At the beginning of the XX century, European countries began to show great interest in Scandinavian culture and their interiors. This didn’t happen by chance: severe and long winters, short and cool summers, steep roofs, small windows, lack of sun and bright colors in nature stimulated an interest in a cozy home and beautiful furniture. This interest almost grew into a cult, and a warm and cozy house, standing in the cold among the snows under the starry dark sky, became a symbol of well-being and success.
Scandinavian style has incorporated such features as restraint and some severity, coldness and silence, as well as love and respect for nature. Therefore, interiors in Scandinavian style contain a minimum of decor and are made in light natural colors from simple and natural materials, but at the same time, you cannot deny this style uniqueness. In Scandinavian style we find calmness and orderliness. Its main features are naturalness, simplicity and authenticity.
The colors of a Scandinavian interior are usually dominated by white and blue. Other colors are also very active - soft muted greens, various shades of gray, turquoise, amber-yellow. The general color of interiors is light, almost watercolor, with a lot of warm tones: yellow, milky white, light terracotta. Apparently when there is not enough natural sunlight, warmth and bright colors in nature, and the dark time of the day is so long, we want to saturate the atmosphere of our house with warm and joyful color, creating the feeling of a bright sunny day outside the window.
One of the secrets of creating the illusion of limitless space is to use the same color for walls, floor and ceiling. For example, playing with color can not only unite, but also divide - it can be used to visually highlight a working and leisure areas in a bedroom.
Scandinavian interior is characterized by a traditional love for natural materials, primarily for wood, combined with a desire to use new processing technologies and new materials. Wooden surfaces harmonize well with walls finished with brick or natural stone.
Attention is drawn to rationality and conciseness in space arrangement. Rectangular, fairly spacious rooms are furnished with only the most necessary furniture.
All Scandinavian style furniture is made only of natural wood. If you don’t plan to plank floors or walls with it, pay attention to wooden picture frames and upholstered furniture with natural wooded finishing. The main requirement here is maximum simplicity, right angles and regular shapes. The preferred wood is light wood species - beech or bleached wood, not painted, but only polished and covered with a transparent matt varnish. Furniture should be durable and reliable, but it shouldn’t create a feeling of massiveness. Shelving and narrow pencil cases look great, as well as see-through shelves for books and souvenirs.
Particular attention in a northern interior is paid to light. A large number of lamps is a hallmark of Scandinavian design. The house is filled with light: large table lamps with fabric shades, floor lamps, ceiling lamps of various shapes and sizes, spotlights mounted on a string or a metal frame - there are many of them in a house and they can be of various styles.
The main rule of Scandinavian interior style is naturalness in everything, down to the smallest detail. In order to avoid the feeling of excessive severity and asceticism of an apartment, you can safely adopt the Swedes' love for hand-made. Sofa cushions, chair covers, curtains with color-matched embroidery and trimmed with dense homespun lace will bring a special cozy atmosphere and warmth of a real family hearth, where it’s so good to gather with the whole family.
Another distinctive feature of northern interiors is a large amount of greenery: live plants in pots on the floor, on tables, hung on the walls.
