Subscribe

Enter your email address:

Designer Monthly Preview

The woman who helped usher the interior design industry into full flower in the United States was prolific in putting out ideas that will help freshen up today's interior design business. Look at our latest Designer Monthly, Interior Design: Look Forward by Looking Back to Dorothy Draper.

Did you ever have a problem designing small spaces?  Take a look at how top interior designers solved this common problem in our latest Designer Monthly, How to Design Small Spaces at the Kips Bay Decorator Show House.

 

 

 

Thursday
Sep012011

mood board: Scandinavian Style

Scandinavian furniture has seen a strong resurgence in the past decade.  Its simplicity and timelessness attracts many admirers around the world.  There are different periods of Scandinavian furniture of course, and here, for this month’s Mood Board, we will visit the early Scandinavian period from late 18th century to the early 19th century. 

The late 1700s saw the ascension of Gustav III to the throne of Sweden and during his reign, Sweden experienced a transformation of its art and design fields.  Gustav spent time as a young man at the sophisticated French Versailles court.  When he returned to Sweden, he hired architects and artisans trained in the French style to update his court and residences.  Soon, the small isolated country with a provincial look became a trendsetter for the rest of Scandinavia and Europe.

When craftsmen started to build French-styled furniture and accessories, they incorporated their own Scandinavian characteristics of simplicity and austerity and out of the merging of the two styles came the elegant and simple Scandinavian style.  Much of the gilt and excessive sculptural motifs were removed or pared down and the graceful bones of the French Louis XVI style remained. Another uniquely Scandinavian feature was the choice of cool color schemes, reflective of their long wintry season.  Pale blues and greens, along with whites and soft grays, abound in many interiors.

In the first mood board above, French neoclassic motifs are applied to the chair, stool, and console table. Slender, tapering, fluted legs are a typical feature.  The Gustavian stool, available from Laserow Antiques, is further decorated by a classical frieze filled with flowers and leaves. The chair was re-upholstered in a more contemporary fabric but its frame is decidedly French neoclassic. 

The Boserup halfmoon console table is a reproduction of a Gustavian table and is made by Country Swedish.  The screen is a mid-nineteenth century piece available from Scandinavian Antiques & Living.  The porcelain jars, while English, is typical of accessories in early nineteenth century homes - available from Florian Papp.

In our second early Scandinavian mood board, we have a neoclassical Gustavian sofa from Laserow Antiques. The sofa is designed by J.E. Hoglander and is upholstered in a typical Swedish stripe fabric. The Valdemar cabinet is by Country Swedish and a reproduction of a simplified Gustavian neoclassical cabinet. It is decorated with a neoclassical cornice on top and dentil moulding below the cornice and in the middle. 

The curvaceous Gustavian clock is not French-inspired but uniquely Swedish.  The longcase clock is made by royal clock maker Johan Lindquist, circa 1770, and available from Lief Antiques. The rug is an Aubusson-inspired creation, and while not Scandinavian, was very popular in 18th and 19th century upper class homes, and complementary to neoclassical styles. 

The simple timeless elegance of early Scandinavian furniture makes it an attractive choice even for today's contemporary homes.  A few well-chosen furniture pieces can mix well with other traditional neoclassical styles that are either French or English derived and voila! you have classic beauty.

 

Interested in learning how to create mood boards?  Take a look at Sheffield School's Complete Course in Interior Design.  At Sheffield, you will learn how to transform a space, create color schemes, and select furniture, lighting, and accessories.  

Reader Comments (20)

I happen to be writing to make you know what a impressive encounter my friend's princess obtained going through your web page.
September 2, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterBidrivals
those are beautiful! very nice, and fine quality.
September 2, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterDenver Smith
Ok! That's great! So beautiful!
September 3, 2011 | Unregistered Commentervietnam tours
A few well-chosen furniture pieces can mix well with other traditional neoclassical styles that are either
September 5, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterLink Building Service
Country Swedish makes really great furniture. My mom owns several pieces.
September 6, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterStuffed Rabbits
Wow! This furniture is gorgeous! Unfortunately, all the furniture my company offers is modern and some shade of dark brown. I wish there was a larger market for these beautiful, unique products.
those are beautiful! Great design!
September 9, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterFurniture
Nice post! I've been searching yahoo for several hours looking for related facts about this, they absolutely should rank your website on page 1!
September 12, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterGreen Tea
The Scandinavians really did make some beautiful antique pieces. Furniture and jewellery alike - sheer class.

Thank you for the article.
September 18, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterADH Gems
Truly, fantastic posting! Kudos for sharing. I do have a couple questions for you, so I'll look for your email and email them directly if that's okay.
September 20, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterOrgreenic
I guess I'm the guy in the room that has stuff thrown at him when he makes a comment. I will admit the furniture is quite beautiful. Kinda like the stuff you find in model homes. I think I would be afraid to live in room with such elegant furniture for fear of damaging it. I guess my tastes just run a different direction. Oh. well ! Just think how boring life would be if everyone had the same likes and dislikes. By the way, I mowed the front yard last weekend and found an abandoned car out there...just kidding. :)
September 20, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterWrought Iron Shelves
Lots of great furniture designs have come from scandanavia. I agree that it's well worth checking out and much of it never really seems to go out of style. We see a lot of it selling over here in the UK.

www.rarebritishantiques.com
September 23, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterMartin
The classic gray paint of this classic furniture started showing up at antique markets in England about 10 years ago. Since then it has remained popular at the larger antique shows and markets. Many dealers try to copy the same "look" by painting many other types of furniture. But it is difficult to replicate the centuries old paint.
October 19, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterCharles
those are beautiful! Great design!
October 26, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterFurniture
I’ve seen progression in every post. Your newer posts are simply wonderful compared to your posts in the past. Keep up the good work!
November 30, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterPaint Zoom
Very Pretty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
December 5, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterMuscle Growth
Looking for great ideas, this post just gave me some.
December 5, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterJamorama
I am absolutely amazed at how terrific the stuff is on this site. I have saved this webpage and I truly intend on visiting the site in the upcoming days. Keep up the excellent work!
December 8, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterChristmas Flowers canada
I saw this site, always going in a very nice theme.such matters is very difficult to find many great subject now is really nice, but I really liked your site.
December 12, 2011 | Unregistered Commentermetin2 pvp
Amazing blog post to read. many of the good furniture have come from Scandinavia. The images are beautiful and great designs. These are the unique products and will have very good demand in the market. Hope you come with many interesting articles like and would like to visit the site often.
May 24, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterFrench Furniture

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
All HTML will be escaped. Hyperlinks will be created for URLs automatically.