A Danish Cabin That's All About The Hygge!

Once upon a time I shared a lovely apartment belonging to Sarah Bjørumslet. The title of the post read 'keeping it real in a Danish family home in the heart of Copenhagen'. And I still remember how refreshing I thought it was to see an unstaged home complete with milk cartons on the table and toys strewn across the bedroom floor. Hooray to everyday life! 

I've been following Sarah's instagram feed @look_good_in_blue ever since and was excited to see that her 'cosy, old school' cottage is available to rent this summer! Situated between Rørvig and Nykøbing North West of Copenhagen, the cabin was built in the 1950s as an artists atelier, before becoming a relaxed getaway by the sea. Read on to discover more! 

Sarah says it's full of games and DVDs - a perfect way to wind down, especially if the Danish weather isn't playing ball! 

Mismatched crockery and glassware adds to the laidback vibe of the cabin and a glass cabinet keeps everything at hand! 

The cosy kitchen is leaning towards the cottage core vibe we are seeing so much of right now and reminds me a little of Hannes Mauritzen's little Swedish allotment cottage (if you haven't seen the tour, head on over!).  

I'm guessing the big chest is full of toys - or maybe blankets! What do you think? 

The sofa pulls out into a bed for extra guests - essential in a Scandinavian summer house as friends and family often stop by for a night or two (always bringing their own bedding, as is customary). 

I love how books are never far away - perfect for a rainy day! 

The ethos of the Scandinavian summer is to spend as much time outdoors as possible. Here, a little play house has been set up for children, and simple outdoor furniture serves as a spot to sit around the fire. After all, it wouldn't be Danish without the hygge! 

Guests don't need to wander far to reach the most magnificent sand dunes and beaches! I personally, love that part of the world - so beautiful! 

If you're curious about renting Sarah's cabin this summer, the best way to reach out / book is via instagram: @look_good_in_blue. 

Is there anything that stands out to you about this cosy cottage? 

It would be rude not to share a few other lovely danish cabins with you today - after all, summer is fast approaching and the weather here in Scandinavia is beautiful right now! Why not pour yourself a cup of coffee and take a peek at:  

A charming and relaxed Danish cabin by the sea

A white, light and airy cabin on a Danish island

A fresh cabin by the sea with vintage finds

Take a tour of a Danish family's log cabin

Have a lovely day!

Niki

Photography courtesy of @look_good_in_blue

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Details that Elevate the Room at Our Summer Cottage

This post is kindly sponsored by Corston. I only work with brands I love. Thank you for supporting the amazing companies that make My Scandinavian Home possible. 

A few weeks ago, I shared the before and after pictures from our summer cottage bedroom renovation. Per, the girls and I went up over the weekend, and I was so happy to open the door to the room once again. I think something happens when you renovate a space yourself, do you agree? - you get a special connection with it. 

A labour of love, we're really happy with the big changes we made, but when it comes down to daily life, what really makes the difference funnily enough, are the details! Read on to discover some of the details we paid special attention to and why. 

To me, the items you touch in a room are incredibly important to the overall experience. When carrying out a renovation, it's often the small details such as a tap, cabinet handles and utensils in a kitchen or the door handle and light switches in a bedroom that make all the difference and elevate the space. 

In this renovation, we picked out the details from Corston architectural details, a UK based company selling throughout Europe. Their collection includes premium switches, sockets, hardware and lighting in antique brass, polished nickel and brass, all designed to elevate a room. 

In the bedroom, I was weary that the first thing you touch when you enter a room is the door handle - so I picked out the sprung Digby Bronze door handle with a traditional look and feel to match the style of the cottage. Dark bronze is a popular material in Swedish summer cottages and country homes and is often seen on door handles and curtain rods. I love the contrast with the white of the door! 

We're so happy we finally sorted out the electrics too. Up until now, we haven't had an overhead light - and you'd need to scramble through the darkness to fumble for the bedside lamp switch on the opposite side of the room. An electrician came in to rewire the room, adding a beautiful antique brass dimmer switch beside the door as well as an antique brass wall socket which has already come in handy for the heater, vacuuming etc! 

On the far side of the room, we had only had one wall socket located directly behind the middle of the bed. One of the best things we did, was change this to two separate sockets either side of bed - way more practical! 

We picked out the antique brass wall socket with space for two plugs and two USC so that we can plug in everything from lamps and laptops to phones. They've added a touch of luxury to our humble little cottage! 

And finally, other important details: a small collection of shells from the nearby beach... resting on top of a pretty little vintage side table which has always been there!

AND a freshly baked cardamom bun from the nearby bakery. Of course! 

Edible details are the best, don't you think? 

And now, we feel the room is finally complete! 

I hope you have felt inspired by these details too! 

If you're renovating, I can highly recommend checking out Corston to see the complete collection of handles, switches and hardware. They have something for every home! 

Do you have any details in your home that you love in particular? If so, please do inspire us all with the details in the comments below! 

See you tomorrow with a beautiful scandi home tour.

Kram! 

Niki

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Before and After Vintage Wall Shelf Makeover

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments about our summer cottage master bedroom makeover on Wednesday. Per and I are so happy you like the update as much as we do! 

As promised, here is a post about how I transformed the pine wall bracket.

This wall shelf has been hanging on the bedroom wall in the summer cottage for many years (long before I arrived on the scene!). Needless to say, it belongs here! But the varnish on the pine had yellowed with age and while we all love the shape, the outdated look wasn't quite in keeping with the calm style we had envisioned for the newly revamped room. 

Caveat: I am not quite sure why there's an old mattress leaning against the wall in this picture obscuring the view - but I hope you get the gist as it's the only shot I have! 

So, we took it off the wall and I carried it to my studio where I scrubbed it down with soap and water (an important step!). 

I selected Tidlös paint by Jotun Lady to match the Sandberg wallpaper (the great thing about this paint is that I didn't need to sand down the wood first - but if you are looking to carry out a similar project on a wooden item, it's important to check the requirements first).  

I applied two layers of paint using two different paint brush sizes - one fairly small (featured) and the other very small (the knobs on the drawers were so fiddly!). Afterwards, I lightly sanded the edges of the drawers to ensure they slotted back into place and could be pulled in and out freely. I've learnt this from my childhood home - I had an antique chest-of-drawers in my bedroom and would need to wiggle the drawer for about 20 minutes just to get to my socks, it used to drive me insane! 

Once the paint had dried, we hung it back on the wall using a spirit-level app on the phone (have you tried these types of apps? so handy!). 

Aside from drying time, the entire process took about 2 hours. 

And hey presto! A brand new shelf! 

I hope you like the results and feeling inspired to revamp something unloved too. 

Who knows, perhaps you'll be looking at that piece at home that you were thinking about chucking out with new eyes now? Or maybe you'll discover a tired looking item of furniture in a loppis (flea market) that no one wants this weekend and give it a fabulous revamp? If you do, I'd love to see the pictures! 

Happy Friday friends! 

Niki

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Before and After: Our Swedish Summer Cottage Bedroom Make-over

This blog post is not sponsored. However, it does include some press items that I've received in the past and present (marked with *)! Thank you for supporting the brands that make My Scandinavian Home possible. 

Two summers ago we built a tiny cabin in the garden of Per's family's summer cottage on the Bjärehalvön coast, West Sweden. We love heading up there as often as we can, but this winter we had the perfect excuse: it was time to renovate the master bedroom in the main house! There was nothing wrong with the room per se, it just hasn't been touched for several decades and needed a major freshening up. But you know me, I can't really do things by halves, and this was definitely a case of 'in for a penny, in for a pound!'

I find winter is the perfect time for decorating - do you agree? Plus, Per and I love a project. So, back in October we cracked on in the hope that the room would be ready in time for spring. And it is! I hope you like reading about the transformation today!

The walls were covered in wood chip and since I had my eye on a wallpaper I loved, the existing layers needed to be removed - no easy feat! It was a gruelling, messy job getting rid of it all - but satisfying too! Underneath, we discovered that the century-old walls were also very uneven which meant we needed to plaster over them and then cover with a base wallpaper. 

The original wood floor is lovely but the varnish had slowly yellowed over the years, so we rented a sander to file the wood down, before adding several layers of white soap wash. Neither of us had done this before and the sander was a mighty machine! We had our heart in our mouths as we worked around the room - concerned that we might accidentally burrow down and wreck a plank! 

It all worked well in the end though and this is how it looks now: 

We'd also noticed that the ceiling was coming apart at the seams, and there was no outlet for an overhead ceiling light. 

Per added panels to cover the seams - which match the panels on the ceiling in the main room of the cottage. And we also gave the ceiling, skirting boards, architraves and door a fresh lick of white paint. 

We're willing to do most jobs ourselves (sometimes with the help of YouTube) but since we value our lives (and respect Swedish law!), we called in an electrician in to re-wire the room and add an outlet in the ceiling as well as power sockets to the wall! The lamp is called REGNSKUR from IKEA. 

We were keen to give the room a traditional cottage feel with a modern touch and a hint of green to match the rest of the cottage, so we looked at samples from Swedish Sandberg wallpaper, eventually settling on Karolina green*. 

We were a bit apprehensive about putting the wallpaper up but it was surprisingly quick and easy once we got going. You definitely need to be two pair of hands for the job - and pay attention to aligning the pattern down to the millimetre with each new section so nothing goes awry! Probably good to double check if it's the right way up to (my wonderful dad once learnt this the hard way!). 

And then the fun part began: decorating the room! 

We were keen to use as much as possible from what was already there. 

The bed is the same  but I added a simple headboard (115 cm high x 180 cm wide) and then added a white linen cover. The bed linen is from HM Home and the blanket and throw are old ones from home. The rug was already there. 

The windows are quite wide (measuring 197 cm) so I picked out the Mozart extendable curtain rod from Åhlens. I had some old-ish white linen curtains hanging around in the loft which turned out to be perfect for the room. You can find similar white linen curtains here. 

I don't go anywhere around the cottage without my well-worn Shephard slippers! 

The chest-of-drawers was already in place and the chair has always been at the cottage! 

Nothing says spring to me like a bouquet of Mimosa! it brings a little sunshine to the greyest of days, don't you think?

We re-hung the vintage mirror on the wall (it had been resting on the chest-of-drawers for years so it was nice to finally put it back up!). 

We also wall mounted two sets of simple wooden hooks from Swedish store Granit (I find hooks so useful in a summer cottage - they're perfect for hanging the few outfits you have with you, plus other essentials like a dressing gown for 'morgondopps' (morning dips) and a sun hat! 

The hooks also provide a great place for other items - including one of my favourite bouquet lamp* by Le Klint and a robe from Humdakin* (bringing a touch of Danish design to Sweden!). 

In this picture you can also catch a glimpse of the new dimmer switch* and power socket* (both from Corston). The electrician also added power sockets either side of the bed. 

The pine wall shelves had yellowed with age so I repainted them in Jotun Tidlös to match the wallpaper. I might write a separate post about this. It's amazing what you can do to give old pieces a new lease of life. Would you find that of interest?

The bedside table is the original one that was already in place. 

I hope you like the results as much as we do! 

Naturally, if you look very closely our DIY renovation it isn't perfect, but that comes with the territory of carrying out a project yourself, and I wouldn't have it any other way! 

If you have any questions, please do give me a shout in the comment section below and I'd be happy to help. 

Would you like to see a few other of my room makeover from the past? Check out: 

Renovating our summer cottage kitchen

Our DIY powder room makeover

Before and after: our attic makeover

All a labour of love! 

Do you dabble in DIY too? 

Niki

PS I am starting a 30 days of Njuta challenge on instagram stories today, come and join me! #30daysofnjuta! 

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