Scandinavian Bliss

When creating a space that you genuinely want to spend time in, regardless of the style you're aiming to achieve, i's vitally important that you surround yourself with furnishings and items that inspire and interest you while reflecting your visual and aesthetic tastes. A Scandinavian sitting (or small living) room is often adorned with statement objects, sharp edges, a collection of framed images and a couple of soft touches. Here we have word focused images, which contrast nicely with the bold, mono-tone furnishings. However, you can easily substitute in simple artworks, or a couple of large images as opposed to a large collection of small ones. Take this image as a base to be inspired from, and tailor it to your own tastes. 

Scandinavian style living rooms work best with a large, simple, greyscale couch as a centrepiece, and other items placed around it. Clever touches for a relaxed feeling include pictures placed against the wall rather than hanging on them, and the choice of one statement colour. This room has gone with yellow, but any colour that contrasts the grey tones can work.

As with the entire Scandinavian home, the bathroom is a place for relaxation and rejuvenation. It's as much about preparing your body for the day, or for sleep, as it is about preparing your mind. As with all Scandinavian inspired rooms, bathrooms take significant influence from Japanese style, embracing Feng Shui and very considered use of space. This room couples grey, marble and stone surfaces for a tranquil, relaxing vibe, while bringing elements of nature back to the room through small touches of plant life. Keeping most of the products inside the sleek cupboards means the bathroom itself is kept clutter-free and minimal—the perfect place for relaxation or preparation. 

The enemy to any chic, minimal interior design is clutter. However, in saying that, strategically placed and well thought out clutter can bring just the right touches to a room or surface—and this is no exception in the Scandinavian home. A perfect example of this is in the kitchen, and it's easily achieved with a few beautiful objects and your collection of cooking books. This is another key element in Scandinavian interior design, one of the pillars is practicality. Try not to aim for 'minimal for minimal's sake,' while it's important to keep spaces neat and clean, it's also important that you don't pack your entire life into cupboards. Utilise your important, everyday and beautiful books and knick-knacks as part of your decorating scheme. A possible step one: cooking books displayed in the kitchen. 

Creating an office space you can actually work productively in is vital, and Scandinavian style balances the scales of organisation and chaos perfectly here. Again, it's about simple, bold and uncomplicated furnishing and statement pieces like a stark orange lamp or a vintage wooden chair. The essence of the Scandinavian inspired study really comes from your personal items, and finding a way to present them beautifully while also keeping them practical. Mood boars, strategically placed books and office items and enough open space for you to work easily. Keep it clean but add some life. 

A clean, stark space is perfect for dining in the Scandinavian home, because the food you bring to the space will add the warmth, colour and life necessary to find the balance. A small, more permanent touch of life, like flowers as a centrepiece, are a casual and low-effort way to keep the room fresh and welcoming. Poesies, baby's breath or any small white flower with long stems is a good choice because they will bring a living element without overpowering the room. Another clever design touch is to incorporate chairs of the same size, but with some different colours or different types of wood. In this image, the chairs are the same design, but different tones, which keeps the shapes uniform while mixing up the atmosphere and making the room a little bit more interesting. 

Soft tones and the pastel shades make excellent colour additions to any room in the Scandinavian home, but a beautiful and practical way to achieve the perfect accenting for a feature wall is with a rug, or simply a piece of fabric decorated with a design you like.

The sharp edges of frames on at least some walls are necessary to achieve the Scandinavian look, but hanging a fabric, rug or carpet brings the necessary balance of softness to the space—assisting in easily achieving the combination of chic and subtle. 

Succulents and cactus' are the perfect choices if you want some permanent living greenery in any room. They are low maintenance, and conform to the Scandinavian style of sharp edges with small, soft touches and simple tones. Styled in simple, white vases and cups and placed in small groups is the best way to get the desired sleek, harsh and natural look. 

Just the right amount of accents can really top off this style, and it can be the make or break element. Sticking to a black and white theme is an easy way to achieve the desired look, but incorporating one of two pieces with at least a small element of colour on them can also work well depending on the approach taken to the whole home. These shapes are perfect, with sharp edges, simple forms and matte finishes. Low hanging lamp shades are another great way to add some softness to Scandinavian style rooms as they evoke a sense of homeliness in what can otherwise feel a little on the stark side at times—again, it's about finding that balance. 

While succulents and cactus' are the easy way to add low-maintenance life and greenery, some moss plaques can also work in certain rooms, when placed with thought and consideration. These types of pieces usually don't work when randomly thrown between other decorations, but they really can bring natural beauty to spaces, so they're definitely worth considering. Wooden side tables are a Scandinavian favourite, and can work in any room—as a bedside table, a couch-side table or corner table. Partially painted pieces as seen here are perfect for this design style as they are balanced between natural and minimal chic, meaning they can pull any room together with that touch of Nordic essence. They're also versatile, they can be placed solely for decorative purposes, or can serve as a functional piece.