I love Scandinavian style and especially at Christmastime. In terms of climate and landscape, Scandinavia is very similar to Canada so their style is well suited to the dark, cold, and dreary days of winter that we experience too.
I've been pouring over lots and lots of photos to get some ideas on how the Scandinavians decorate for Christmas. Do you want to know how to get some of that Scandi-chic Christmas style for yourself? I've come up with 11 tips to help you along:
1. Embrace white. And use it liberally! There you have the first and most important rule of Scandi decorating. If someone asks you what colour you want an item in, always say white. There is something to be said for all the white. It is simple, it looks clean, and it looks bright. So Step #1 - find all the white ornaments/bowls/jugs you have around the house and put them out for Christmas.
2. Add tiny bits of colour. Once you have your foundation of white you can add in a little colour. Don't go crazy though - dial it back, restrain yourself. I have the hardest time with this. I figure a white canvas is a perfect backdrop for turquoise or hits of bright green, but not in Scandinavian decorating. In Scandi style, colour means neutrals, like gray, black and beige, possibly light blue or green, and, especially at Christmas, tiny amounts of red. Just a little though or you won't have Scandinavian decorating, you will have Santa's workshop.
3. Lots of wood. Wood is important, very important. It is best if you have wood floors (light-coloured or painted wood) and wood furniture (natural or painted), but if you lack those don't despair. You can still add in wooden bowls, cutting boards, candlesticks, or logs by the fireplace. If you have a choice, go with light-coloured wood, but dark wood is better than no wood because wood is very important. My theory is that living in a forested country brings out your inner lumberjack and you want lots and lots of wood around your home.
4. Candles, twinkle lights, and lanterns. Northern countries like those in Scandinavia and Canada get short-changed when it comes to daylight at this time of year and it gets dark very early. The best way to deal with this is to embrace the darkness and light candles whenever and wherever you can. Candles and twinkle lights should be white though (see Rule #1).
One of the things that is particularly Scandinavian is to put out advent candles at Christmas. These candles are usually white (of course) and are often placed in containers with some greenery added and lined up on a windowsill or down the middle of the table. They are lit on each Sunday in advent. Simple, but effective, right?
5. Decorate with shiny and sparkly materials. Anything sparkly and reflective and shiny works with your Christmas decor - things like glass and crystal jars and vases or mirrors or silver, gold, or brass plates and bowls. It totally makes sense to use reflective materials that will bounce light around the room when there is so little daylight. Mixing metals is totally fine, as is using tarnished or worn silver or brass. In fact it is preferred as then it doesn't look too perfect. Shiny and sparkly is definitely an easy tip to follow.
6. Use elements from nature. It seems like every room I looked at had something from the forest incorporated into the decor. Things like evergreen boughs, pine cones, moss, wheat sheaves, or even bare twigs, and flowering bulbs. I love the price tag on most of these items as they can often be collected when you go for a walk through the woods or from the backyard.
7. Use natural fabrics like linen, burlap, wool, and sheepskin. Nothing seems cozier than a wool blanket or a sheepskin rug. Burlap and linen are more about the texture as the loose weave and soft wrinkles make your room seem more relaxed.
8. Decorate with food. I think one of my favourite traditions in Scandinavian Christmas decorating is using food such as fruit, nuts, and especially cookies to decorate with. The cookies are usually spice cookies that are cut out into pretty shapes and decorated with simple white icing. Sometimes the decorations are in the form of a gingerbread house, but again not usually the wild sugarfests that we often make, but rather houses decorated with restrained white icing. I love how decorating with food really makes it a multi-sensory event. Can't you just smell the cinnamon!
9. Include handmade touches. I love that there are often homemade paper crafts hung on the tree or in the windows of the rooms I looked at. There were things like folded paper stars and small paper cones filled with candies or felt hearts. I especially love the paper cones and may have to make some for my tree this year.
10. Hang a big star in your window. The stars might be made of paper or metal or even plastic and some are lit and some aren't, but they seem to be pretty mandatory ... and pretty lovely.
11. Be a minimalist. This last tip is definitely the hardest for someone like me. Even if it isn't in your nature to be a minimalist you need to do your best to keep things simple. Like the old adage to look in the mirror before going out the door and remove one item, in Scandinavian decorating you should look around the room and remove about a hundred items. Less is definitely more!
I love the Scandinavian way of decorating - the simplicity, the coziness, and the homey touches. I've seen a lot of people talking about Scandinavian decorating the last few years so I think I'm not the only one that finds it appealing. You can see my attempt at creating a Scandinavian mantel in this post. Is it a style that you like and try to use in your home?
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