The living room is a special room in every house, where family members, friends, and relatives gather, so we want to make the design of this room unique and the atmosphere cozy. Scandinavian style is gaining popularity today and brings more air, comfort, and light into apartments even of small size (imperial equivalent: small square footage). To set up a room in this direction, it’s enough to adhere to a few principles. Let’s delve into what a Scandinavian style living room design looks like!
The principles of decorating in this style are considered to be conciseness, simplicity, and the use of environmentally friendly materials. However, these criteria don’t prevent making the interiors expressive. For a typical Scandinavian-style room, it’s important to have free space, solid pieces of furniture without flashy decor. Let’s name the main components of such a design:
1. Color. The interior is mostly decorated in cool tones, and the basis is necessarily white. In addition, there may be accents in the form of red, turquoise, yellow, blue details.
2. Materials. They use natural materials or artificial ones if they imitate natural raw materials qualitatively.
3. Furniture. It must be wooden and solid-looking, the upholstery can be cotton or linen fabric, suede.
4. Decorative elements. You can use details of complex shape, but in color, they will be calm and subdued. For example, plaster details, neat vases, etc.
Color solutions
The main color in the interior of the living room in the Scandinavian style is always white. Let the overall palette necessarily be natural.
When choosing shades, to make the right decision, you can draw inspiration from the color scheme of the seaside and northern nature in general. Imagine cloudy skies, a beach with sand, trees, and foggy distances.
Colorful local accents are allowed, moreover, their presence will enliven the room. Bright details can be as follows: blue, silver, cherry, olive, plum, red, lilac, pistachio. Choose several accessories, textiles, or pieces of furniture in these colors.
The base color will definitely be white. The traditional version of living room design includes the presence of a white floor, walls, and ceiling, as well as separate pieces of furniture.
Despite the fact that interpretations of the palette can be different, it is the white color that contributes to the visual enlargement of space and helps to positively perceive the room by residents and visitors. In such a living room, the cold background will effectively contrast with materials of natural shades. The maximum that designers can do is to decorate one of the walls in a contrasting color or add a drawing on it.
Sand and beige – these colors are usually used in decor and furniture items, floor decoration in such shades is also often encountered.
This light color is very suitable for a fresh interior with elements of eclecticism. The main thing is that there will be no sharp contrasts in the room. In the living room, these can be pillows or textiles in lilac tones.
All shades of wood are welcome in the living room in the Scandinavian style. Spacious bright rooms are best warmed up by warm details with a wooden surface.
Soft muted tones of green can be used in the floor finishing and included in the wall decoration, choose furniture in such shades.
Wall, floor, and ceiling finish
Simplicity and conciseness are the fundamental concepts for decorating a Scandinavian living room interior. It is recommended to subordinate the entire room finish to these principles. A harmonious background for furniture products and decor can be created by painting the walls, doors, and window frames in the same tones.
Floor
The traditional option is a painted board based on natural wood, in color it can also be white, however, laminate installation is allowed. The optimal solution is light tones, bleached wood, but you can also select materials in warm shades. Let it be soft shades of brown, chestnut. The main task of the designer is to find the best background for walls and furniture.
Walls
Definitely even, with plaster and painted in white. They use either pure snow-white tones or colored versions with a slight pink, blue hue. It is recommended to paint walls, doors, and window frames in white so that they serve as a basis for further decoration of the living room with furniture and accessories.
Ceiling
The ceiling should be even and monochrome. Even if you have a high ceiling in the apartment, and the living room is quite spacious, resist all temptations and do not decorate the room with rosettes, cornices, and other moldings. All that is allowed on the ceiling is a simple baseboard.
The furniture can also be white or made in a natural wooden shade. Let the number of items be minimal. There’s no need to place large tables, bulky stands and cabinets in the living room. Limit yourself to a soft sofa with nice pillows, a pouf, lamps with a foldable structure and a concise coating.
The Scandinavian style does not imply storage of things in a closet. Equip a dressing room or a pantry for these purposes.
Books and memorable things are stored on shelves, which can be suspended or built-in, but must certainly be open. If possible, fill them only halfway.
There can be racks with souvenirs and interesting magazines in the room. One of the walls is sometimes completely cluttered with such a construction.
The sofa is given a central place in the room. The wall opposite it is often equipped with technology, for example, a TV can be hung on it. It is recommended to leave a space in front for a nice coffee table, which can be metal, wooden or glass.
Tables are not covered with a tablecloth, you can put vases with flowers, both fresh and artificial, as well as dried flowers on them. An unusual alternative to vases are clay pots. Newspapers and books, writing utensils are placed on the coffee tables.
In addition to the table, soft sofa, several lamps and racks, there should be no unnecessary items in the living room in the Scandinavian style. Even if you like to host guests, don’t clutter the free space with a large number of chairs and armchairs. Corner sofas or sets of upholstered furniture are also not recommended, as they look bulky. Let it be a sofa-bed with a European design.
Decor and Textiles
Monochrome Scandinavian interiors need to be complemented with accessories. Designers recommend choosing the following textiles and souvenirs to decorate the living room:
– Textiles should serve as a bright accent, adding coziness to the interior. Pillows on the sofa, small carpets and blankets can set a special mood for the living room. The manufacturing material should be natural, it can be cotton or linen fabric, wool, satin products.
– Decor is chosen in the form of wooden, plaster, ceramic products. These can be all kinds of photos in frames, candles, boxes, baskets. The presence of interesting decor, in particular, handmade, is a distinctive characteristic of the style.
A living room of small size will look visually more spacious if the owner designs it in the Scandinavian style. Stick to minimalism in everything, including color solutions and furniture items, and also follow a few rules:
– It’s important to work out the color palette well. It’s better to stick with the previously mentioned white background, only a pinkish tone is permissible, which can be complemented by dark floors.
– Leave only the necessary items in the room – a sofa and a coffee table. The interior should look moderately ascetic.
– Remember that there should be plenty of light in the room, so by no means hang thick curtains on the windows. The presence of dense curtains in a living room in the Scandinavian style is not recommended at all.
We have selected the best living room design options for you in our photo gallery. Get inspired by original designers’ ideas to create a unique interior in the Scandinavian style. Enjoy your viewing!
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