Scandinavian Lighting for Scandi themed rooms.
It’s a design which offers so much choice and versatility. The concept of calm, uncluttered styling appeals to us all the more often as we live in an age where quality time is no longer guaranteed, but sought after. It is a minimalist look which still provides the tantalising warmth that gives you a ‘hug’ when you arrive home.
So, put the kettle on, pop your feet up and take that quality time to see how this relaxing trend could work in your home and benefit you.
As with most designs, it has evolved over many years and each passing decade has left a lasting impact. The main principle started its journey in the 1940’s, but the design as we know it now really started as a pared back version in the 1950’s.
Throughout the 50’s, the world economy was gaining in strength, bringing with it a new social democracy and a wave of mass produced products offering affordability to the masses. This in turn, allowed many people to consider their purchases with another criterion other than cost and functionality. Now, they could also choose for beauty.
1. Wood
The use of wood in this trend is key. Readily available in the Nordic countries, this is an obvious choice, ensuring that the textured warmth is there from the outset.
Pale wooden floors, furniture and accessories all work well. If needed, grey, blue or white paint wash can be applied to those woods with more yellow tones to achieve the cooler tones needed for this look.
2. Plastics
Plastics provide an affordable way to accessorise your home. Bright colours and simple, clever styling are synonymous with this style.
Even plastic furniture is not banished to the outside space, but encouraged inside for a bold yet simple look. Choose furniture moulded from one sheet of plastic where possible for authenticity.
3. Anodised or Enamelled Aluminium
Anodised Aluminium
Anodised aluminium is when the metal undergoes an oxidation process which creates ‘aluminium rust’. Don’t worry – it is extremely hard wearing and does not flake so is safe to use in the kitchen! In fact, it is a popular choice in catering equipment as it is so durable and non-conductive. This gives a darker, matt grey finish.
If you are after a brighter, shinier style to your accessories you could consider enamelled aluminium. This is a very hard and resilient glass like layer which is fused to the metal in hot furnaces. This technique is one of the oldest on record – it was used on jewellery back in Cleopatra’s day!
4. Colourful Accessories
So, we have talked about pale colours, blues, whites and greys, but whilst they make up a huge proportion of the colours within the room, you can also dress the room with some bright coloured accessories. These could be your lighting, cushions or throws – avoid the bric-a-brack though! Pick a bold colour and stick to that for each room – any more and you could lose the minimalist effect.
5. Patterns
Due to the long cold winters, traditional Scandinavian patterns were designed for use with wool and are usually mosaic style repeated knitted patterns. Think of the snowflakes on your favourite Christmas jumper!
You can see this theme running into the more modern fabrics and wallpapers used – pale coloured geometric shapes play a big part but it is here that we really see the love of nature coming in to the designs. The use of trees and Intricate patterns within large leaf shapes are popular along with repetitive imagery of animals and birds.
6. Stripes
If all this nature is not your thing, you could consider another integral part of the design heritage – the stripe. Stripes in the custom blues, whites and greys have traditionally been a popular choice during the warmer summer months.
You can team the stripes with plants in ceramic pots and plain shaggy rugs to enhance this look and using more than one style of stripe can work really well! Don’t be shy to experiment.
7. Clean Lines – Uncluttered
Embracing nature and calm is key to pull this theme together so we can’t be adding unnecessary frills! Choose simple shapes in the muted colour tones and you can’t go far wrong. Now, this doesn’t mean that you have to go mad and bag up all non-essentials and take them to the nearest charity shop. Look instead at other rooms that could benefit from them and if not, wrap them and pop them in a box in the garage or the loft – you may be glad you saved them when you next redecorate a room.
8. Bring the Outside In
This is something that is critical to this design. Most Scandinavian abodes will have outside space and there are some stunning examples of how the inside and outside space seem to flow as one.
We know that many people don’t have large, or sometimes any outdoor space, so in this instance you could create floral and grass window boxes. You can change your plants with the seasons so they always look healthy. These can also be great at masking less attractive views from the window! You can also bring some plants inside – don’t worry if you are not green-fingered; there are some excellent quality faux plants that look exceptionally realistic – all you need to do is give them a dust every now and then!
9. Functionality
Whilst striving for the minimalist look, we don’t really want to compromise on convenience. After all, we are doing this with quality time in the forefront of our minds – we don’t want to sit down after a long day and have nowhere to put our drink!! Multi-functional furniture, such as the JAMES floor lamp whilst complimenting the style, it also doubles as a side table whilst bringing the light required for this trend.
Another great idea is the mirror TV; why clutter up the room with a huge piece of technology that we only use for a few hours a day? Mirror by day, TV by night – perfect!
10. Eco Friendly
A huge amount of importance in this design is ensuring that the home is as energy efficient as possible. They were amongst the first to develop double and triple glazing to keep their homes warm. Whilst we agree that sprucing up a room to add some style does not warrant replacement windows for the whole house, there are ways that you can entwine other ecologically sound ideas in to your design.
We all know that changing a number of small things can make a difference, but this design screams out for lights and lamps in abundance. Bring in the LED bulb for a saving of up to 88% per bulb and they last for years too…
So there you are – ten ideas to get you experimenting with this ever popular trend! For more ideas, have a browse of the lights in our range that work well with this design; view all Scandinavian style lights.