Swedish country houses are among Europes best-kept secrets. Little known to the outside world and rarely illustrated, they survive in surprisingly large numbers, often with their original furniture and decoration. This book is the first to tell their story. The twenty examples examined in detail range in type from royal palace to farmhouse, and in date from 15th-century Torpa to 19th-century Stjernsund. They all reflect the talents of many important architects and designers who together forged a distinctive national style.
Swedish Interiors is the first book to share the history, progression, and key elements of Swedish style and how to use it in many different styles of homes. From the white and blue-hued images of the familiar Gustavian style to the gold accents and luxurious patterns found in the Swedish Baroque, Rococo, and Biedermeier periods, the secret to Swedish design is in having the confidence to mix old and new while maintaining a clean and simple aesthetic. Swedish Interiors emphasizes light, comfort and elegance. The authors operate Eleish Van Breems Antiques, a renowned Swedish antiques and decorating resource. Featured on Martha Stewart Living, and in Country Living, House Beautiful, Travel & Leisure, the New York Times, Traditional Home, Better Homes and Gardens, Victoria, and Yankee.
A well-designed Swedish room, whether an antique-filled country home or a contemporary industrial loft space, has a calm and feel-good quality that literally permeates the atmosphere. See how some of the most authentic advocates of Swedish design are using these ideas in their own homes, places of pure beauty and simplicity. The fundamental concepts of Swedish design are in full play at each location featured and are important qualities to incorporate into a home-those of functionality, quality of materials, light, preservation, art, eclecticism, color, sense of place and a deep reverence for nature. Featured in the book are projects by designers Eleish van Breems, 2Michaels, Liza Laserow, and Jonas Wickman with a look into the private homes of Barbara Paca and Philip Logan of Preservation Green, Mick Aarestrup and Paula Batali of Lief, Tara Shaw of Tara Shaw Inc., Jill Dienst of Dienst and Dotter, Ann Ljungberg and Rajesh Kumar of Just Scandinavian, international stylist Ingrid Leess, and designers Patricia Fischer of Patricia Fisher Interiors and Linda Kennedy of Meredith Baxter Home. The elements of Swedish style are broken down for the reader with inspiring photos and directives and a Resource Guide is provided for further exploration. Forewords by Brad Ford and Keith Granet. Rhonda Eleish and Edie van Breems are the founders of Eleish van Breems Ltd., a company whose approach to design stems from a modern application and interpretation of historic Scandinavian interiors and form. Their design work has been featured in House Beautiful, Elle Decor, Veranda, Glamour, Country Living, Gods & Goddar, and the New York Times, among others. Both live with their families in southwest Connecticut and travel extensively in Scandinavia, calling Stockholm their home away from home.
Discover classic and contemporary Scandinavian style with specially commissioned photography of homes in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Discover classic and contemporary Scandinavian style with specially commissioned photography of homes in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Scandinavia is famous for its distinctive style: homes are pared-back and simple, and form and function are combined to create aesthetically pleasing and practical interiors. Scandinavians are inspired by light, having an abundance of it in summer but so little of it in winter, and house designs tend to maximize the amount of natural light that enters the home, and allow the inhabitants to make the most of outdoor life during the summer. Similarly, nature and the weather are major influences: homes are made warm and cozy for the freezing winter months—not just literally with log burners, but also through incorporating wood and natural materials. Here Niki Brantmark, owner of the interior design blog My Scandinavian Home, presents a wide-ranging collection of these beautiful homes and explores how the Scandinavian lifestyle is reflected in them all. The first chapter, Urban Living, features styles ranging from minimalist to bohemian, and pale palettes to dramatic dark colors. By contrast, the Country Homes tend to have a softer, calmer feel, through color and textiles, in line with a slower pace of life. Finally, the spectacular Rural Retreats include a mountain cabin, beach house, and rustic summer cottage, and demonstrate how having somewhere to escape to is so important to many Scandinavians. This collection of stunning interiors will put Scandi style within every reader’s reach.
Lars Sj?berg is one of Sweden's national treasures. He is as widely known for his encyclopaedic knowledge of Sweden's historic houses as he is for his passionate concern to preserve them. Presented here are the eight houses (and one church) that he has acquired over forty years, many of which he bought in order to save them from being demolished. They range from a miniature Baroque manor house to an imposing Italianate Neoclassical villa, from a late 17th-century aristocratic mansion to the two-room dwellings of early 19th-century smelting workers. Each house tells a story giving an insight into why it was built and how it changed with succeeding generations. Each has been lovingly photographed by Ingalill Snitt. Text and pictures combine to show how the appealing style that has come to be recognized as quintessentially Swedish developed from its roots in the late 17th century to flower in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Here are the pale wood floors and muslin curtains, the elegant Gustavian furniture, the gleaming gilded mirrors, the charming painted wall decorations and the simple sprigged or striped fabrics, used in entirely authentic interiors. An art historian and a museum curator, Sjoberg is also a superb self-taught craftsman who believes ardently in the value of learning from the past to preserve the future. His principles are borne out by the meticulous way in which he has restored and conserved his houses. His first and most complex undertaking was the manor of Regnaholm. Built in the 1770s, redecorated in the early years of the 19th century and unoccupied for about forty years when he took it on in 1966, it allowed him to experiment with interior decoration and refurnishing. He has built on this knowledge over the decades, reproducing furniture, having fabrics rewoven and reprinted and lighting and even porcelain copied. This book is a ravishingly beautiful, deeply personal summary of everything Lars Sj?berg has learnt in his years of working and living with classic Swedish interiors.
New in paperback, this beautifully illustrated book takes the reader on a tour of more than twenty exceptional residences that show the elegant simplicity and fresh allure of Scandinavian country style at its best.
A lavishly illustrated history of Sweden's most significant works of architecture is paired with capsule biographies of many of the region's top contributors, in a volume that includes coverage of such structures as the royal palace of Stockholm and the Pavilion at Haga.
An introduction to the Swedish language, with ten lessons that include basic vocabulary, dialogues, discussions of grammar, exercises, cultural information, a comparison of Swedish and English, and two eighty-minute audio CDs.
*The basis for the wonderfully funny and moving TV series developed by Amy Poehler and Scout Productions* A charming, practical, and unsentimental approach to putting a home in order while reflecting on the tiny joys that make up a long life. In Sweden there is a kind of decluttering called döstädning, dö meaning “death” and städning meaning “cleaning.” This surprising and invigorating process of clearing out unnecessary belongings can be undertaken at any age or life stage but should be done sooner than later, before others have to do it for you. In The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, artist Margareta Magnusson, with Scandinavian humor and wisdom, instructs readers to embrace minimalism. Her radical and joyous method for putting things in order helps families broach sensitive conversations, and makes the process uplifting rather than overwhelming. Margareta suggests which possessions you can easily get rid of (unworn clothes, unwanted presents, more plates than you’d ever use) and which you might want to keep (photographs, love letters, a few of your children’s art projects). Digging into her late husband’s tool shed, and her own secret drawer of vices, Margareta introduces an element of fun to a potentially daunting task. Along the way readers get a glimpse into her life in Sweden, and also become more comfortable with the idea of letting go.
