Dawn Hill Antiques Swedish furniture is in a class of its own. From the exuberant decoration of the […]
Tag: Gustavian Style
Guest Post by Jason Phillips The 18th century Swedish interior was a manifestation of neo-classism across Europe. It […]
An Island-Inspired House in Oslo… Norway Interior designer Nicolette Horn brings a bit of the Bahamas into her […]
Antique Vintage European Textiles On Ebay
House Beautiful Magazine featured the top favorite red colors from the most famous interior designers. Here are my favorite 9 red shades of paint from their selection of 24
TOP ROW:
1.”This is a really deep coral, kind of like a cheerful Chinese red. Pinks and reds to me are synonymous with frozen drinks and relaxing.” –Richard Mishaan Pictured, Benjamin Moore‘s Chili Pepper 2004-20
2.”When I look for red, I want a pure, true red, like the color in the American flag. Ralph Lauren does absolutely the best. It’s the essence of red. It makes me think of boating or polo.” –Suzanne Kasler Pictured, Ralph Lauren Paint‘s Dressage Red TH41
3. “Red never goes out of style. It’s full of life — always fresh, always fun to wake up to. We go for reds with less blue in them and more orange because they’re happier to live with.” –William Diamond and Anthony Baratta Pictured, Ralph Lauren Paint‘s Lattice Red IB57
MIDDLE ROW:
4. “It’s a true, deep red. I like the temperature of it: it’s a bit cooler. But a little red goes a long way. It’s good in areas where you don’t spend much time or in boring areas that need a strong burst of color.” –Roderick Shade Pictured, Benjamin Moore‘s Million Dollar Red 2003-10
5. Benjamin Moore‘s Redstone was used in Eldon Wong’s cupboard.
6. “All my life I’ve pursued the perfect red. I can never get painters to mix it for me. It’s exactly as if I’d said “I want Rococo with a spot of Gothic in it and a bit of Buddhist temple” — they have no idea what I’m talking about.” –Diana Vreeland Pictured, Benjamin Moore‘s Red 2000-10
BOTTOM ROW:
7. “Red is the color of excitement, and I tend to go for corally orange reds. With red, you know you’ve arrived and you glance in the mirror and realize how great you look and breeze right in.” –Keith Irvine Pictured, Benjamin Moore‘s Salsa 2009-20
8.”I prefer the warm, vibrant reds to the historic reds, which are beautiful but sedate. This is a daring red, a real fire engine red. It has a playfulness that reminds me of a little red schoolhouse.” –Ruthie Sommers Pictured, Fine Paints of Europe‘s Dutchlac Brilliant Tulip Red W1001B-M
9.”Lately I’m on this anti-completely-neutral kick. You have to have some seasoning in your rooms. Sangria is good, universal-donor red — not too blue, not too orange, not too dark.” –Elissa Cullman Pictured, Benjamin Moore‘s Sangria 2006-20
Frijsenborg Castle
House Beautiful Color Celerie Kemble’s Advice
The Swedish style is a bright decorating style, in which presents a peaceful, liveable, serene place to live in. The lighter interior looks have always been popular in the Nordic countries for centuries. Pale wall colors, lighter painted furniture, throws and bedding in white, or pastels tended to give the illusion of light, which was particularly welcoming through Sweden’s long winter evenings.
1. Lighter Painted Walls Allow You To Do More With Your Interior
To achieve the Swedish style, consider starting with the foundational walls of your room in a lighter paint tone. Gray, or tones of light green, blue or natural creamy white will complement accessories in touches of warm yellow and gold. Using a neutral base color such as ivory, beige, or light gray will complement additional colors added into the room. Consider soft pink, bold red, for stenciling ribbons, scrolls and gatherings of wheat upon walls.
Like your walls and draperies, keep your floors light and bright. Consider blonde or pale woods, or a lighter hued paint for your floors. If you want to jazz things up, stencil or paint pale designs on the floor’s surface.
- Thinking About Painting Your Floor? Consider These 10 Tips First…. Hersite Blog
- Polish Your Concrete To Make It Look Like Marble- Hersite Blog
- How To Paint Your Wood Subfloor- Hersite Blog
- How To Use Plywood As Wood Flooring- The Swedish Furniture
Floor coverings can make all the difference in a room. Natural fiber rugs, such as berber, jute, sisal rugs are natural and a neutral covering that works with any style and decor choice.
An alternative to painted walls is wallpaper patterns. If you consider wallpaper, work with a neo-classic style with soft colors on a white background. Floral prints, swags, ribbons and bows are a common theme that runs through Gustavian style. A touch of gold gilding is important as an accent, and adds the prestige into your rooms.
- 6 Stencils I have My Eye On- Which One Is Your Favorite? – Hersite Blog
- My Favorite 216 Selections From Wallpaper Direct! The Swedish Furniture
- Wallpaper Used In Svartsjö Palace- The Swedish Furniture
- Spring Summer Checks and Florals For The Swedish Home- The Swedish Furniture
- Buy Floral, Chintz, And Gustavian Wallpaper and Fabrics From My Friend Paula At Lily Oake
2. Pair a Settee At One Side Of Your Dining Table
While many of us may not have the room, a settee at the dining table really looks fabulous if you can pull it off. My friend Stephanie Tuliglowski went for a French Provence look in her house, and paired a large farmhouse table with a French settee. In this photo, you can see she left the settee in it’s natural wood, instead of painting it. It gives the room so much more of a natural, cozy feel.
The “Köksoffa” has been known as the kitchen sofa, and originates from the 1700’s. The idea behind this sofa was it could be used during the day, and then pulled out at night to be used as a bed. Rooms were smaller, and often pieces were created for multi purposes. The sofas were often painted and antique versions often can be seen having a dark patina from the paint aging over time.
3. Rotate Your Collections Through Out The Year
The Nordic style of decorating has always been one to border on minimalism. Invest in pieces that function as storage solutions which can hide away your belongings, while at the same time look decorative.
- Leave Armoire Doors Open- If you have a armoire, paint the inside a different color than the outside, and leave the doors open to display what you have.
- Paint The Inside Of Your Cabinets, Or Bookcases In A Different Color– Spice up your collections by painting the inside of your drawers, or cabinets in a color that will pop. If you are decorating around the creams, consider a darker buff, vanilla, apricot, or saffron for the inside.
- Rotate Your Decorative Accessories through out the year, and mount more of your collections on the wall. If you do collect, consider keeping only the best of what you already own, and discard the rest. Use lighting to draw attention to those items that you want to be seen.
- Group Decorative Items In Pairs, or Collections. Gather your pictures in one spot, and create a collection by using the same frames. Simplify your pictures by working in black and white, or sepia tones. Work with cabinets, bookcases, or wall shelving to give your collections a really upscale look.
- Store Collections In Boxes Which Can Be Painted– In this photo, you can see a picture of Eric Pike’s home office, where magazine boxes, and storage boxes look sophisticated on shelves.
26 Ways To Organize With Shoe Boxes- Kids Room Decor
4. Push Chairs And Side Tables Against The Walls
This is a classic Swedish look that is found in most historical Nordic homes. Chairs and tables were pushed against the wall, creating more space in a room. Furniture was positioned in the center of the room, allowing more room between furniture pieces. Position one chair by itself, or gather your chairs in sets of threes.
5. Redesign Your Closet Space
As soon as my husband and I moved into our new home, I wanted to make the best use of our closet space. You can see some of my closet makeovers at my new website Hersite.
- My Summer Projects, My Garage Makeover-Hersite
Shelving brackets were bought from Home Depot, and wood shelves, which were painted were added to our closets. Paint makes everything so much more inviting.
Why NOT make use of the wall space all the way up to the ceiling? Instead of having one rod in your closet, break the wall up so you can have two rods. Show off those expensive heels you only wear once a year, and coordinate your wardrobe into color schemes. Your closets can look like they were professionally designed.
In this picture of Eric Pike’s home, he transforms an ordinary closet into a beautiful display for his tableware. The interior of the closet is painted in a darker gray, and collections are grouped together.
French Wall Sconces On Ebay
6. Work With Neoclassical Lamps And Mount Wall Sconces For The Classic Swedish Look
Wall sconces can look very romantic in the Swedish setting. We should light candles more often, and working with candles on the wall, than on the table is the safer route to prevent fires from happening.
Decide if you want something simple or ornate in style for wall sconces. Today you can purchase an ornate set of French wall sconces for around $90 dollars on Ebay. Place a set of two sconces on either side of a mirror or painting.
Plain table lamps can be dressed up by recovering plain shades. Purchase simple barrel shades from your local big box store, and re-cover them with the same upholstery material as your accent chairs and slipcovers. Chandeliers and lamps add light to an already bright interior.
- 16 Lamp Updates For My Home In 2 Years- Hersite Blog
Use mirrors to create the illusion of even more open space and to reflect light, and use light colored accents like blue and white china, silver and glass to add shine and style.
Swedish Portrait -the figure of noble women, in courtdress, within giltwood frame The Style Saloniste posted an interview […]
Swedish winters are long, dark and dreary, so historically Swedes have always turned to lighter interiors. Swedish style isn’t all about the gray and the white interiors they are famous for, but many homes feature brighter, richer colors to decorate around.
There are so many shades and tones of paint, that it can be impossible to decide on one color. Buy sample-size colors to help you make the perfect selection. A color can look quite different at night than the day. We recently painted the outside of our home, and the color which looked to be a creamy yellow at night, turned green in the day. Be sure to try your selected colors on a few different walls to determine what suits which room. You’ll thank yourself for making this extra effort before spending $$$ on the wrong shade.
Don’t judge the room until the paint is in place, and accessories and furniture are placed. A color which may seem to bright can be toned down by wall accessories, coordinating drapes, and art work. Consider working with the off shades of the primary colors. Intead of purple, consider lilac, or a raspberry tint.
Consider whether you are a warm or cool person. I once was asked this by a hairdresser, looking to choose a shade of blonde. I never gave it much thought before, but knowing which color you lean towards can certainly make picking colors a lot easier. Earthy reds, dusty warm plums, and rusty golds are in the warm color range. Silver blues, mint, and lavenders are colors which are cooler.
Advice From Pros
“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works” Steve Jobs
“Green pigment was expensive in the 18th century, making it a status symbol. So it would have been appropriate for the royal governor’s house. I’ve been a curator at Colonial Williamsburg for 20 years, and when my husband and I lived in a historic house, we had similar green woodwork. It worked with every fabric I wanted to use, and it’s a great mood enhancer—chlorophyll for the spirit!” —Liza Gusler
“People think that they need to use small furniture and light colors to make a small room look big, but that’s not the case at all. Dark colors and just a few pieces of large-scale furniture, with the appropriate lighting and accessories, can give a room a larger, more luxurious feel.” —Mona Hajj
“Everything else in my house is off-white and grey, and I just had to have a break from that. I was looking at my pond, which is this murky shade of acid green, and I thought, ‘I’ll do that in high gloss to make it even more watery and translucent.’ It’s strange, but I love it.” —Stephen Sills
“Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury.” – Coco Chanel
“While looking at one of my first New York apartments, David Hicks told me diplomatically,’Dear boy, if you’re going to paint the walls white, you need art.'” Peter Dunham
“The only time white curtain lining should be used is with white curtains- J Randall Powers
“Use the precious for everyday purposes. We’ll rummage through clients closets and find loads of precious hand-me-downs like porcelain vases and crystal that are a bit out of vogue. We’ll use them for completely ordinary purposes – a case becomes a chic pencil holder, a crystal bowl holds makeup brushes. Turn the ordinary into a special moment” Benjamin Dhong
“I learned that passion about objects and furnishings makes for fearless decorators—and that if you are comfortable in your home, everyone else will be too. That sense of authenticity is what gives a home its soul.”- Courtnay Daniels Haden
“The most elegant interiors are just slightly tatty.” – David Netto
“Playing it safe. Instead, put a large-scale printed fabric or wallpaper on the walls and even the ceiling. It’s easier, safer, and less expensive to be dramatic in a small space. You might get tired of a bold print in the main living area, but it can make a smaller, less-used room an exciting space to spend time.” —Victoria Neale
Sturehov or Sturehof (also spelled Sturehov castle) is a manor house in Botkyrka, Sweden. Sturehov manor is located […]
Masreliez was born in Paris and began his education at Ritakademien, which was a drawing academy at the […]
Swedish Gustavian Pine Benches Gustavian style is all about painted surfaces, intricate wood carvings, distressed wood flooring, and […]