Tiny Cabin Update: Panelling, Wood floors & Our Cosy Bed Nook

Disclosure: Norrlands Trä have kindly agreed to collaborate with us on this project

Things are taking shape in our little cabin at a rapid pace, so I felt it was time for an update!

Here's the lowdown and a few snapshots - plus I'm looking for some advice on the mattress situation further down the post (looking at you van owners!), please feel free to share your tips in the comment section and ask any questions!

Wall and ceiling panels

As you know, we were adamant about having panelling as we felt it would be a great way to create a relaxed coastal cabin feel. Are you a fan too? 

Having researched the various different styles of panelling - from contemporary to traditional we settled on the more modern Borstad Slätspont in white S0502-Y from Swedish brand Norrlands Trä. 

The wall and ceiling panelling gave the cabin an instant lift and feels contemporary yet coastal, smart yet relaxed - I love it when a plan comes together! 

Wood floor

The day I took the above picture it was freezing outside, and I couldn't help thinking how 'cold' the cabin felt with the concrete foundation. So, I quickly got to work on finding a wood floor.

We decided on the primed parquet pine floor in ultra protect white, also from Norrlands Trä. Light pine is a classic choice for Swedish summer cottages as it has a pared back, understated feel yet still has that wonderful softness and warmth. 

Side note: Pine is soft, which means it can be dented / marked quite easily. If you do go for this type of flooring, it's something you ned to bear in mind. We figured that wood is a living, breathing material which changes with time, and we'd embrace any marks the family make! Having said that, we'll be laying rugs in 'high flow' spots such as the kitchen, living room and dining area to protect the floor and add that all important hygge! 

After: 

I love that you can clearly see the grain and knots in the wood, it really helps to draw nature indoors and adds texture and depth to the space. 

The bed nook

In our plans, we included a nook for a 160 cm bed (with more space bunks in the loft). Since the cabin is small (30 m2 / 322 sq ft) it would also need to double up as storage without compromising on aesthetics (you know me!). Below is how the space looked during the build (while being surveyed by Per!):

This is how it looked once the panelling, floor and railings went in:

And finally, The bed nook

I did a ton of research into 160 cm beds with front storage but couldn't find anything! So, in the end we designed a wall-mounted bed platform with central legs and two VERY long pull-out drawers on wheels (see below). Leftover panels were used for the fronts for a seamless look. 

And we finally had a bed! 

Sidenote: we're working on the air circulation -most likely, we'll drill holes in the base and also add a special air circulator layer under the mattress (without this, bacteria can build up and a mattress can quickly become mouldy underneath). This still a work in progress though, so tips are very welcome! 

In the meantime, we're so looking forward to sleeping and hanging out right here. So excited!

I hope you enjoyed this update! Please do give me a shout below if you have any questions. 

I'm so looking forward to sharing other areas of the cabin with you soon. 

Wishing you a trevlig helg! (lovely weekend!), 

Niki 

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The stunning monochrome home of a Swedish stylist

Hello Friday! Woohooo! It's soooo hectic around here, with just so much to do! I'll relax once it's all done and dusted and I'm sitting with one of these in my hand (love the blueberries on a stick, so simple to do too)?! How's your Friday bearing up?! Thankfully I've got a beautiful, serene home to share with you today to help us all wind down. It belongs to Swedish interior stylist and writer Jenny Hultgren who lives just outside Höganäs, not far from my parents-in-law on the Southwest coast of Sweden. Her home is a mix of designer, vintage and antique pieces and almost entirely decorated in black and white (with wood, textiles and plants used to add warmth). Let's take a look...

Jenny Hultgren - Bohemdeluxe shared with kind permission.

Oh how I'd love a home like this - beautiful spacious light-filled rooms, a 'spare' sitting room on the top floor....loving those black bannisters against a white backdrop - so dramatic!

It's amazing how much softness (and romance!) sheer white draping can add to a bedroom, the fabric over the bed looks like it's been strung from the ceiling in various places - nice and simple bedroom update / weekend DIY project?

Is there anything that stands out to you?

A note on where a few items are from: Tolix chairs, 265 Flos wall lamp, Beni Ourain rug. Get beautiful sofa covers for IKEA sofa's like this from BEMZ (select Basiq cotton, urban loose fit), Signal zig-zag floor lamp in black, white linen bedding, love this antique round wall mirror.

It's so worth checking out Jenny's instagram gallery for more inspiration...

And a little more monochrome inspiration here: the striking home of a swedish photographer,  a black and white apartment in Malmö and for a little added colour - this charming home!

Have a fab Friday!

PS Don't miss out on the reader offer to receive 15% off art at Citizen Atelier with code SCANDILOVE - offer ends on Sunday October 25th, 2015.

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A Norwegian Bedroom Gets a Budget Make-over

Welcome to the second post in the before and after mini make-over series in association with Builders Bay (a builder's little black book for all things needed to renovate your home). In the first we looked at the fabulous transformation of a Miami penthouse (I'm still dreaming, are you?!).  But of course not all renovations need to be on this scale, sometimes you simply want to pep up a room without investing too much time and money, right? So today, I thought we'd go a little closer to home: and take a look at the beautiful bedroom of  blogger, photographer and visual storyteller Katerina Dima in Oslo, Norway. Katerina was looking to add warmth to a fresh white room and allow the history of the 1850 building to sing - all on a shoe string budget. I caught up with her to get the low down!





Who lives in your home?
Me (Katerina Dima), my husband and our cat Milo (who is largely undocumented on my social media because she sleeps and rests in the most ridiculous and unflattering positions. If I was running a comedy instagram account I think she would be a total hit.



Sounds to me like he could be a #CatsofInstagram star?! The  interiors you show in your blog are simply stunning, do you work in the world of interior design?
I am a trained architect with a masters in renovation and restoration, although now I work full time as a freelance photographer / visual storyteller for brands in association with my blog Only Deco Love and instagram. 



Ah, what great skills - do you find that you're constantly updating your home as a result?
We are renting but have carte blanche on any renovations. This was the reason I was allowed to completely change the look of the bedroom and skirting boards plus paint the windows.



I see you have great bones to work with?
If I am not mistaken, the building was built around 1850. It's a really funny story, one of the most convenient things is a small and remarkably beautiful storage room right by our stairs (our apartment is the only one on the floor), and I thought, I was really lucky to have it. It turns out that in the 19th century these buildings had no toilet (our floor was made up of many smaller apartments) and the 'storage under the stairs' was the common bathroom. There's no evidence now this was a bathroom but I have the most elegant storage ever - I really shoot in it but it is super cold!

What were you looking to achieve with your bedroom renovation?
When we moved in, the owner had painted the entire apartment white. It is a beautiful old apartment with ceiling rosettes, very high ceilings, big windows and original floors that were painted grey - and I guess white made perfect sense as a neutral palette. However, no matter how I tried to style the bedroom specifically, it always felt unfinished. Really tall ceilings can have that effect. I didn't want to overwhelm it with furniture and decorations in order to impart some life into it, I prefer my living space minimal and clean, yet welcoming and warm. The solutions was to create layers with paint and skirting boards.




How did you envisage the paint to make a difference to the space?
The layers of paint would provide interesting transitions that would fit the old apartment and define the space between the floors and ceiling, but without making it too heavy.

How did you choose the colour?
I knew I needed to offset the grey-blue floors with beige, this way the resulting tone would be warm (blue hues give cooler results and I'm not a fan of cold hues in the bedroom). I am a big fan of the Jotun Lady beige palette, especially the darker colours.

What other renovations did you need to carry out to create your vision?
I installed new skirting boards.  

Did you have any challenges with these?
I knew I would have to do everything on my own (with my husbands help), or else it would be too expensive, and our budget was in fact our biggest challenge. Buying the big pieces for the new skirting boards/panels I needed was not an option after all due to the enormous price, so instead we opted for DIY. In Oslo we don't have the equipment to create our own panels (another obstacle), and this is where the idea came to me to buy simple small and relatively cheap skirting boards, and create the panels I wanted by means of an illusion. I  added the small boards 30cm above the previous one, nailed them to the wall and painted the old skirting boards on the floor the new board and the wall in between the same color . This creates the illusion of a single but quite bigger panel which gives the room an added desired layer while it brings a palatial feel, exactly the result I wanted! And honestly you can barely tell even when looking at it up and close. We painted 5 times over and over again so the wall looked exactly like the wooden boards, and that was the only difficulty. We used a saw to cut the boards in the length we needed and a plastic guide that we found in the same hardware store in order to cut the corners of the boards in a 45 degree angle. 

FYI - you can source different size skirting boards on Builders Bay here. 

 It looks beautiful! So calm! What colours did you use? 
I painted the skirting boards and the windows the same colour (Space 10678 from Jotun Lady in Supreme Finish Matt for wood panels) to give a sense of community, but also because darker windows appeal a lot to me lately. I painted the walls in a light beige / grey colour (Sommersne 1928 Jotun lady, super mat). The colour is described as not quite grey, it was exactly what i was looking for. I debated whether to paint the whole space the same colour along with windows and skirting boards but decided against it. I wanted to add layers and introduce interesting transitions. This is also why I didn't paint the wall all the way up to the ceiling, leaving a ribbon on the top in the previous color that matched the ceiling (white).






I love the effect of not painting the walls all the way up to the ceiling, can you tell us more?
Because the ceilings are so high I wanted to create layers so there would be interesting transitions making the room feel warmer.  I decided to create a bottom layer with the panels/skirting boards, a middle layer with the wall painted in a different colour, and finally an upper layer that stayed the same colour as the ceiling. This way there would be a natural transition from the white ceiling to the wall as there is no decorative ribbon, making the design feel deliberate rather than incidental.

 How long did the renovation take?
The whole room took us two days from start to finish after we had decided on the plan ( the boards took us about two hours to cut and nail to the wall, then filled any holes with a special white glue that gives a smooth finish ), and this was mostly waiting for the paint to dry. The costs were very minimal, and I feel if we did it, anyone can!



How would you describe the final look?
The style is very minimal and combines early century with contemporary Scandinavian accents. The building was built in the Neo classic era with modernist yet romanticism architectural influences, I wanted to keep the feel of it but also bring it into this century. I think the colours helped me achieve that, but also the details I chose to use in the form of art and furnishings.

And finally, do you have any tips for anyone looking to do the same?
If you want to lightly renovate a room on a budget, painting and creating “faux” panels is a great way (if it matches your spaces original architecture), and it can completely transform a room beyond your imagination. Come up with a plan and create a moodboard to help you out, but I would say my key learning  to be able to adapt your plan on the go while trying not to stray too far away from it. Also if I learned anything from this is that these things are much easier than they look , you will be surprised by how much you can achieve on your own and in a short time! So go for it :)

What a beautiful space. I love how the clean, calm look allows the period features of the building to stand out, how about you?

In case you're curious about any of Katerina's carefully curated pieces - here's a quick guide:

Get The Look

1. April 02 Poster
2. Skagerak - Georg Desk
3. Skagerak - Edge Pot
4. Mobil 100 pendant - Monika Mulder 2016
5. Spade Stool Black
6. Snowball Floor Lamp
7. Skagerak - Reflect Wall Hooks
8. FRAMA Adam Stools


Thank you so much for sharing your renovation with us Katerina!

You can follow all of Katerina's latest projects over on her beautiful blog Only Deco Love and instagram. 

Have a lovely day!

CREDITS: Photography and Styling: Katerina Dima / Only Deco Love. 

 

 * All words are my own, and I only ever work with brands and services I feel are of interest to my readers. Thank you for supporting the businesses that make My Scandinavian Home possible.

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A serene Norwegian space in monochrome and nudes

It's the weekend - woooop! But before we all shoot off, let's head to Norway for today's home tour. This space belongs to Nina Holst of Stylizimo blog. Nina moved home last year and since her previous home was so fab and included this famous walk-in-wardrobe, I've been eagerly awaiting to see what she was going to do with the new pad. And it certainly doesn't disappoint! Nina has stuck to her signature black, white and nude colour scheme and played with the beautiful light. All the shots of this serene, minimalist home have been taken by Nina, and she's also a talented artist (this is her latest painting), stylist (love this office) and store owner. Are there no end to this busy girls talents?

Homeowner & Photography: Nina Holst

What a serene space - oh how I'd love to be sitting in the egg lounge chair looking out over the snow covered hills right now, how about you?!

So many pieces I know and love including: the wishbone chairs, Norm 69 pendant light and white Panthella floor lamp, AJ desk and floor AJ floor lamp, DLM table, white desk lamp, Design House Stockholm Björk rug in bedroom, Tom Dixon etch tea light holder, By Lassen kubus candle holder and vase with brass neck from H&M (sadly sold out - trust me I've been looking everywhere!).

Is there anything that stands out to you?

If you like this colous scheme you'll also love this  kitchen, office space and home tour in the same monochrome and nude. Definitely my colours of the moment!

Any plans for the weekend? I think I'm going to sleep (I feel soooo tired!) but I'm also planning for a VIP visit from my ma and pa from London next week - sooo excited!

Before I shoot off - I'd like to to introduce you to a returning sponsor - oh so lovely handmade jewellery shop Studio Cosette. Safe to say, I pretty much love every piece Fai makes. But if I had to choose just two pieces I'd go for these earrings and the halo necklace (this is not a hint...honest!).

Have a great weekend and see you Monday!

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