Scandinavian Decor for the Cottage & Farmhouse Look
Growing up in North Germany, I was close to Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland.
I actually never visited any of those countries — my parents instead took my brother and me to Tunesia (beach vacation) and Italy (ski vacation) every year when we were growing up.
But I was surrounded by Scandinavian decor because IKEA is so popular in Germany.
This Swedish company is obviously known all over the world.
We’d go there to enjoy their affordable lunch and buy a few things, and when I moved to Los Angeles, I thankfully had an IKEA store just 15 minutes up the street from me.
I spent A LOT of time there strolling through the rooms and marketplace, and bought a lot of their small furniture and storage items over the years, plus plants and home decor.
Infusing Scandinavian decor combines perfectly with a farmhouse or cottage look, which is how I like to decorate.
What do you think of first when you think of IKEA furniture, or Scandinavian decor?
I think of the light brown color of pine furniture. I had several of them in my room growing up.
You might think of white walls and floors, neutral color accents, and overall calming interiors.
For this post, I compiled the most beautiful examples of Scandinavian decor I could find on Pinterest.
Scandinavian Decor For a Cottage or Farmhouse Look
Oh, isn’t this room just dreamy?
The Scandinavian decor style is simple, calming, and comfortable, with accents of wood.
The main colors are neutrals: mostly white, beige, gray, and light brown.
Since the main color is white, Scandinavian decor easy integrates with a farmhouse and cottage look.
It’s very much a style that invites the outdoors.
Scandinavians live in darkness for many months of the year, so sunlight is invited in with big windows that usually don’t have curtains.
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We actually don’t have curtains in our home, the Blue Cottage, either.
I only added tension rods to the lower half of our windows in our living room and these $1 tea towels with a grainsack stripe to them. That gives us privacy but leaves in a lot of light.
Scandinavian cottage decor is simple elegance. Don’t you just want to live here? I do.
You can see wooden cutting boards with handles everywhere right now in kitchens — in magazines and on blogs.
They are the hot item right now to add a pretty wooden and rustic accent to your home.
In Europe, they are used a lot to eat from or to serve food on, like cheese and crackers when you are entertaining.
Decorating with mostly neutral colors is so pretty!
A bathroom with French doors, nice! And I love that mirror.
That little tree looks so much like the pretty trees from Nearly Natural I wrote about recently.
Another thing I noticed: there are plants in every room.
If you want to achieve the authentic Scandinavian cottage decor style, go for light-colored hardwood floors.
This is a picture of Vibeke’s house in Norway. I always notice her pictures on Pinterest and pin them a lot to my cottage decor board and shabby chic board— they are always impeccably styled and absolutely stunning.
Do yourself a favor and get lost in her blog for an hour. Or two.
The art in Scandinavian homes is often minimal or clustered, and here you can see the familiar colors again: white, beige, brown, and gray.
It’s kind of a interesting mix of minimalism and cluttered, isn’t it?
Want to create that kind of look? Check out this link to pretty wall art!
Here is a beautiful nursery decorated in the Scandinavian decor style:
It’s a calming room for a little one, with neutral colors and a bit of rustic.
The knitted pouf is so cute — here is a similar one you can order in all kinds of colors.
Do you have touches of Scandinavia decor in your home?
We definitely do in our Blue Cottage.
Pin this for later!
