3 Design Cues from Scandinavian Interior Design You Can Steal
Designing for your own interior space can very quickly become daunting when your Pinteresting ideas start to run up against the reality of budgeting expenses and having to accommodate existing furniture. But at HomePop, we believe that interior design can be kept simple if you start with the end of making your space feel like a sanctuary that uniquely fits YOU. In our HomePop Style Spotlight Series, we will be exploring different characteristics that make up different design aesthetics and encourage you to adapt them (and even go against them) in your own unique way. After all, your home is not a Pinterest showroom, it’s a space that is meant to replenish you.
This week, we’ll be exploring the ever popular Scandinavian style & isolate a few design elements that you can incorporate into your ow space.
What Are the Characteristics of Scandinavian Design?
Scandinavian-inspired interiors are known for their minimal and yet warm, inviting spaces with organic materials and textiles. At first glance, this interior style is strikingly similar to minimalism with simplified silhouettes. But minimalist design is the more masculine, industrial counterpart to Scandinavian design. Scandinavian style, or Scandi for short, incorporates organic materials such as wood, textured surfaces, a muted gray color palette, simplified art décor, and textiles that add coziness to a space. Scandinavian-inspired spaces are a popular interior choice because it easily allows for the mixing of old and new furniture pieces.
Layering Textiles To Make Your Room Cozy
Whether you’re partial or impartial to Scandinavian design, you can take cues
from this popular decorating style to create a cozier room. Nordic interiors incorporate woven textiles, blankets, rugs, sheepskins, and furs. By layering woven textiles and blankets, you can instantly add warmth to an interior space. If you want to create an authentic Scandi interior, Elle Decor recommends to “Opt for shades of gray, like Charcoal, natural textures, like burlap or jute, or muted hues, like a pale purple with gray undertones, when picking blankets or throws.”
“Adding comfort and warmth through textiles and upholstered furniture adds to the overall ambient comfort of a space...it’s something you don’t notice right away but after spending time in spaces with comfortable textiles you will feel very relaxed and cozy!” -Kate W., HomePop Director of Product Development & Design.
Now Add Your Own Spin to Textiles
But here’s where HomePop would like to encourage you to develop your own Interior DNA by looking at the things that make YOU feel cozy. Perhaps you love your fleece-lined pajamas or have a favorite teddy bear jacket. Use these textural cues and incorporate these materials to your own interior space in your own favorite colors! Drape soft, fluffy blankets onto existing furniture, layer textiles and rugs on floors (yes, even if they’re carpeted!). If there’s a textile that you adore, take the extra time to frame it for an elevated textile décor piece that takes a step up from your college dorm tapestry.
Unconventional Ways to Add Drama: Organic Finishes & Texture
How do you add drama in a Scandi interior style that is characterized by muted color palettes? In a style that constrains its color palette, visual interest can be incorporate with textures. This keeps the aesthetic from looking “busy” BUT helps keep it from looking boring at the same time.
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Colorize With Accessories And Furniture
A Scandi-inspired room is not necessarily monochromatic. Color can be incorporated in the form of accessories such as a dark charcoal blanket or even furniture. Adding a camel-colored faux leather furniture to a neutral space can add a warm, organic dimensionality to a space. This principle is especially practical for renters that do not want to paint their walls. But colorizing with accessories & furniture pieces is applicable to homeowners who don’t want to bother with changing their wall colors as well.
Which Elements Will You Keep?
Layering textiles & blankets, incorporating monochromatic color palettes, colorizing with accessories, and utilizing texture for visual interest are all Scandi elements that you can incorporate into your own space. When it comes to designing your space, ask yourself à la Marie Kondo ‘Does it Spark Joy’? And don’t worry about boxing your décor choices to a conventional ‘décor style’. We at HomePop believe that your home should first and foremost fit you, your lifestyle, and your unique taste.
So which design principles will you be experimenting with? Leave a comment below!
Who is Pantone? How do they influence the color of accessories you will shop next season? Click here to learn more about how this entity resembles Anna Wintour!
Leave us a comment below! What do you think about this design aesthetic? Do you love it, do you hate it? Did we inspire you to add a super soft blanket to your living room but in seafoam green color instead of charcoal gray?