The Scandinavian in Me

I was always very certain about the fact that I would never want to build my own house from scratch just because I think it would be a total disaster. This purely comes down to the fact that I am a designer and therefore I am constantly seeing new styles, new furniture, new products and getting new ideas, which would normally be a good thing for interior design projects, but to try and put them all together into one house for myself...hmm...best not.

I have however changed my mind! The combination of scrolling through my personal tumblr page of images that I have been assembling over the past months and having just been back to Holland for the christmas break has finally made it clear to me what my personal style is in terms of my home. Being back in the cold winter weather was a shock to the system after our first few months in Dubai but my yummy knitted jumpers and blankets on the sofa in front of the fire were also very welcomed. I do miss the coziness of winter. Amongst the many enjoyable dinners, drinks and other social gatherings with friends and family there was one visit in particular that swayed my mind and got me thinking/dreaming for the future.

We went to visit our friends Niek & Sylvia who are currently building their own house in Deventer, the designer of which I am proud to announce is my boyfriend Paul Coenen who started up his company Studio Coenen to do so. Here are a few photos of the house so far:

The house is designed on a split level meaning that there is a constant connection between the levels allowing a lot of light through the house making it feel light, social and cozy all at the same time which is really lovely. Their aim was to create a scandinavian inspired house and well they have succeeded so far - despite it being a building site and in Holland and not my house, I somehow managed to make myself feel at home, like I was in Denmark. I didn't think that would ever be possible in Holland but it was just so comfortable, calm and collected, not too big, not too small - me like. Anyway, I look forward to seeing it finished! So naturally I now also want to build my own house and it will be simple, elegant, neat and scandinavian of course preferably with a gorgeous view, but who doesn't want that!?

So when I was looking through my tumblr page, I noticed a reoccurring theme. I seem to go through phases of very exciting bright colours which will be the season trends that come about but in between there is an underlying style which I am very fond of: Light Wood, White, Concrete, Black, Navy Blue, Gold & Silver, Grey Knit, Tangible Textures, Leather, Dark Wood, Brass and Green Nature. In a nutshell: contrast light/dark, natural, neutral, cozy and well-designed. I must be scandinavian after all ;)