my scandinavian home: Search results for wood burning

A Waterside Swedish Summer Cottage with a Sauna

A wise person once told me 'everyone has a season' in which they thrive. Do you find this? While I try to embrace each season, if truth be told, my heart belongs to summer! In Scandinavia it's a really magical time of year - time seems to be suspended and the world is bathed in a luxurious pin-sharp light. And the locals know exactly how to celebrate it in style!

This incredible summer cottage in Värmdo, Stockholm County transports me to the month of July, when many Swedes flock to the coast to make the most of the warm weather. Although understated, the property has everything a family need to make the most of the season: accessible by boat, it has an understated charm, a guest house and sauna. Ready to take a look around?

Although pared-back, the sitting room still has a warm vibe thanks to a deep red and blue rug and a wood-burning stove. Shelves laden with sea-themed treasures help to bring in the coastal surroundings.

The dining area is surrounded by windows, giving the space an outdoor feel and views over the water.

I love the use of texture in the kitchen. Using different finishes like concrete and wood panelling adds interest (see this swedish apartment for a variety of finishes!).

Open shelving in the kitchen is ideal for displaying summery items like picnic baskets and vases for flowers and also creates a relaxed grab and go feel.

Guesthouse

A self-contained guesthouse - complete with kitchen, living room area, bedroom and bathroom ensures everyone has their own space - especially great for longer stays!

The Hemnes sofa bed from IKEA provides an extra bunk when needed.

Sauna house

Your very own spa? Heaven! True to Swedish style, the sauna house is understated yet provides everything you might need to relax including a wood-burning sauna, relaxation room and easy access to cool off with a dip in the sea.

What a place to spend summer. I can just imagine arriving from Stockholm by boat!

Actually scrap that, get those fires roaring and the sauna going and it would also make a perfect getaway in the winter, don't you think?

Could you imagine wiling away your weekends and holidays here too? The good news it, it's currently for sale! Shall we pool our money and share it between us?

Dream away and feel inspired by other Scandinavian summer cottages today in this archive (if this comes up first just scroll down to a load more beautiful properties!).

Ha det bra!

Niki

Photography courtesy of Norstrand Mäkleri with thanks.

Update: Our Tiny House Interior Plans & Inspiration

It's been a while since I shared an update on the tiny house we're building in the garden of the summer cottage in southern Sweden. A lot has been going on behind the scenes, but most excitingly Per and I headed up there for a meeting with the builders last week and it's starting to feel VERY real! A while back, I shared our plans for the exterior. I'm looking forward to sharing the finer details of that soon (once we have settled on the wood finish). Until then, I thought I'd share the plans and inspiration for the interior!

Layout:

Our cabin is called a Komplementsbostad which is a special Swedish dwelling measuring 30 m2 (323 f2) and a maximum of 4 metres (13 feet) high. The idea is to use it as a place to unwind at the weekends and in the holidays. If we're staying in the main cottage, it will be a place for guests to stay and hopefully in the future, somewhere our children to come with their family and friends!

The cabin will contain a small kitchenette, social area, bathroom and two sleeping quarters. It's designed to sleep 4. I think I'll start with the latter!

We decided to lay the sleeping zones out over two floors (which is fairly customary with this type of house). The 'master bedroom' will be in an alcove / nook on the lower floor, and a sleep loft will be placed over the bathroom and bedroom.

The reason we decided to do it this way and not create a separate master bedroom is because we also wanted to create a nice social area in which to hang out - so we needed the extra space. For the same reason, we also decided not to have a formal entrance / hallway.

Inspiration for the bedroom / sleep loft area:

I absolutely love the look and feel of Lina Kjellvertz's cabin (the swede has impeccable taste - check out her house in Mallorca if you have the time!). Her attafallshus was designed by Sommernöjen and features white walls and a light wood ladder and sleep loft - something I am looking to emulate. The only difference is that the atelier / desk area will be exchanged for a bed. Basically like this:

The bedroom nook will be fairly snug! The cosy danish bedroom below has also been a major source of inspiration for us. See the rest of the lovely cabin here.

We are looking to convert the under section of the bed into two separate, very large drawers which will be used to store clothes, bed linen, towels etc. A little like the ones in this tiny Norwegian house on wheels.

We're also hoping to add shelving, but sadly we won't have space for a surface behind the bed like the one seen above since the nook is the exact length of the bed!

Kitchenette

The kitchen and dining area is very much a work in progress! As with everything else, it will of course be small. Since space is of a premium, it will involve upper and lower cabinets. I love this kitchen by Swedish Nordiska Kök - it's clean and contemporary, but also features some beautiful natural elements including stone and wood, which would be a nice way to bring the surroundings inside. Do you like this look too? Clearly the island is a no go, as we simply don't have room! Instead, I'm hoping to find a small vintage table for four. Let the hunt begin!

One big dilemma: we were hoping to put the boiler in the top right cabinet BUT the plumber told us it would be way too small. Instead it might need to be placed to one side of the sleep loft which is not ideal. I know my family, and they do love their showers! If you have any other ideas on where to place it, I'm all ears!

Main living / social area

You might have noticed that all these inspiration images have something in common: wood panelling. I absolutely love wood panels, they bring a more relaxed feel to space and help to add a coastal touch. Are you a fan of panelling too?

This panelling by Swedish brand Norrlands Trä seen in this Scandinavian cabin is spot on. I'm just in the process of ordering samples to see which style would look best (every panel option comes in an option of at least two different whites as well as various textures - I tell you, it's a minefield!).

Sitting room

I'm going to be honest, we still haven't decided which direction to go in with the sitting room. All thoughts are welcome at this stage! The only thing we do know is there are a LOT of windows and doors to contend with (see plan) and there'll definitely be a woodturning stove (more info to follow soon!).

But what we don't know, is what seating to go for.

Do we go for some kind of built-in bench running from the kitchen units to the wall with storage underneath like in these lovely rooms?

Or do we opt for a sofa-bed with storage to make room for extra guests? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Looking at these images I'm wondering if I've over sold our cabin now!! I mean, some of these spaces are simply incredible and quite a lot bigger than our cabin! The pressure is on!

I can't wait to share more plans with you soon including the bathroom, outdoors space and wood burning stove! Meanwhile, we're hoping the first spade will go in the ground this week - woohooo!

For more tiny cabin inspiration check out:

Opening doors vs folding doors - see the comments for the final reader verdict!

And the tiny house archive - which is full of inspiration for small spaces!

Right guys, that's it from me this week, thank you for coming along for the ride - and for all your kind messages in yesterday's post, it really meant so much.

Trevlig helg / have a great weekend!

Niki

Photography: 1. House Doctor. 2&3 Sommarnöjen 4, 5 & 10. Morten Holtum 6. Nordiska Kök 7. Norrlands Trä 8. Femina 9. My Domaine

FILED UNDER: my home my tiny cabin small spaces tiny house

Your New Year cabin hide-away?

As the Christmas holidays draw near I'm dreaming about getting away from it all for a few days at a little remote hide-away. Nothing fancy, just my family and I and a little wood burning stove - doesn't that sound wonderful?! This tiny Swedish cottage in Marie Emilsson's garden at Håkesgård, just outside Varberg on Sweden's west coast fits the bill perfectly. The traditional falun red cottage, which includes a kitchenette, bedroom and basic facilities has been newly renovated in classic green tones to match the surroundings. Oh and it has a hot tub too. Guh! How I'd love to spend my holidays here, how about you?!

Credits: Photography - Kristin Lagerqvist (blog here) - shared with kind permission.

So pretty! And the surroundings? Beautiful!

Could you imagine spending a few days here?

Get the look from Marie's little cottage: Morris Willow Bough wallpaper, Farrow & Ball sells a selection of green paint like this, straw fedora (source vintage ones here), buy beautiful grey linen fabric by the yard here, L:A bruket soap, these traditional linen cushions /pillows are pretty.

You can see more pics of Marie's lovely cabin here.

The second to last image of the wood burning stove is taken from the main house - and features a beautiful garland made with fir and other foliage gathered from the garden - more pictures and a great tutorial of how to make this garland here.

Although not currently for hire, word on the (blog) street is that Marie might start to make it available - watch this space! In the meantime, if you're in Varberg, Trip2garden is definitely worth a visit with it's garden, café, shop and gallery.

More beautiful homes captured by Kristin Lagerqvist include a vintage inspired Swedish home full of soul, the lovely home of Johanna Bradford and an idyllic allotment house. I have to say, this Scandi-boho style is one of my favourites.

And if I've got you dreaming about getting away from it all, you might also want to check out three of my favourite archives: swedish cottages, rural reteats and log cabins (just scroll passed if Marie's cottage comes up first). And relax!

Have a lovely day!

PS Thank you to everyone who entered the give-away to win two vases from Nordal - the winner has now been announced here.....drum roll....

FILED UNDER: rural retreats Summer cottage swedish cottage

Cosy sitting room the Norwegian way

There's a distinctive chill in the air here in Southern Sweden (how about where you are?) and I've noticed people are starting to get out their cosy knits BRRRRR! When I feel a nip in the air it always makes me romanticise about long walks in the snow followed by a steaming cup of hot chocolate (with a touch of rum) while thawing feet by the fire. This sitting room from the home of Norwegian blogger and photographer Elisabeth Heier is a firm favourite - just look at that wood burning stove and log storage!

Elisabeth Heier with kind permission

I love the hall way too - I think that's a House Doctor rug - beautiful!

I'm a big fan of Elisabeth's styling and photography (as you well know!) and have posted on her home before here and here. So beautiful!

If you're on the look out for wood burning stoves as I am check out these homes....

PS I loved the discussion on Facebook yesterday on 'all white homes' so many different opinions!

Have a lovely, cosy day!

Cosy rustic fireplace

I had an exciting post lined up for today and am just waiting for permission from the photographer (15 mins!). So in the meantime, pull up a seat by this lovely rustic fireplace and relax :)

via Wish you were here

My husband and I are seriously considering a wood burning stove for our sitting room, they're just so cosy and cool. Style Files put together this wonderful post on wood burning stoves, which even includes a photograph taken by yours truly! I took the image at a friend's home which is a renovated fisherman's cottage here in Skåne, see the full home tour here.

Do you have a fireplace at home?

FILED UNDER:

Settle: A Rustic Hideaway In A Former Railway Carriage & Boutique Cabin

I have a total weakness for rustic spaces, do you? I spotted this cosy gem of a retreat over at Desire to Inspire yesterday and fell in love! 'Settle' is a retreat in Norfolk, England created by John - who owns and runs a reclamation yard, and his partner Jo - a well-known floral designer. The incredible resort offers guests a choice to unwind in rustic railway carriages, bell tents or a boutique cabin overlooking woodland and lakes. I'm particularly in enamoured by the railway carriages and cabin which combine earthy textures and heritage materials with contemporary comfort - so, it's just to turn up, light a fire, maybe run a bath (wait till you see the outdoor one!)... and relax.

The carriages:

My eye is on one of the three beautifully restored retired railway carriages. Each offer two berths, a lounge area with a wood burning stove as well as a bathroom and small kitchen - although you might prefer to cook supper over the lakeside fire pit!

The Cabin

If you'd prefer something a little more spacious, there's also the boutique cabin which looks like something out of a magazine (actually scrap that - it has been in a magazine!). Hand built by Jo and John, the fully equipped cabin has everything you might need for a relaxing retreat - a real home from home!

The questions is, would you go for the freestanding indoor bath, or the lakeside wood-burning tub?