my scandinavian home: Christmas

Beautifully Simple Ways to add a Scandi Glow to Your Home This Advent!

It's been snowing all night here in Malmö and our world has transformed into a winter wonderland.

In Scandinavia, Christmas (or 'winter') decorations are taken very seriously not least because candles and fairy lights help to brighten up the darkness and touches from nature draw the cosiness of the season indoors.

Our Nordic friends tend to start decorating on the First Sunday of Advent - starting in a simple way with star lanterns, candles and maybe a wreath for the door. The star of the day of course, is the advent candle. These come in many shapes and forms including a numbered candle, four candles in a wreath, a simple candleholder in the window or even a crown hung from the ceiling. You may choose to forgo the tradition entirely and just enjoy the warm glow of candlelight in the evening.

Here is some inspiration for those of you who love candles as much as I do!

There are just so many different ways to do candles - from ore fanciful to incredibly simple. All beautiful in their own way. Do you have a favourite?

Would you like to see a few other ideas? Take a look at:

5 pretty candle displays you can make in an instant

Christmas DIY advent candle ideas

12 budget friendly ways to turn your living room into a winter haven

Perhaps you have your own First Sunday of Advent / winter decorating traditions / ideas you'd like to share? If so, please do tells us all about it in the comments below!

Have a cosy day friends, stay warm!

Niki

PS Please always exercise caution with candles in your home. Keep naked flames away from anything flammable and never leave a lit candle unattended. It's also a good idea to only use candles in a well ventilated space.

Credits: 1. Northern Sisters Collective, 2 Maja Olausson, 3. Tina Sosna, 4. Magnus Lundgren, 5. What decorates my day 6,7,8 Unknown - found on Pinterest (can you help?) .

Helen's Cosy Swedish Cottage At Christmas

The First Sunday of Advent is just around the corner and already we're seeing stars and twinkling lights appear in windows throughout Sweden. With the shorter days and much of the country blanketed in snow, the decorations help to brighten up the darkness and add cosiness and warmth.

A couple of winters ago I spent a magical few days at my dear friend, interior designer Helen Sturesson's cottage in Blekinge, southern Sweden. You have likely seen some of these cosy Christmas pictures before, but I couldn't resist featuring the entire cosy tour today.

I love the rustic feel and focus on understated tradition - little wonder the family choose to spend Christmas here by the fire. Ready to get into the festive spirit?

So magical!

I'd be so happy here cosying up by the fire, how about you?

It's so lovely and quiet there, and only a short walk from the baltic sea.

The glass decorations seen on the table, hanging on the tree and on the windowsill are all mouth-blown on the Danish island of Bornholm by atelier Pernille Bülow. My family and I are actually heading to the island this weekend to visit the Christmas market so I must stop by and pick up some Christmas decorations! I can't wait, it's such a beautiful part of the world!

I hope you enjoyed this tour of Helen's charming little cottage!

Niki

Photography - Niki Brantmark / My Scandinavian Home

Home / styling - Helen Sturesson

God Jul / Merry Christmas / Happy Holiday!

It's time for my family and I to enjoy 'Jul' with our Swedish family and then Christmas with the English side!

Thank you for a wonderful year here on My Scandinavian Home and for all your kind messages! I'll be back again on January 9th, 2023, in the meantime, if you feel like looking at some Scandi inspiration while I'm away, cosy up with a blanket and check out these archives:

If you'd like to keep up to date with My Scandinavian Home posts - please do subscribe to my newsletter and get a notification straight to your inbox.

God Jul! Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! I hope your new year sparkles and you have a wonderful start to 2023!

Kram!

Niki

This beautiful photograph is by Jenny Jolkkonen / @nordic_stories - a photographer in Finland - shared with kind permission.

FILED UNDER: Christmas

Maja's Cosy Swedish Home All Decked out for Christmas!

Tjoohooo! I hope you had a cosy weekend! It's been snowy here - and so cold, even the sea has iced over. but I do love a winter wonderland, here in the South we have to make the most of it as we never know when it all might be washed away! Today, I'm stopping by to share a final home tour for 2022 - and it's such a pretty one!

You'll recognise Maja Olausson's house from a previous post. A former mission house with a charming interior, it's hard to forget! I especially love her home at Christmas when it's all decked out with stars, orange garlands, candles in moss and Christmas trees from a sustainably controlled forest. Oh, and keep a look out for her home made wrapping paper and gift tags as well as her festive table scape - some really lovely ideas here! So kompis, wrap yourself in a blanket, pour yourself an extra strength coffee (Swedish style!) and enjoy the tour!

Really lovely!

Are there any details / ideas that stood out to you in particular?

I'm impressed by all the details. I have to confess, since we're going to see my family in London at some point during the holidays I haven't done a huge amount at home - but we do have a lovely tree and a few decorations dotted about - as well of course, stars and candles in the window! You can read more about the Brantmark Christmas traditions from Per's perspective here!

Have you put up a lot of decorations this year (if you celebrate)?

For more inspiration today, you might like to check out the Christmas and Christmas decoration archives as well as some of these cosy home tours:

Hannah's cosy Finnish home in the snow

Inspiring Christmas touches in a beautiful Swedish home

A bright Copenhagen home full of festive cheer

6 simple decorating ideas from Anna's swedish home

Kram!

Niki

Photography Maja Olausson, shared with kind permission

FILED UNDER: Christmas Christmas decorations country style living rural retreats

Hanna's Cosy Finnish Country Home in the Snow At Christmas

Hello friends! how are you? Keeping warm I hope? Here in southern Sweden it's minus 7 degrees Celsius (19 Fahrenheit). As long as I'm wrapped up, I love it as it's a very dry cold and everything is white - like a true winter wonderland! A lot of Northern Europe is now blanketed in snow, so we're all hoping for a white Christmas! Do you have snow where you are too? In Finland, Hanna and her husband Tomas, and children Frans, Hilda and Eedvin are cosying up in their charming rustic cottage in rural Finland.

You'll likely recognise their home as I featured it last year - and it's so unique and memorable! This morning I popped over to Hanna's instagram as I was intrigued to see how the family have decorated their home for Christmas - and of course, it looks as cosy as can be! Here are a few pictures showing touches of red, a rustic tree, homemade paper flowers and sofas draped in sheepskin. A perfect place to curl up and spend 'Joulo' (Christmas).

Hanna loves making paper snow angels and flowers to hang on the tree and in the window.

Find DIY tutorials for how to make Christmas snow angels here and paper flowers and stars here.

I love the rustic tree, it's so pretty, don't you think? Did you see my Scandinavian Christmas tree round-up on Friday? There are some lovely rustic ones in there too!