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Scandinavia is a group of countries that share almost the same language and cultural customs as other places in Europe. Situated in Northern Europe, the countries that comprise this sub-category of countries are Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.
With this in mind, interior designers are always drawing inspiration from other countries. Some design ideas can be as niche as the Parisian style, but others can be as broad as traditional or contemporary.
With Scandinavian design, our interior designer at La-Z-Boy Kingston, Mary Lee Smyth, tells us, “Scandinavian-style homes have been around for a long time. These homes represent comfort, coziness, and harmony.”
This might sound like a very welcoming environment, but how does one create a Scandinavian-style home? This article will detail 6 tips on how to create your own Scandinavian oasis within the comfort of your own home.
In This Article…
- Keep Things Simple
- Add Neutral Colours to Walls and Furniture
- Incorporate Softer Materials
- Making Sure Your Home is Cozy
- Add a Rya Area Rug
- Incorporate Natural Lighting with Glass Walls
1. Keep Things Simple
The first thing to remember when incorporating a Scandinavian design approach to a room is to remain simplistic in your ideas.
Scandinavian homes like to use Modern Furniture or transitional furniture pieces because these types of looks are minimalistic in design and can go with almost anything.
Mary Lee also says that Scandinavian design prefers clean lines in furniture “so that your home looks more sharp, welcoming, and clean.”
The reason why Scandinavians like to keep everything blank without too much colour is that they want to add emphasis on their bold area rugs, which we will more about later.
2. Add Neutral Colours to Walls and Furniture
As previously mentioned, Scandinavians love to keep things simple and minimalistic in their approach to interior design. Clean lines and minimal detail is key, but you also want to make sure that colours are very neutral in your room.
That said, It might also be wise to keep your walls – and sometimes floors – blank without colour since this also gives off a more clean look.
Mary Lee, however, does say that it is okay to incorporate artwork on the walls. “Just don’t go crazy with adding too much of it; keep things as simple as possible,” she says.
When deciding what kind of wood finish you would like to add to a coffee table, for example, Mary Lee suggests using lighter tones of wood like pine, limestone, or whitewash, which makes the room feel lighter.
With any sofa, sectional, or chair, it is always best practice to stay with a neutral colour palette like beige, grey, or any other light and washed-out colour.
3. Incorporate Softer Materials
According to Mary Lee, when the Scandinavian movement was taking form in the 1960s, many individuals were trying to move away from the traditional furniture styles and were incorporating details that were not seen in their parents’ homes.
In Europe, materials that were not typically seen in other European homes at the time were being used in Scandinavian homes.
When other homes in Europe were using lots of stone and metal materials, Scandinavian homes used softer materials like wool and wood since it made for a more welcoming and inviting home.
Scandinavia is also very well-known for textile art. Because of this, many Scandinavian-designed homes use a lot of hand-made furniture pieces that look like they did not come from a furniture store.
“Traditional Scandinavia celebrated the art of people being able to make furniture by hand. Instead of adding detailed designs to furniture, they only made what was needed because the more you spent time on making a furniture piece, less time you went on without that furniture piece in your home.” Mary Lee says.
These are some of the main essentials that you can see inside these homes because that’s what makes Scandinavian homes feel warm and cozy, which is also a huge element to incorporate into a Scandinavian home.
4. Making Sure Your Home is Cozy
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Naturally, this leads into our next section, which emphasizes the comfort of a home. Given that Scandinavian countries are so northern, they do tend to get a lot of cold weather in the winter, like Canada.
So, just like some of us Canadians do in the winter, Scandanavians make sure their homes feel warm and cozy. But for Scandinavians, this isn’t a seasonal trend, they like to stay comfy all year long. No, not with heavy wool blankets all year round, but with the Hygge mindset.
What is Hygge?
You might be wondering, what is Hygge? Well, Hygge (pronounced hyoo-guh) is a type of lifestyle originating from Danish culture that means a lot of different things, depending on the context.
In general, the Hygge ideology reminds individuals to stop worrying about the daily stresses of life and to enjoy the people around them.
Dating back to the 1800s, Hygge is mostly all about spending time with the people you love while doing the things you love. This can simply be just talking with each other, going out for dinner, watching a movie, or doing anything else you enjoy doing.
When planning a night in, it is important for Danish and other Scandinavians to know that their guests are feeling comfortable, cozy, and happy. This is why Scandiavian-style homes are all about creating a comfortable and welcoming environment.
5. Add a Rya Area Rug
If you’re looking to furnish any living room, chances are you would want to add an area rug to complete a room design.
But what do Scandinavians use for their area rugs?
Well, most Scandinavian homes actually have rya rugs, which are specialty rugs originally from Sweden and Finland. You can tell that an area rug is a rya rug by its bold colours and big designs.
Each rya rug includes shaggy wool fibres, all piled together by textile fibres to create the unique and courageous patterns you see on these rugs.
“These are the attention grabbers in a room,” Mary Lee says. “They want you to notice the rug, which is why everything is very neutral.”
Rya rugs are made with wool materials, which emphasizes the cozy and comfortable Hygge environment Scandinavians are trying to create in their homes.
6. Incorporate Natural Sunlight with a Glass Wall
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Since Scandinavians are known to have very little sunlight in the winter, these countries do all they can to have some kind of light in their homes.
Most of the time, artificial light is the key to actually being able to see things during this time of year, but there is a small chance you’ll be able to see sunlight for a short part of the day.
Since they miss the sun during the winter, most Scandinavian homes have some sort of glass wall to let as much sunlight in as possible.
When putting together a Scandinavian-themed home, it might be important for you to incorporate some kind of main wall for natural light to enter your home. “It can be multiple windows or just one huge window in your home,” Mary Lee says, “But this also gives house guests a welcoming feeling in your home.”
To learn more about How to Make a Sunroom, take a look at this article.
What's Next?
After reading this article, you now know how to incorporate a Scandinavian design into your home.
In your approach to Scandinavian design, the most important takeaway to remember is–don’t stress too much and make sure your home is comfortable and welcoming.
At La-Z-Boy, we know a thing or two about comfort! We also offer many different styles of furniture that could be used to achieve a beautiful Scandinavian design.
If you’re interested in creating a Scandinavian-style room with La-Z-Boy furniture, why not start shopping today? You can get started by taking a look at some of our best-seller articles by clicking any of these links:
- Best-Selling Recliners at La-Z-Boy
- Best Selling Sofas at La-Z-Boy
- Best-Selling Sectional Sofas at La-Z-Boy
You can start shopping by visiting one of our local showrooms located in Ottawa or Kingston. You can also schedule a visit online before coming in.
Our design consultants are always eager to lend a helping hand. Take advantage of our interior design services to see how our furniture could fit into your home design.
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