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SWEDISH COUNTRY STYLE

Swedish style interiors are becoming more and more popular. It's a look that combines refined elegance with a casual aged appearance that seems to have universal appeal.

While artist Carl Larsson (1853-1919) is generally credited with popularizing the style, the Swedish look is also heavily influenced by the light and weather of Scandinavia.

Long dreary winters with early dusk and a lack of natural light necessitated rethinking interior furnishings.

Anything dark, gloomy, and heavy was out -- while anything pale, light, airy, and lustrous was in. Pale walls, floors, and furnishings reflected whatever light was available, thus cheering and lightening even the darkest days of winter.
Here are some of the elements of Swedish style.

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# Pale Tones of white, cream, and light blue are staples of Swedish decor. Look for them on walls, furniture, flooring, and accessories. Hues of yellow, light pink, foggy gray, and misty green are also seen, as are deeper accents of gold and red.

# Other than white, blue may be the most popular color in the Swedish palette. It evokes clear skies even in the dreary days of winter. Blues combine easily with white, cream, yellow, gold, and red.

# Accents of red show up again and again in Swedish interiors. It offers a fresh look when paired with white and is also used in simple florals, checked, and striped fabrics.

# Furniture exhibits a mix of straight lines with gently curving shapes in details. Legs are commonly delicate and tapered toward a narrower point at the bottom, either rounded and squared.

# Beds show off simple, clean-lined wood or upholstered head and footboards. Bed canopys may be yards of white batiste flowing from a crown-shaped canopy mounted high on the wall or hanging from the ceiling. Country Swedish looks include bed nooks, trundle beds, and daybeds.

# Benches are a a staple of Swedish interiors, often seen in a long narrow style with six legs and an upholstered top. Swedish style sofas feature wooden frames and turned legs, often with minimal upholstery, separate seat cushions, and pillow backs.

# Blonde woods are key for for floors, cabinetry, and furniture. Birch, white pine, beech, and alder are standard and may also be bleached or painted with white or pale paints.

# The painted furniture of Swedish style bring additional light to winter-darkened rooms. While furniture is often painted white or cream, other pale tones can be found on accent pieces and in hand-painted decorations and stenciling.

# Carved accents are common on furniture, seen in fluted legs, scrolled table borders, and miror frames.

# Natural Fabrics include linen and cotton. While these can be plain or textured, more common patterns include stripes, checks, and plaids in white and one other color.

# Patterns seen in Swedish decor are often printed on a white background with one other color such as blue, red, or yellow. Florals are generally small and are placed on open fields of white. Stripes in all sizes, checks, and plaids are common -- also commonly in one color plus white.

# Architectural Details include leaded glass windows, high ceilings, wall moldings, hardwood flooring, and traditional Scandanavian tile stoves.

# Mirrors reflect light and add sparkle to Swedish interiors. Look for oval mirrors in lightly carved frames.# Small mirrored sconces with candles or wired for light fixtures grace walls in pairs.

# Lighting is accomplished with a mix of chandeliers, wall sconces, and simple table lamps.

# Motifs in Swedish decor show festoons of ribbons, wreath shapes, hearts, sheaves of wheat, and scrolling designs. The diamond, circle, and oval are also frequently seen.

# Accessories should be kept simple and displayed in an uncluttered manner. Think spare, open, and light -- editing out anything that seems to jumble the look. Wreaths, china, candles, and flowers are important, as are traditional julbocks (straw goats) and rustic painted wooden horses.

# Wreaths bring simple elegance to Swedish rooms. Round boxwood wreaths can be hung from ribbons in front of windows or bookshelves. Simple floral wreaths might decorate a wall, while wreath-shaped hardware can be seen on furniture and light fixtures.

# Walls are most often white or are kept very pale. If embellished, the elements and designs tend to be subdued. Narrow moldings, aged stenciling, pale spattering, and open airy florals are a few of the possibilities.

# Floors should be kept light -- with bleached wood, pale paints, or softly stenciled motifs. Light colored painted stripes, squares, or diamonds can also be applied to floors as long as contrast is kept to a minimum (i.e. ice blue over white). Rugs can be simply woven with stripes or open florals.

# Stenciling is applied both to walls and furnishing, though in generally pale tones and with a restrained eye.

# Fresh flowers bring life and light to a Swedish room. Think simple white tulips in a cream colored pitcher, a handful of yellow daisies in clear glass, or a dozen pale pink garden roses set into a blue and white vase.

# Tabletop items are chosen for simplicity and restrained elegance. Floral china is pale and restricted to one color (often blue) plus white. Silver and glass add more sparkle to the table, as do tall candles in candleholders.

FRENCH COUNTRY STYLE

French Country Style
When you think of Provence and the French countryside, you're sure to see lavender fields and bright sunshine. While there are many elements that contribute to the French Country style of decorating, the resulting look is always rustic, old-world, and welcoming. The look fits well into both country houses and elegant, old chateaux. The French Country style of decorating, with its warm and casual feel will fit beautifully into your home as well.

Colours used to decorate in the French Country style come from the full spectrum of the color wheel. Sunny yellow and soft gold, firey red and burnt rust, bright grass green and dark hunter green, cobalt blue and soft ocean tones -- all these are found in this wonderful decorating style.

Bright black and dull grays punctuate the bright colors and define accessory pieces. Rusted metal furniture, lighting fixtures, and furniture give warm color and wonderful lines.

An important element in pieces used in French Country style decorating is the use of natural materials. Rough stained or painted plaster walls, hefty beamed ceilings and walls, delicate carved wood details, and chair seats woven of rush give texture and simplicity to the look. Natural stone floors are covered with wool or cotton rugs.

No real French Country home is complete without a stone fireplace. A heavy beam at the top of the opening serves as a mantle. Tiles, either stone or ceramic, form the border. The hearth is clay or brick, and herbs, copper pots, and iron accessory pieces hang on the side walls.
Architectural features like stone walls and floors, raw wood distressed ceiling beams and timbers, and irregular plaster walls form the frame of a home decorated in the French Country style.

New or reproduction ]rustic furniture has the ambiance of curved panels, hand-carved decorations, and raw wood. No room decorated in the French Country style would be without an armoire to store pots and pans, clothing, bed or bath linens, or tableware.

A large dining table, rectangle or round, must have a dull waxed or low-sheen finish. Curved and carved details grace dining and occasional chairs. Chairs are either ladderback style or have vertical slats, often with rush seating.

Rustic flooring is of stone, clay, or brick. Old wooden boards work well, too. The focus here is on old and charming.

Typical of French Country interiors are pieces with contrasting texture and color. Pale plaster walls and ceilings are punctuated with dark rough wood beams. Colorful Provencal printed fabrics are set off against light-toned natural seating.

Deeply cut window sills hold tall, narrow windows. Shutters close to keep the hot sun out in the summer. Windows and doorways are encircled with wildly growing vines.

The beautiful colors of the French countryside decorate fabrics used in French Country decorating. The traditional fabrics combine well with basic plaids, checks, and stripes in modern homes. Provencal prints combine shades of primary colors with greens, lavenders, and bright orange.

Traditional French country products and motifs include roosters, olives, sunflowers, grapes, lavendar, and beetles. The designs are often arranged in regular intervals, bordered by a wide panel of the motifs in different scale. This is typical for textile products such as tablecloths and curtain panels.

Toile is a traditional design for French Country fabrics. A white, cream, or yellow ground has large motifs in a single contrasting color, such as black, blue, red, or green. Toile themes include farm animals, monkeys and Chinese patterns, bucolic country scenes, or courting scenes of the 18th century. Most toile patterns are printed on linen or cotton.

Generous baskets woven or wire baskets, colorful ceramics and tiles, carved wood pieces, and Chinoiserie pottery, and natural grasses are used for accessories in a room decorated in the French Country style. Old, dark or colorful paintings adorn the walls.

Lush natural flowers are everywhere! Baskets, an old pitcher or copper pot, or clear glass vases hold flowers inside and out. The aim is to bring the wonderful colors and textures of nature into the home. Window boxes outside shout with the colors of whatever will grow. Geraniums and lavender are especially popular.

Both colorful and muted pottery adorns a French Country table. (No fine china here!) The same themes of roosters, olives, and vivid flowers are found on tableware. Don't forget iron candle holders, wire baskets, heavy pottery water pitchers, and colorful tablecloths.

By incorporating some or all of the elements mentioned here, you're bound to have a wonderful French Country interior in your home. C'est bon!

Why not take a look at these links below.

Swedish Country Style



Shaker Style Interiors

FRENCH ARMOIRES

We speakers of English borrowed the word "armoire" from the French, who got it from Latin, armârium, chest, from arma, tools. This large wooden chest, almost always equipped with two doors, was originally used to store arms and armor. The word, which sometimes denoted a cupboard set into the paneling of a room, was probably first used in the 16th century, when detailed carving based on Flemish design was characteristic of fine examples. In the following century geometric designs in high relief became more common; also, in the 17th century the name was extended to cover wardrobes and clothespresses.

GUSTAVIAN STYLE FURNITURE

Swedish Gustavian painted furniture is marked by clean lines and a cool color palette and refers to the period from 1772-1800. Eighteenth century Swedish craftsmen cleverly imitated the more costly materials used in France and Italy by substituting native pine for mahogany and implemented faux painted marble surfaces and faux grain painting techniques to achieve a more elaborate aesthetic. While the royal palaces were graced with sets of gilded furniture, the average nobleman or manor house owner could only afford painted furniture. In the countryside beautifully carved furniture was therefore white washed or painted a pale gray. Though furniture of the Gustavian Style was initially reserved for royal environments in and around the capitol city of Stockholm, the style quickly gained popularity among the general population and spread throughout the countryside. Today it is this “Provincial Swedish Gustavian” style, which includes painted Swedish antique furniture, that is most well known and sought after in the United States and continues to inspire decorators and adorn pages of magazines.

Real Gustavian specializes in both high-end Swedish antique Gustavian furniture such as mahogany and inlaid veneers, as well as the ever-popular provincial painted Swedish Gustavian furniture. Our painted Swedish antique furniture sells so quickly that we do not keep a large inventory. Most pieces of painted furniture are literally sold before they ever leave Sweden! If you are interested in painted Swedish Gustavian furniture please call or email with your requests.

We are purchasing antiques weekly in Sweden and can usually find the piece that you are looking for at a very reasonable price. I welcome your inquiries.

Today it is the painted Swedish Gustavian furniture and aesthetic that is most closely connected to Swedish style internationally and continues to inspire decorators world over. If you are purchasing Swedish Antiques contact Lani Sternerup at Real Gustavian and let her expertise guide you. Featured in Art & Auction magazine, Antiques Weekly, the former Victoria magazine and Four Seasons, Lani Sternerup is known for her extensive background in Swedish history and Swedish antiques from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Swedish Gustavian painted furniture is marked by clean lines and a cool color palette and refers to the period from 1772-1800. Eighteenth century Swedish craftsmen cleverly imitated the more costly materials used in France and Italy by substituting native pine for mahogany and implemented faux painted marble surfaces and faux grain painting techniques to achieve a more elaborate aesthetic. While the royal palaces were graced with sets of gilded furniture, the average nobleman or manor house owner could only afford painted furniture. In the countryside beautifully carved furniture was therefore white washed or painted a pale gray. Though furniture of the Gustavian Style was initially reserved for royal environments in and around the capitol city of Stockholm, the style quickly gained popularity among the general population and spread throughout the countryside. Today it is this “Provincial Swedish Gustavian” style, which includes painted Swedish antique furniture, that is most well known and sought after in the United States and continues to inspire decorators and adorn pages of magazines.

Real Gustavian specializes in both high-end Swedish antique Gustavian furniture such as mahogany and inlaid veneers, as well as the ever-popular provincial painted Swedish Gustavian furniture. Our painted Swedish antique furniture sells so quickly that we do not keep a large inventory. Most pieces of painted furniture are literally sold before they ever leave Sweden! If you are interested in painted Swedish Gustavian furniture please call or email with your requests.

We are purchasing antiques weekly in Sweden and can usually find the piece that you are looking for at a very reasonable price. I welcome your inquiries.

Today it is the painted Swedish Gustavian furniture and aesthetic that is most closely connected to Swedish style internationally and continues to inspire decorators world over. If you are purchasing Swedish Antiques contact Lani Sternerup at Real Gustavian and let her expertise guide you. Featured in Art & Auction magazine, Antiques Weekly, the former Victoria magazine and Four Seasons, Lani Sternerup is known for her extensive background in Swedish history and Swedish antiques from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.