A fab Danish home with a Moroccan twist

Godmorgon! It's Friday! Woop! I'm always super slow on Fridays, how about you?! I think I'm a secret 'four day weeker' except my mind hasn't told my body yet so I'm still at my laptop. Either that or I'm dreaming about the prospect of chilling out here over the next couple of days (can't wait!). But thankfully things feel super easy today since this little beauty of a Danish home dropped into my mailbox last night. Do you remember Julie Wittrup Pladsbjerg and her lovely flat in the Danish city of Aalborg (lest we forget that purple bike!)? Julie (who works for a Moroccan interior store), her boyfriend Mads and daughter Vanilla recently moved from the 5th floor to the ground floor in the same apartment block. Their new home has been furnished with a wonderful blend of designer items, vintage finds and Moroccan wares, or as Julie puts it: 'green, Scandinavian with a twist of Moroccan in my own, cosy, warm and colourful style'. Let's take a tour...

Home-owner: Julie Wittrup Pladsbjerg. Photographer: Benjamin Lassen. 

What a fab home - the apartment itself has beautiful bones and I love Julie's mix and match style.
How about you?

Get the look: dining area - Tom Dixon copper round pendant, Panton chair, Tripp Trapp children's chair, source a lovely boucherouite rug here and kilim cushions here, these string lights are similar. sitting room - source fashion prints and posters here, string pocket shelves.

In case you missed it, you can take a peek at Julie's previous apartment here and here and keep up to date with her latest home projects here.

If you fancy dipping into a whole host of other beautiful Danish spaces today, you could always check out the Danish home archive (oh yes!). My top tips - don't miss the dreamy home of a best selling author, an inviting space with vintage touches, and an eclectic apartment with attitude. Oh I do love Danish style!

Have a wonderful weekend!

PS I'll be dropping in tomorrow with a little pure linen inspiration.

PPS Or if it's drink trolleys (bar carts) you're after, you might want to hop on over to The Washington Post where I contributed to a splurge or save feature! So fun! Hope you like my selection. 

The dreamy home of a Danish writer

Goddag! I often think about people who 'split their time' between two places - more often than not both are fabulous and evoke serious life envy (in me at least). One such person is the Danish best-selling author Annika Von Holdt. If you follow her on Instagram you'll know that she spends her Winters on Harbour island in the Bahamas (can you imagine?!), has a beautiful apartment in Copenhagen, lives with her son and the cheekiest cat and is very, very funny. I thought it was about time we revisited her lovely home - where the essence of owning a few carefully selected pieces and keeping to a soothing colour scheme allows light and space to dictate the feeling. 

Photography: Annika Von Holdt, shared with kind permission. Thanks to Vosges Paris for inspiring this post!

So dreamy, don't you think? The muted colours, the light wood floors, the large windows and high ceilings - the de-cluttered neature of the space. Everything?!

Plus there are at least ten pieces that I'd absolutely love in my own home including: the Gervasoni Ghost sofa,  Platner coffee table, Bertoia diamond chairs, Flos floor lamp, Gatto table lamp (a new favourite), Panton chair, Mad et Len scented candles (I've had my eye on these for a while!), Z1 pendant (cheating a bit with this one as I already have it in my bedroom!), pure linen bedding, and a white sheepskin throw.

Think I might just nip out and buy a lottery ticket.... back shortly!

Is there anything you'd like to recreate in your home?

See more pics of Annika's lovely Danish home here.

Have a lovely day!

PS If you could - where would you split your time between? I'm thinking Sweden, London, The Alps, Kerala and the Bahamas. Actually, would I be allowed to swap in new places each year?

My Residence: an elegant Danish home

The beauty of jet lag is that you wake up a little earlier than normal without a double strength coffee - giving you a whole morning to rock about in a relaxed way (this must be how 'morning people' feel everyday?!).  So far I've managed a whole load of things - but my favourite moment of all was calmly leafing through the latest edition of My Residence (if you're not familiar with it - imagine one of Sweden's most beautiful interior magazines beautifully packaged in a Bookazine and written in English. Yes, I know!). In this edition I got completely stuck on the beautiful Copenhagen apartment of Kinfolk founder Nathan Williams. Think elegance with an edge, rich golden hues, beautiful architecture and lots of space to breath. Enjoy!

 Photography - Magnus Mårding Courtesy of Residence magazine.

So beautiful! I love how Nathan has selected only a few key pieces, allowing each to stand out. And although minimalist, it has a wonderful lived in feel too.

The Danish 90 degree floor lamp by Frama is one of my favourites - love how it's covered in books in this home.

Is there any inspiration you'll take away with you from this home?

You can order the latest edition of My Residence here. And see more pics of Nathan's home here.

Have a wonderful day!

The inviting home of a Danish florist

One of the surprising things I learned about Sweden when I moved here is that Christmas decorations are officially taken down on 13th January. This unnerved me as I grew up in England where I was led to believe leaving them up past twelfth night / 6th January is unlucky (what tradition do you have in your country?). These days I go with the flow and although our Christmas tree has long since gone I've grown to love the twinkling fairy lights which brighten up our neighbourhood in the first half of January.  It helps that the festive touches are subtle and all about nature too. A fine example of this can be seen in the charming Danish home of florist Signe Nelleman Bruun. White walls and floors and old wood beams serve as a magnificent backdrop for lovely displays of spruce, pine cones, moss and bare branches while lanterns, cosy blankets and rugs both inside and out add a warm and inviting feel. Let's take a peek!

Credit: Niels & Iben Ahlberg - www.ahlberg.photo. Shared with kind permission.

Oh so lovely, don't you think?!

I especially love the back yard with it's roaring fire, cosy blanket and the scent of hyacinths, spruce and rosemary in the air.

Is there anything that stands out to you?

Get the look from Signe's beautiful home: this lantern is similar, light grey reindeer hide throw, beautiful sheepskin and rug by Private0204. This dark grey linen duvet cover and soft grey blanket are similar.

Have a lovely day!

PS There's a blizzard raging outside here in Southern Sweden - definitely a double coffee and chunky knit blanket kind of morning!

An inviting Danish home with vintage touches

Hello there! I had a mail yesterday asking for advice on how to create a Scandinavian feel on a budget. Of course, there are many different looks (both dark and light) but I suggested starting with a light backdrop - white or light grey walls matched with a wood or white washed floor. From there you can make the space unique with a wonderful mix of vintage pieces (it's incredible what you can find at flea markets both at home and abroad, online auctions and one of my favourite sites - Etsy!) and combined with the odd highstreet ( IKEA find and fab new Nordic pieces. Keep textures natural using materials such as wood, leather and linen and add plenty of sheepskin and candlelight for that true hygge feel! What do you reckon? Is this your idea of a Scandinavian home? To my surprise, I found the most beautiful apartment today to illustrate my vision! Step inside the wonderful, warm and inviting home of Henrik Hemmingsen, director of Copenhagen boutique and online store Fil de Fer, captured by Martin Sølyst. I'd love to tuck into that breakfast in bed and stay all day, how about you?!

Credit: photography Martin Sølyst (shared with kind permission).

How toasty! And conceived from an entirely white backdrop too - it's amazing how vintage finds in wood and leather can add character and warmth to a space. Time to start looking for bargains? Or perhaps a visit to Fil de Fer is in order?!

A few ideas to steal from Henrik's lovely home: pick up a vintage punch bag here, cosy up with this grey sheepskin. Source a selection of vintage and antique brass candles here. The Norwegian cabin I stayed in last week had the same Tolix dining chairs (source vintage ones here and here - although you'll need to hurry, they only have a few left!) which they then softened with sheepskin seat covers. This dark grey linen bed cover and selection of cushions are beautiful.

A little note on floor paint. Rather than opting for white I went for a very pale grey (slightly confusingly named 'strong white' in my bedroom  - which I really love and can highly recommend.

A few more fab danish homes to drool over today: a lovely apartment with a relaxed vibe, the home of a Danish style icon and finally a danish home with dusty hues and a homespun feel.  Ahhh, so lovely, don't you think?!

Have a wonderful day!

PS I loved reading your 2017 home decorating goals in the houseology give-away, so inspiring! I'm excited to now have announced the winner here!

A lovely Danish student's home - revisited!

Last week I shared pictures from Danish student Julie Wittrup Pladsbjerg's lovely home. And guess what? I just discovered another set! These lovely shots were taken by Tia Borgsmidt (shared with kind permission) and stylist Mette Helena Rasmussen about a year ago. It's fascinating to see how a home evolves over the space of a year (Julie shares all the changes on IG here). I love the rustic wood beams,  day bed (oh how I could kick back there right now with a magazine) and that fab bike! Is there anything that stands out to you?

Photos Tia Borgsmidt (shared with kind permission). Stylist Mette Helena Rasmussen. Homeowner: Julie Wittrup Pladsbjerg

I'm still wishing I lived like this when I was a student, how about you?!

Another things I noticed this time were the gymnastic rings - I've never managed to conquer these - have you?! But that's not to say they don't add a cool sporty edge to the space (in combo with that bike).  Do you have any exercise equipment at home?

Other Danish homes I absolutely love are all squirreled away here (scroll passed the first one as it's likely to be this one).

I'm heading off on a photo shoot today in the Skåne countryside, so excited!

I hope you have a lovely day!

Pretty greens and blues in a Copenhagen home

This lovely 1920's Copenhagen home in a former sculptur's atelier is decorated in the prettiest of pretty greens, turquoise and blues. It's one of those homes which never goes on the market - owner Josefine Bentzen, an award winning industrial designer, who lives here with husband Steen Piil inherited it from her parents. The couple have decorated the space with the perfect blend of romantic country, mid-century and scandinavian modern to create a truly unique and personal home. What a treasure?! 

Boligliv.

My Mum works in a former artists studio in West London and the space is structured in a very similar way, with the same high windows on the walls and an angled sky light. The windows are also likely to be north facing to ensure reflected or indirect light which helps the artist have greater control over values, contrasts and subtle colour changes within a painting or sculpture (if you live in the southern hemisphere these would face south).

Artist or no artist, wouldn't it be fab to have windows like these in your home?!

Other items I know and love: source a vintage Cobra phone on ebay, try Lauritz for a RAR rocking chair, or Design Collectors for a modern version. Mid-century credenzas are often coming up here.

I love the idea of spaces that have an interesting past. Previous spaces I've shown include a former carpenter's workshop, an artist's home in a converted button factory and a family home in a former kindergarten. So wonderful, don't you think?!

Does your home have an interesting past?

Have a lovely day!