty at hand,’ he says. ‘Letter trays and submitting containers maintain muddle at bay, and, when you’ve got the area, a cupboard means that you can maintain that additional ephemera organized and out of sight.’
On this scheme, Irene Gunter of Gunter & Co (opens in new tab) has cleverly mixed supplies and textures to create distinction and a way of dimension. A room with out loads of shade can are inclined to look actually flat while you follow comparable supplies. That’s why it is best to usher in heat wooden tones, stone and textured equipment that may create a way of depth.
7. Maintain your area minimal and uncluttered
(Picture credit score: JDP Interiors / Bess Friday)
Designed by Joyce Downing Pickens of JDP Interiors (opens in new tab), this Scandinavian-inspired area within the Russian Hill neighborhood of San Francisco is a minimalists masterpiece.
Minimalist front room concepts and Scandinavian décor concepts go hand-in-hand, so it pays to maintain your shade decisions easy, understated and fuss-free. Genuine Scandinavian houses have gotten extra clearly purposeful – with little or no ornamental detailing. As an alternative, their model derives from easy, architectural strains, the sheer high quality of the furnishings and the supplies used.
8. Maintain home equipment hidden away
(Picture credit score: Rikki Snyder / Becca Interiors)
Scandinavian inside design is about performance, so do contemplate bespoke, built-in cupboards, intelligent laundry room storage options and slimline seating to maximise each inch of area.
A great answer may be hidden shelving or ‘pull out’ cupboard, which doesn’t encroach on dwelling or cooking area – and will be opened and closed away as required. Not solely will this guarantee an orderly, calm space, however much less fuss additionally means you’ll be extra in a position to loosen up and unwind.
9. Combine types and developments
(Picture credit score: Tessa Neustadt)
Give Scandinavian design a maximalist elevate by pairing it with Bohemian front room concepts. ‘Boho is a type of types that’s fully distinctive and in a position to be interpreted in so some ways,’ says Bobby Berk. ‘And for me, essentially the most fascinating and sudden take is combining Boho with serene Scandinavian model for a very Twenty first-century twist.’
‘On the coronary heart of this look is an eclectic mixture of supplies, patterns and eras. So when going trendy, you continue to wish to embrace these wide-ranging references, however as an alternative of going maximal it’s about being selective. Limiting your shade palette to tone-on-tone is an effective place to begin, whether or not it’s going with hotter or cooler shades. And bringing in white, black and wooden tones may also assist to amp up the trendy really feel.’
‘For artwork, contemplate a big summary portray or {photograph} so as to add visible curiosity. You can additionally go for a framed textile to usher in one thing extra eclectic. Equipment also needs to comply with go well with, with globally sourced gadgets sitting subsequent to easy ceramics and modern items. Even the greenery you add can improve the Scandinavian temper. Select a big plant like a fiddle leaf fig that may usher in a sculptural really feel.’
10. Embellish with pure supplies
(Picture credit score: Paul Raeside / Future)
Bringing nature indoors doesn’t solely apply to vegetation. Use supplies usually discovered outside and make them part of your private home’s inside décor. Wooden, wicker, rattan and stone all work properly to boost a Scandinavian scheme.
Strive including pure components into the house by adorning with pure supplies resembling wooden, seashells, tree bark, flowers and feathers. The identical feeling of being relaxed and free in nature will be introduced into your private home by stimulating the senses.
‘The fun of nature can’t be underestimated,’ life-style skilled at Contura, Catharina Björkman. ‘We really feel peaceable and extra relaxed within the firm of nature; vegetation, uncooked supplies and ethereal shade schemes remind us that we’re a part of a a lot bigger world – and that we’re privileged to share it with nature.’
‘There’s additionally a risk that pure supplies could also be good for our well being,’ says Sebastian Cox. ‘Biophilic design has a set of clear ideas, considered one of which is to make use of pure supplies to reconnect us to the pure world.’
What are Scandinavian colours?
Pale shade palettes are greatest related to Scandinavian décor concepts.
Delicate nuances of shade are why James Thurstan Waterworth, founding father of Thurstan, favours impartial colours in his Scandinavian-inspired schemes as a result of they create a smooth springboard from which antiques, artwork and different gildings are in a position to sing. ‘You’ll be able to then construct out from right here with tactile surfaces, patterned textiles, eclectic furnishings and extra trendy prospers to create layers of curiosity, whereas nonetheless permitting all the person components of the inside to breathe.’
‘I gravitate in direction of naturals palettes, and supplies too, as for me they bring about a sure timelessness and longevity to design.’