How to Transform Your Living Room into a Modern Scandinavian Oasis

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The Scandinavian style became very popular in the 1950s worldwide, due to its focus on simplicity, functionality and clutter-free space. The Scandinavian style also promotes the connection to nature by using neutral shapes accompanied by many different abstract and natural elements.

If you’re aiming to achieve this minimalistic concept in your home, it’s always best to start from the living room as the most traffic-prone area. That’s why we wrapped up a couple of tips on how to transform your living room into a little Scandinavian oasis.

Start from Flooring and Walls

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When it comes to designing a room, it’s always best to start from the base, which means deciding on the flooring and the walls. Due to the Scandinavian style promoting simplicity, neutralism and nature, make sure you skip the wall-to-wall carpets and choose the traditional Scandinavian hardwood flooring in its natural wood-like colour or painted in neutral white shades. If the hardwood floorings are going to drain your wallet, you can consider other cheaper options such as laminate or vinyl planks in their most sophisticated wood-alike designs. 

Talking about your living room’s walls, even though the Scandinavian style is all about neutral colours such as whites, greys, browns and blacks, make sure you skip any tints and paint your walls in white colour in its purest, plainest shade. This is because white is the most calming colour which won’t steal the attention of the furniture and other gorgeous elements you’re about to put in your living room.

Choose the Furniture

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Once you solve the question about the base, it’s time to choose modern Scandinavian furniture that will look gorgeous in your living room. If you don’t know where to start from, make sure you follow a couple of simple tips that won’t lead you in the wrong direction:

Pick Neutral Lines

The simplicity we mentioned before also applies to the furniture. In fact, the Nordic style is inspired by the mid-century concept of clean lines and geometric shapes, so make sure you get furniture featuring simple and neutral lines with smooth rounded edges to get the most of this functional minimalistic concept.

Choose Muted Colours

When it comes to choosing Scandinavian furniture, aside from the simple lines, have in mind that hitting the right colour can be a real game-changer in your new living room design. Like we mentioned before, this concept is about neutralism, so almost every piece of modern Scandinavian furniture comes in muted colours such as the ones we mentioned before- different shades of grey, pure blacks, and pale browns such as ivory, taupe or sage tints. So, make sure you skip the vibrant hues and go for more calming shades.

Add Some Contrast

Having your living room covered in plain, muted colours can seem a little bit boring, and Scandinavian style is far beyond being cold and uninviting. So, don’t be afraid to add a couple of different coloured elements that will make a contrast and create a dramatic, impactful statement. For instance, you can “throw” a contemporary black or grey-ish blue accent chair between your white or blush designer Scandinavian furniture such as sofas, couches or love seats.

But the concept of adding contrast doesn’t only mean mixing colours from two different sides of the palette since it also includes mixing different shapes such as putting a rectangular sofa and a round or oval coffee table etc... Make sure you get out of your comfort zone and experiment to get the most of your new Scandi-style living room.

Mix Different Textures

As we already said, the Scandinavian concept promotes the usage of natural elements, and that’s why you’ll most commonly see wooden coffee tables, shelves, different side or console tables and many other wooden designer furniture pieces. But also, the latest trends in this contemporary Nordic concept promote mixing different textures and materials to break the monotony even more. So don’t be afraid to choose an upholstered sofa and chairs or a wooden coffee table and different storage shelvings with metal legs in ultra-modern brushed or matte black finishes.

Add Some Final Touches  

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Once you choose your Scandinavian modern furniture pieces, it’s time to add the final touches and decorate your living room. For this purpose, keep in mind that less is more, and you don’t want to overload your living room with unnecessary decorations that will only make it appear stuffed and cluttered. 

Adjust the Lighting

The Nordic countries are known for the long and dark winter months, so it’s not surprising they use a lot of light fixtures in their homes. But when choosing them, make sure you skip the lavish crystal or gold chandeliers and go for simple lighting fixtures designs such as ceiling, table and floor lamps in simple industrial designs.

Also, getting the most of the sparse natural light is always a good idea, so make sure you don’t overload your windows with nonfunctional curtains, but leave them bare instead. 

Add a Lot of Greenery

If you’re wondering where does this great appreciation for natural elements come from, know that through history, the Nordic countries were known for their lack of natural resources, so people had to learn how to get the most of them. This is why nowadays, not a Scandinavian-styled living room can be seen without greenery as the ultimate decoration, so make sure you choose a couple of indoor plants and different flowers and add them in minimalistic and simple vases and plain ceramic pots everywhere you feel like natural elements are lacking. 

Attach Art Pieces in Multiple

Hanging a couple of art pieces is a great idea, but what’s most commonly seen in Scandinavian living rooms are the ones that go in multiples. But having a couple of art pieces in one place requires choosing the simplest ones to maintain the idea of the simple Scandinavian concept, so make sure you skip the complex stuffed art designs and go for minimal, yet vivid abstract and geometrical prints or botanical motives that can work as an additional refreshing element. 

Play with Different Textiles

Since Nordic countries are known for their cold climate, cozy unfolded blankets, throws, cushions and rugs can be very commonly spotted in Scandi-styled living rooms. And just like the Scandinavian style promotes mixing wood and metal elements together, don’t be afraid to add some coziness and play with different warm textiles such as wool, sheepskin, mohair, soft cotton and different knits as the finishing touch to your living room, especially for the cold winter days.