Choosing a Wood Floor For our Tiny Cabin, From Light to Dark

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

Hejsan! A cabin update is long overdue! We're still nutting out the interior details and lately we've been focused on the floor. Living in Scandinavia, it was a no brainer to go for a wood floor - I love the warmth, the softness underfoot and how it ages over time. We were specifically looking for a wood floor with a simple and traditional look and that comes from a sustainable source. We headed to Norrlands Trä - the Swedish company from whom we got our wall panelling (and only use FSC certifiable wood from the forests of North Sweden) to pick up some samples from dark to light. Here are some of the variations we considered - and the wood floor we eventually chose.

Blond tones

Nothing says Scandinavian like 'blond' wood, don't you think? The light touch is great for brightening up a space, while still adding warmth. But there can be massive variations in light wood - from almost white to dark blond (it's starting to sound like a trip to the hairdressers!), and don't get me started on the subtle nuances: from cold to warm tones, and how the colour changes over time. It's a minefield! 

Lightest shade

Save from painting the floor white, the brushed pine (Borstat Furugolv) in 'ultra protect white' is the lightest in the Norrlands Trä range. It's close to white and has a wonderful, ridged patina with the grain showing through. Pine can be incredibly soft, and so I like that the surface has been gently teased away with a brush, making it a more durable choice. 

Light pine

We were also drawn to the pine floor (Putsat furugolv) in ultra protect white which has been primed and then sandpapered giving a soft, smooth result (a treat for the feet!). We love that it has a traditional and rustic feel which is so synonymous with the Swedish summer cottage. One thing to be mindful of - the softer finish does require some extra work over the years to maintain it. However, it is made from solid wood so you can sand it down as often as you like - or leave it as it is and appreciate the patina as it ages.  I'm guessing we'd do the latter!

Darker wood floor tones

You might have noticed that darker wood floors have been making a comeback lately. The deep hue is great for adding contrast, grounding a space and creating a cosy ambience. 

Grey finish

This brushed pine floor (Borstat Furugolv) has a lovely rustic feel - and we liked the stone grey finish. Given all the windows in our cabin we could definitely get away with a darker floor like this one too. 

Dark finish

And finally, we looked at going completely over to the dark side with a brushed pine floor ((Borstat Furugolv) in ultra protect brown. The rich tone gives a wonderful atmospheric feel and adds a whole level of cosiness. It's perfect for creating that dark cabin feel. 

A note on wood ageing over time

Wood is a natural substance that darkens over time - especially when exposed to lots of light. Some wood gets more of a grey tint, whereas others can appear more yellow. Check with your wood floor supplier before purchasing to find out about each individual wood floor. Also, be mindful that rugs block the sunlight which can leave permanent marks on your wood floor. If the room gets a lot of light, think about removing them periodically.  

Our choice of floor

Edited: originally I wrote that we went for the primed pine floor in ultra protect white but this was an error - we actually chose the primed parquet pine floor in ultra protect white. This has an extremely similar look and feel, but the parquet is a more practical choice for us since it simply clicks into place making it easier to install, where as the solid wood needs to be nailed into place. Also, it's thinner which works better with the lower ceiling height in the loft. Overall, it has a lovely summery feel and during the winter it will help to brighten up the darkness! 

We tested the sample up at the cabin. 

Welcome inside my humble home! 

The panelling on the walls and ceiling is now in place and looks so beautiful! And the wood floor is a perfect fit! 

Below is the simple material and colour mood board we have decided to work with. The stone and white tile will be installed in the bathroom and the dark sand is for the kitchen cabinets. It feels like it reflects the surrounding coast and forest in a beautiful way - what do you think?  

It feels like things are really starting to happen now and it's the cabin is moving from an empty shell into a home! Exciting! 

What type of floor do you have in your home? Do you have a favourite out of these different looks? or perhaps you have gone for tiles, like my sister who has a dog. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below! 

Niki

Credits: 1. Lifestyle photo courtesy of Norrlands Trä, styled by Lotta Agaton. 2 - 6 Lifestyle photos courtesy of Norrlands Trä. 7+ photos snapped with my iPhone by Per and myself this weekend! 

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A light and airy white and grey Swedish apartment

Hello Monday! How was your weekend? I thought I'd kick off the week with something light, bright and airy. A classic white and grey Swedish apartment with light wood floors and white walls owned and styled by Hanna Malmberg. I could kick around here this lovely sunny Monday morning, how about you?

Styled by Hanna Malmberg. Stadshem via Coco Lapine Design

So beautifully styled by Stadshem for the sale don't you think?

I am seeing the Muuto Dots Hanger everywhere right now. Here, they've used the small and medium natural oak version to add interest to a wall in the bedroom.

I love the white floor in the kitchen (practical though?). I was in my neighbour's home over the weekend (it's like something out of Birds of a Feather in my neighbourhood!) and noticed she'd painted her wood floor white over Easter. The floor was a tightly joined smooth oak finish before so I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out - but it looks incredible! I'm wondering if I should paint my bedroom floor white now, what do you think?

Other beautiful white and grey spaces include the home of By Nord owners, the fantastic home of a creative Finnish duo and a wonderful Danish home.

Have a lovely day!

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A very cool black and white Swedish home

This is your original white and black contemporary Scandinavian home tour. White (or light wood) floors and walls. black accessories, a yellow accent colour and a really fantastic black and white kitchen. What's not to love?!

Stadshem via Coco Lapine with thanks

A few items I know and love: Hay DLM side table in yellow, I love this black and white print and others here, Pia Wallén cross blanket. Panton chair dS in the kitchen, Black and white striped basket, and Ferm Living half moon basket. Fab fancy finger cushion / pillow by Lucky boy Sunday.

Could you live here?

In this home they've chosen a yellow accent colour and stuck to white walls. However, Swedish paint company Nordsjö announced their colour of the year 2015 yesterday. Which is (drum roll please...) Copper orange. What do you think? Can you see yourself using this hue in your home next year?

Before I dash off  I just want to say a a big warm welcome to all new readers. I hope you like the daily home tours and find some inspiration for your own home! We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below! 

Have a lovely day!

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Stockholm; white, grey and dusty pink

For sale right now in the beautiful, smart district of Östermalm in Stockholm is this light, bright and airy apartment decorated in white and grey with a dusty pink accent. I love how the wishbone chairs make a focal point.



Per Janssons Fastighetsförmedling via Do you fancy this



So envious of the all white floors. What would be your absolute dream floor?

I think the print in the kitchen is  by one of my favourite Swedish typographers, Therese Sennerholt however, I can't find it on her website - am I wrong (could I be...no way!? haha!). I am always on the look out for great black and white prints, a current favourite is this one. 

On the subject of black and white....don't forget to enter my give-away if you haven't already (sorry to bang on about this, I just don't want anyone to miss out!).

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Mindful Decorating: Tips and A Tour of a Cosy Swedish Home in Holland

This grey, rainy Tuesday in Malmö calls for a day indoors - preferably in 'mysbyxor' (comfy track pants) and some very chunky knit socks (although these days I swear by my Swedish Shephard slippers!). Slightly further South, founder of Hemma Interiors Matilda Kristoffersson, a Swede living in Amersfoort, The Netherlands is cosying up at home with her Dutch husband Thijs and their three children Luuk (2.5 years) and newborn twins Joep and Lill. Matilda is an interior stylist who prides herself on a 'feeling first' approach. The mindful home has become a hot topic in recent times, especially as we find ourselves spending a copious amount of time indoors. I caught up with Matilda to find out a more about what it means and garner a few tips. 

Can you tell us a little about your house? 

We live in a terraced house measuring 135 square meters, divided over three floors. On the ground floor, we have our kitchen, dining, and living room as one open space with warm oak floors throughout. On the first floor we have our bedroom, family bathroom and our children's bedrooms  (Joep and Lill share a room). On the third floor, we have an attic space with high ceilings which serves as my workspace as well as a guest room for when my family comes over from Sweden. Both the first and second floor has white stained pine wood floors. I am very traditional Swedish in that I love white walls and light wooden floors. The house is situated on a quiet street in a newly built area with a canal just in front which we can see from our large windows in the kitchen and our bedroom. It is a great place for children to grow up and our son often plays with his friends out on the street in front of our house. 

How has being Scandinavian influenced your style and work? 

Being Swedish I think home is something really important. It gets pretty dark and cold during a big part of the year, so we tend to spend a lot of time in our homes, and that of our friends. I am very passionate about helping and inspiring others to create a home that truly makes them feel good and “at home” via my company Hemma Interiors (hemma means "home" in Swedish). I do this via my Instagram, my Online Course in Mindful Interior, and a new Guided Room Meditation that I am about to release. 

That sound really exciting, I'll be keeping a look out for your course! How has your interest in mindfulness and your Swedish background contributed to your home decorating? 

I take a mindful and “feeling first”  approach to how I decorate our home. This means that I think about how I want to feel in a space, and then connect this to design and style choices. So there is quite a mix of styles in our home with a more rustic kitchen, minimalistic bedroom, eclectic and classic look in the living room. But our entire home is still very Scandinavian I would say. In order to have a peaceful flow in the house, each space still has a similar color palette and materials; I’m very traditional Swedish in that I love a white wall and natural wood. We buy most of our furniture second hand as I believe that it is the best for our environment and it gives a very personal feeling to a home. I also buy a lot from IKEA (also second hand often) which I hack and upgrade to make my own. This really gives an outlet for my creativity.

Mindful decorating has become a big topic lately, can you tell us more about it?

When people hear I combine mindfulness and interior, they assume that it must mean minimalism and light colors, kind of like walking into a yoga studio. But in reality, a mindful interior does not necessarily mean that it looks in a certain type of way, but rather it is about the power of really tuning into our own personal style and focusing on how you really want to feel in your home, rather than how it looks from an outside perspective. Something I call “Feeling First” interior.

I think how we feel in our homes have become even more important over the last few months as we spend so much time in them now. Our homes are, and can be, so much more than just a place where we eat, sleep and watch TV. It is truly a space that we can use to relax, spend loving time with family and friends, and fully be ourselves in. 

  

How does mindful decorating differ from the usual way you might approach decorating a home? 

Decorating your home in a mindful way, 'Feeling First' instead of 'Design First', flips around the traditional decorating and interior process. You start off by exploring how you want to feel in your home, and then think about what type of colors, materials, designs and styles fit with this feeling. It is about starting from who you are and realizing your own personal style in your home, rather than trying to recreate that of someone else. And by doing so, empowering yourself to be and show who you really are in your home. Because if we are not able to celebrate our true selves in our own homes, then where else?

Do you have any tips for anyone looking to try a mindful approach to decorating? 

To me, the core of mindfulness is to embrace what is and be grateful for what you have in the now - because at the end of the day that is all we ever have - this moment now. By embracing what our homes are right now we can decorate from a place of gratitude and start to truly connect to how we want to live in them. I believe that we all have something that I call “Interior Intuition”, a sort of powerful guiding gut feeling of how we want our homes to look and feel. The trick is just to learn how to connect to it, and trust it. 

Here are three tips to get your started: 

1. Dare to listen to, and trust, your own interior intuition
2. Start with gratitude. Embrace what is already there rather than get caught up in the things you don’t like 
3. Think about how you want to feel in your space rather than how you want it to look

***

Thank you so much to Matilda for sharing her home tour and mindful interior tips. Oh - and a big congratulations are in order on little Joep and Lill! 

You can find out more about Matilda's online courses here.

I hope you found this topic as interesting as I did - do share your thoughts below, I'd love to hear them! 

Niki

Photography: Matilda Kristofferson 

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A Stunning White Farmhouse in The Snow

It snowed here this morning. Nothing major, just a light sprinkling, but it was enough to make me feel all warm inside! Do you love the first flurry of snow too? I felt nothing captures the cosy mood today like this beautifully simple farmhouse in the Indiana countryside. Photographer and stylist Angie Wendricks has struck the perfect balance between minimalism and warmth thanks to the white washed floors and walls and rustic furniture. Look out for soft, natural textiles, simple bouquets of flowers and the odd candle too!

The beauty of having furniture on wheels like this table, is that you can easily move it around depending on where you need it - you can even roll it outside (not that you'd want to in the snow of course!).  

I have a similar stool beside my bed which I sourced here* (I see they currently have a beautiful side table too - but there's only one left*, so you'd need to be quick!). The kitchen cabinets are from IKEA.

Kitchen Aid range

These images of Angie's homes are from a selection taken over the past year - which is why the Smeg is in a different position! I still wanted to include the image all the same, as I think it helps to understand the shape of the room - and get a better look at that stunning table! 

Angie's Ikea sofa has been covered with a Bemz linen cover (a girl after my own heart - I'm loving my linen sofa cover!). My bench / coffee table is almost identical too - pick up a similar one here.

This is such a pretty idea: white candles in vintage baking moulds! 

 The black wood burning stove looks really striking in the all white space and helps to show off the immense ceiling height - imagine how it looks all aglow with the snow outside?!

Woooow, this home is just beautiful, don't you think?

If this hasn't got us all in the mood for winter (and a white Christmas!), I don't know what will!

Could you imagine rocking around here this December?!

See more gorgeous pictures of Angie's home at @countyroadliving and www.angiewendricks.com.

Other countryside cabins I love (I'm on a roll now - there's no stopping me!) - include this little Danish cabin in the woods, an idyllic lakeside cabin in Canada and Leanne Ford's dreamy white cabin.

Speaking of cold weather, I'm currently packing for my trip to Moscow tomorrow (I'm talking at an event about Pure Scandinavian Design there on Friday) - I've never been to Russia before so I'm super excited. Just got to work out what to pack to keep the minus temperatures at bay! Tips welcome!

Have a cosy day - keep warm!

Niki

Photography: Angie Wendricks, shared with kind permission. 

Affiliate links marked with *

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