Cabin Update: Our Cosy Wood Burning Stove

Partnership with Contura, all words and pictures are my own

Back in January I shared an update on our little cabin while it was under construction. I remember the day well. The sun was streaming in through the windows, even so, clouds formed in the air as we spoke. We decided then and there we needed a log burner!  

  

The idea was to place it in the corner of the sitting room, so we'd be able to see it from all the corners of the cabin (after all, it's about the hygge, right?). 

Our go-to was Contura, who are well respected for producing high quality and efficient Swedish-made log burners .

Since our cabin is only 30 metres square (323 f2), we were looking for a relatively small model and settled on the woodburning stove Contura 810 Style. 

Above, you can see how it looked when I tested it out using the virtual tool back on that cold January day! 

Would you like to see how it looks today? 

Tadaaaa! This is the view from our bed! I can't tell you how much we love to wake up beside a roaring fire. So cosy! 

The 810 model is available in several different finishes and we chose black steel, with a black steel plate underneath.

We also opted for wood storage underneath to save space (it's only a tiny cabin after all) - it's great to not have to go out to the woodshed every five minutes and I love to be able to see the logs, they add a cosiness to the room even when there's not a fire on the go!

I have to say, the log burner is so efficient that we haven't had to use our electric heating once - we're mercifully grateful for that right now! 

Roll on the Swedish winter, we're ready for you! If anyone's looking for us this weekend, we'll be right here by the fire! 

Do you have a fireplace too? I'd love to hear about your experience!

Have a cosy weekend friends! 

Niki

PS If you're looking for a wood burning stove for your home, Contura offers a really broad selection and has dealers throughout Europe - you can view the entire collection here. 

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Before and After: A Rundown House Becomes a Dream Swedish Country Home

I first discovered Johanna's house, in the southern Sweden county of Smålland, via her instagram feed  Vårt Lilla Gröna (our little green), through which she shares pictures of her not so little, but definitely green and very beautiful country home. Although I didn't find a huge amount of 'before' pictures, the ones I did find go a long way to show the sheer amount of work Johanna and her family have put into transforming the house into a beautiful home. Not only that, but they also demonstrate what you can do with a little vision, DIY, up-cycling and a lot of wallpaper! 

Let's take a peek. 

Exterior before

In this glimpse of the exterior, you can see how run down the house was when they first acquired it.

Exterior after

Cladding and period details were added to the exterior, along with a practical terrace - all of which completely transformed the look and feel of the property.

Johanna and her husband are a real dab hand at DIY and carry out many of the projects themselves. The flower tubs above are just one of their many creations! 

A perfect spot in the sun! Just add tea and a book. 

Interior before 

The interior needed gutting and new walls and ceilings were put in - in other words, it needed a massive amount of work! 

The kitchen was stripped right back, and the old stove area was completely reconstructed to create a practical cooking area. 

Kitchen after

Today the family benefit from modern appliances with a traditional country style feel. 

A built-in window seat provides a place to gaze out of the window from the kitchen.  

Clever use of earthy paint colours and traditional wallpaper help to add interest in a time-honoured way to the many rooms. 

Above, the 'skafferi' (larder) door has been painted in two tones), giving it added impact. Incidentally, I have noticed that the traditional larder is coming back in a big way these days. I wish we had the space for one, they remind me so much of my grandparents' house - they use to store my grandads home brewing kit and lots of chocolate clubs! 

Do you have a larder? 

Fireplace before

Fireplaces and woodburning stoves are already coming into their own this autumn in a bid to avoid the escalating electric and gas prices! These masonry tiled ovens are incredibly efficient. 

Johanna was careful to protect this one while they undertook the renovations. 

I love this before and after comparison between white walls and wallpaper. There's something so homely with wallpaper, don't you think? 

Johanna is great at finding second-hand treasures which she then upcycles. This traditional Swedish bench was sanded down, slightly reconfigured and then painted - before becoming a lovely children's bed! 

At the far end of Johanna's daughter's bedroom is perhaps the most magical homemade dolls houses I've ever seen. Click here to see the tour on Instagram (and what the cabinet looked like before the transformation). 

And finally, I couldn't resist sharing this pretty Autumn touch - wreaths on the garden gates, such a lovely idea! 

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into Johanna's life in the countryside of Smålland.

Feel like you've seen it somewhere before? No, you're not imagining things, I once showed some snapshots of Johanna's lovely home all decked out for Christmas! 

See more pictures and feel inspired by her latest projects here. 

Do you have lots of wallpaper in your home too? I grew up with Laura Ashley wallpaper, but we don't have any in our house right now. 

Would you like to see a few other country homes today? Take a look at: 

An idyllic red and white Swedish country house 

A cosy rural home in North Sweden

A Danish artist's thatched cottage

This afternoon I'm heading up to our little cabin with a friend - it's such a lovely sunny, autumn day, I can't not make time for a long walk by the sea! Maybe it'll even be warm enough to sit outside? If per asks though, I'm working of course! 

Have a lovely day, I hope the sun is shining where you are too! 

Niki

Photography: Johanna / @vartlillagrona

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A Stationery Designer's Lovely Copenhagen Home

If you've been following My Scandinavian Home for many years (I know some of you've been stopping by since I started this blog in 2011 - thank you!), you'll know that I love to shake things up a little and try to share inspiration for all Scandi tastes and styles - whether large or small (or even on wheels), light or dark and sometimes even a pop of colour! Even if the home tour doesn't fit your specifications, I like to think you can get inspiration from anywhere, and if you look closely, there's always something new and intriguing to take away with you. 

In Signe Birkving Bertelsen's Copenhagen home, there's one particular DIY idea that's really captured my imagination (and of course there's some incredible architecture and interior design at play too)! But first, allow me to introduce you. 

Signe lives with her husband and two children Karl and Esther in the Danish capital and is co-founder of the danish stationery brand Notem Studio. Simple with a clean, minimalist finish, Signe's home is dotted with interesting furniture and ornaments, which she constantly moves around. As with every home, some are more important to her than others - and the beautiful stool from West Africa (made from a single piece of wood), the AeroPress coffee maker and Akari lamp are listed as ones she'd never part with! 

Nora and Laura of Our Food Stories were there to capture these pictures. 

Welcome to Signe's world! 

This is the piece I was talking about!

And this is the stool from West Africa which Signe would never part with. I can see why, how about you? 

I think my favourite corner is in the bedroom with the iconic wishbone chair, sheepskin and reading lamp. The picture also gives you a closer look at the beautiful wooden floor - something which so many old Copenhagen apartments are blessed with! 

Is there anything that stood out to you about Signe's apartment? You can read the full interview and see more pictures of her home here. 

Would you like to take a peek inside a few other Copenhagen homes today? Here are some I love: 

A cosy Danish loft 

A Copenhagen home full of books and vintage design treasures

Great Dane style in Copenhagen

The Copenhagen home of a vintage store owner 

And one final question - what piece of furniture or accessory in your home would you never part with? 

Niki

PS for some reason the mail out for Fridays post wouldn't work, you can find it here in case you missed the new autumn update in my sitting room. I hope it the mail out will work today - fingers crossed! If you'd like to receive my posts straight to your inbox, don't forget to subscribe further down this page. 

Have a great start to the week, see you Wednesday!

Photography: Laura Muthesius & Nora Eisermann

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