Today, the winner of the contest “Sweden’s Most Charming Home” (held by real estate agent Fastighetsbyrån) was presented. The most charming home in this country is inhabited by Pia Qvist, who describes it as “Charming and personal, with a consistent style. A home filled with personal things, full of history”.

A lovely, Swedish, country style. Above is my favourite pic. Can’t recall I’ve ever seen a sweeter fire place / wood stove area! The very definition of charming and very well in the spirit of decor guru Pippi Longstocking. Of course it’s too much white for my (and I guess, also Pippi’s) tastes, but a bucket of paint for the dining set and I’ll move in, oh and one for the walls too; it’s indeed very homespun and nice. I like the pic below also, especially the rug and the adorable blue mirror display. The fact that the vintage door and the candlestick seem rather haphazardly thrown in – although they perfectly match the beautiful chandelier – makes it all more interesting. Or maybe it’s the parallel story going on with the cupboard (almost a Christmassy vibe there) that makes it intriguing. Either way, I like it!

More pics, and the other finalists, here.

The house tour continues in the kitchen! When we moved in, the kitchen was tiny and very outdated, so to create a larger and more user-friendly kitchen we knocked down a wall to combine two small rooms and opened out the chimney breast to make room for the range cooker (which I love because it’s got so much oven space!). It was an excruciatingly dusty and noisy job and I’m really glad it’s over. But it was all worth it of course because now we have a spacious and modern kitchen which makes life just a bit easier and cooking a lot more fun!

View of fridge-freezer and pull-out larders. We don’t normally have that much wine, but I won auctions on three boxes full of wine so now I’m rather unexpectedly rich on wine, if not money.. :-)
Dining room. My favourites here are the vintage empire-style chandelier, the Chinese cabinet and the cute Polish “Cyrk” poster (my birthday gift). This room turned out a lot more traditional looking than we had initially envisaged – mostly because of the period features already in the room and the antique furniture finds we laid our hands on along the way. Decorating can be quite an exciting journey – you never quite know where you’ll end up and often mistakes, path-corrections and chance discoveries can make the end result a lot more interesting than what you had in mind from the start! :-)

Finally, check out the lift below. This is brilliant – I only wish it was a real lift which I could take up to the loft! Sadly it’s just a trompe l’oeil wallpaper from style-your-door… Highly recommend this for a boring piece of wall actually – it certainly brougt some fun and colour to the disused door under our stairs :-)

| all images: trendey |

Today I’m inspired by kitchen details. Maybe it’s because I talked to Henen today about her kitchen-under-construction. I was deeply engrossed in the subject matter of kitchen design and haven’t really come out of it! Sometimes, I find kitchen’s being a bit left behind in terms of decoration. With all functions and features in place, there’s no reason kitchen decor should be less fun and creative than that of e.g. a living room. In these pics, small details make big things happen to the kitchen atmosphere.

| photos via allt i hemmet, unknown/forgotten & bottom pic: fantastic frank |

I’m not sure why it is I like the composition of this room so much… It might be the eclectic completion! Or the fact that those peculiar wall-busts (don’t know their proper name, if they have one.) are wearing hats/or a wig? Could also be the interesting ‘dancing’ sign, together with the style-mixed chandelier and table, the painting in the back of the room and the big green vase…

| pic found via abigail ahern blog |

Today it’s time to add some Scandinavian-Danish inspiration to the trendey-stew. I think it’s fair to say the Danish style, generally, is more creative and funky than its Swedish/Stockholmish counterpart. The Danes generously add colour splashes and charm to the white (or light) backdrop. I’m inspired by the homey atmosphere this brings and cherish the humour; the play with proportions and the carefree mixing.

| images via Bolig, and the adorable paperlamps, bottom right, by Danish designer Rie Elise Larsen |

What is worth highlighting from the year passed? One space I’ve really enjoyed researhing this year is bathrooms. Becaaause, Swedish bathrooms are, in general, so boring. You know, head to toe tiles and a vast lack of decor. Here’s a round-up of inspiration on the ultimate bathroom lighting – the chandelier.

| top left marie claire maison, top right was featured here, bottom left pic styled by Abigail Ahern picked from here, and bottom right here |