NEST Vintage & Handmade: Define Your Interior Style

I find it difficult to pin down a common thread in my interior style sometime, because there are so many different things that I like, some really modern, others super rustic. After reading The House that Lars Built recent post on 'defining your style and how to identify it', I thought about it, looked through my Pinterest boards, and nailed it down. My Interior Style is 'Contemporary Scandinavian Cottage'. I love a good mix of old and new, modern and rustic, and I gravitate towards Scandinavian design. Maybe it's because I'm half Norwegian and grew up with my grandparents midcentury arm-chairs covered in orange wool fabric (never liked them growing up, but I'm really digging them now!), and lots of old stuff from my mother's childhood home in Norway.

We've got a weatherboard house that was built in the 1950s, with wood floors and heaps of character that screams cottage! We have to compliment the architecture of the house and add our own things. My husband and I lived in Eastern Europe for a little while and picked up some treasures in Estonia, Hungary, Finland, Russia, and Norway. We got a contemporary looking sofa, but almost all the wooden furniture, like tables, hutches, shelves, bedside tables are vintage or second hand. We just love them up a little bit with a lick of paint or a polish and put them in amongst the other things. And of course, there are some IKEA pieces thrown in here and there.

I think the prerequisites for Contemporary Scandinavian Cottage are sleek surfaces paired with raw or natural surfaces, such as wood or stone - bringing the outside in with floral fabrics, wall paper, or branches and floral arrangements - animal hides such as cow or sheep, and cozy textures in fabrics.

Here are some photos of things that I think capture the 'Contemporary Scandinavian Cottage' style.