The perfect sofa!

I've been looking for the perfect striped sofa for a long time.  I had in my head exactly what I wanted, a relaxed deck chair striped look in blue and white to continue the beachy theme in my living room.  Something that was comfy

Stenvall Interiors

As well as adoring white all my adult life, I have also been totally in love with the design and style of the Nordic countries.   From discovering IKEA whilst serving in Germany in my 20's to the beautiful antique Mora clocks of Sweden,

MADE.COM FOR KIDS

 
I've long been a lover of the cool online store MADE.COM so when they recently contacted me

Scandinavian Style - Get the look

  

 Beautiful Scandinavian home decor has always been a firm favourite of mine. Decorating with cool whites and pale colours, pared down furniture and home wares.  It never fails to make me take in deep calming breaths.  Must be something to do with the state of my mind, I need a clutter free home because my head is full to bursting with thoughts, ideas and plans most of the time.
 
Having lived in our home for 10 years now and finally some spare funds to remove the wall between the kitchen and dining room, we were able to  create the large open plan space I always dreamt of.  It is almost finished, just the new flooring and comfy TV seating area to sort.  Its a lovely bright space, furnished with a combination of reclaimed hand painted furniture, modern pieces and local independent artists.  All coming together to create a bright, light Scandinavian style space.

  Above is a hand painted chest of drawers (the only piece in our home I didn't actually paint)in palest grey.  A bowl and glass ball both found at a local boot sale.  The sand encrusted SEA letters were bought on Etsy.  The painting was very generously given to me by local artist Linda Bartlett whose work I used to sell in my shop.

The dining room view of the space.  Huge white table purchased from Ebay is solid wood with great leg detail. If all white is too much for you to contemplate, the Scandinavian style is also very much about beautiful blond woods.  This look is appearing everywhere on the high street at the moment.

 Pic Danish design store

After much thought and changing my mind I decided to go for the classic Eiffel style chairs in white.  I initially bought a blue Eiffel chair with blonde wooden legs but when we decided to go for a dark floor I felt the metal leg style would suit it better.  I'm really pleased with the look.  We also have  clear Philippe Starck Armchairs for each end of the table.  Not really Scandinavian style but they compliment the look.  I think its important to not just follow a look blindly, but to inject your own personality into your home.

Getting the builders in also gave us a chance to re-think the heating.  I have always loved the old style cast iron radiators and actually, considering they add to the decor and are not designed to sit unnoticed on the wall they were really good value for money.  Ours were purchased from B & Q but you can find many around these days from just £100 each.

What my heart really desires is the traditional Scandinavian style stove (below)  but they are WAY out of my budget.

 pic - pinterest


I really hate to have lots of "stuff" cluttering my work surfaces which is an ongoing trial with four men in the house.  Still its a great game of hide and seek I have !  Storage is important but also has to look good.  When I found these great ceramic house storage jars in the sale in Debenhams they reminded me of the tall house you see in many Scandinavian countries.  I've used them to store the tea, coffee and sugar.

pic - escapisttravel.com

Due to lack of money we decided to leave the existing kitchen units in place for the time being.  We changed the tiles and gave the walls a lick of paint and it looks fine.  A beloved find from my bootsale obsession is the set of beautiful plates and soup bowls displayed on a plate rack found at TK Maxx.   Have to admit they don't get much use but they look LOVELY !  Although they are Vintage English, they look very Scandi to me and fit the space beautifully.

If you want more inspiration for the Scandinavian style please pop over and follow my Pinterest board HERE.

Made.com

I am always on the lookout for companies who support independent designers and sellers.

One of my favourite online sites is Made.com who make it their business to cut out the middle man ensuring the best prices are available to the customer.  They do this by having no physical stores and by grouping together online orders every 7 days.  The orders are then placed with the maker/designer to go into production and therefore only making what is required.  Its a great idea and ensures the customer gets the best possible price for their piece.

You can normally save upto 70% on the high street retail value and the even better news is they currently have a sale on !

Some of my favourite pieces at the moment are :

Fonteyn Drinks Trolley  Today's price £169 - Regular Price £239 - High street price £395

The Bowie Table Lamp Today's Price £49 - Typical high street price £373

Kitson stools x 2 todays price £99 - Typical high street £320

I am looking for something a bit special for my hallway.  Think this might be on the shopping list, I love the industrial look of the Starkey Cluster Pendant light.

oh and just in case you were wondering, no this is not a sponsored post.  I am popping it on my blog because I just simply love this company!