Round is my favourite shape. I really like to have round going round – in a room. In our living room we have a round rug and a CYRK poster with a round motif and a lamp with round wood beads. And a curvy sofa. Everything else is of course squary, including the TV (but hey, isn’t this a great new design idea – round tv’s? Would look wonderful…) My point is the round shape can be a unifier just like colours and other themes. And the roundness adds some kind of movement, which I like. Anyhow, the round shape is all over the walls these days!

We’ve seen the a lot of plates…

…maybe they are starting to come down.( and broken china is an excellent material to reuse).

The ethnic and globetrotterish trend brought baskets, which are the new plates.

| both pics via vtwonen |

Another cool, round, detail is the convex mirrors.

Abigail Ahern has someultra-stylish ones in her collection (one featured bottom left) and Graham & Green has some really nice ones too (all the others in above pic.) Well that was all the roundness I had for tonight, now I’ll rotate to bed :) See ya!

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 |

From my urban-Swedish position I continue to examine the trendification of the countryside. Here’s another fresh and inspiring example. An urban career couple with a nice Stockholm apartment stumbled upon a very rickety, even dilapidated, timber cottage from the year 1792. It was in the beautiful countryside region of Hälsingland, and so their four-year adventure began to make the decrepit place a homey home.

The entire interior of the old cottage was dismantled and fixed by using traditional methods and materials. The couple also endeavored to add traditional patterns and forms from the district, e.g. the rugs below, woven by grandma. The chairs in the dining room are newly manufactured after old model and has been painted with linseed oil according to the district’s tradition: grey frame and black seat.

The city pair became a family running their own business in a rural area. They have now the house of their hearts, a fixed point in life with great comfort. And may I add, with great style. I fully understand projects of this kind! And it’s great to see trendy interior styles be applied to, and created in, beautiful countryside houses.

| story – and all images, by Anna Kern for, – SvD |

There is something going on in the country side! It’s genuine and stylish back-to-the-bone country living, granny-inspired eco-vintage living and lovely chic examples of romantic-rustic and rough romance. Additionally, there’s a surge in nature styles. Prominent clean wood, urban lush and nature-city mix as well as the use of brown and green palettes and botanical guests. I’d say it’s only human. The work-around-the-clock urban people need a soothing place to return to and the extended love for countryside living most probably only just started: In the light of technological advance especially, the classic reasons for living in the city are rapidly losing in strength. No wonder then, the countryside is a haven of trendiness.

This old barn below, in the rural parts of Holland, originally housed hay to feed the chickens, rabbits, cows and pigs. Neglected for centuries, two interior designers decided to restore it and call it a home.

…and did they succeed! The old barn transformed into a bright and ultra-stylish dwelling with the rustic and natural character kept intact. The living room and kitchen above are so trendy trendey almost expode. And then we have not yet looked at the bathroom and bedroom (below). I drool…Before I close my mouth, just look at the details, the lovely rag rug next to the free-standnig enamel tub, the wooden Eames-stool serving as a bedside table…

| all images: marie claire maison |

This home, featured at mixr.se, is nothing less than pure country living! The house is situated outside the sunny town Karlstad in Sweden, and the couple living in it actually manage without water and sanitary sewer. However, they have broadband (!) The old log house has been passed down for generations. Current inhabitants are the eighth generation. Johan’s grandmother’s father’s cousin Hildur lived there last. Hildur’s old glasses are kept as an interior detail.

Kitchen-wise they do well with an old bench, a pantry, a wood stove and a shelf. And a refrigerator and freezer placed in a corner. The plan is however to install a proper kitchen with, of course, retro or vintage appliances. But the old wood stove will never be exchanged to an electric one. They’ve become so attached it, and it’s also one of the main heat sources in the house. Now how is this for geniune country style! And at the same time cozy, folksy and trendy.

We continue the Grandmother-Is-A-Decor-Hero track with this pic from the home of Underbaraclara‘s grandmother. This colour explosion of a house was decorated in times when decor-anxiety did not exist. Interior magazines had not seen the light, let alone interior blogs, and people did not use to put grades on what is ugly and what is nice. Furnished and decorated from the owner’s head and heart. Just as it should be.

Underbaraclara herself (yes, that is her name, Wonderful Clara, highly appropriate!) holds Grandmother as a role model in her own house decorating. Below is a fine example. She has sewn a curtain out of kitchen towels – easy and amazingly nice and summery in an old house or a cottage. And perhaps it is Grandmother herself who has weaved the fine rag rugs that adorn the floors.

Discuss!