Buying your first home can be a messy business. Finding a good location, the right amenities, and a space you’d like to live in all present difficulties. Decorating your first interior is no different. How can you find the easiest and most cost-efficient way to make your small space shine? These four examples of Scandinavian design show how to make the most of your home, on a range of budgets. Showing four small spaces, they each use a combination of wood, brick, textiles and colouring to make your home functional and beautiful. Take a peek to get your first home on the right, Scandinavian-inspired, track.
Our first design in Warsaw, Poland, measures only 30sqm. Using furniture from IKEA, its contemporary yet light look is perfect for a first home owner on a budget. Clad in grey walls, the lounge opens up to a space centred by a floral papier mache light. Six figure sketches ground a blue couch, while a black mock hide holds a beige counterpart and steel and wood table. Lit by a balcony streaming over a light wooden floor, the rest of the room holds plants, a row of fairy lights and a Scandinavian bookcase in a functional, breathable space.
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A turn around shows a simple, classic example for grey kitchens. Forming an L shape beside the entrance, grey marks the kitchen spot without dominating the room. A row of white cabinets blend into the wall, which hold another row of white potted herbs. With a white breakfast table headlined by an art deco print, the space screams relaxation with a dash of character.
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Blue points out the bedroom, with a midnight feature wall. Featuring a papier mache flower similar to the lounge, a white bed matching surrounding walls creates an open and airy feel. A leaning mirror extends the room; a white fluffy rug makes it cosy.
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The bathroom is an exemplary use of space, lined with strips of LED lighting. Clothed in white tiles and glass panes, Scandinavian wooden shelving offers a low-key place for essentials. A mirror and gold-patterned tiles provide a space for preening, as a white porcelain bath fits snug into the corner.
Designed by the same studio, our next Warsaw interior is a bachelor’s haunt. Featuring darker, more contemporary elements, it uses a tight 35sqm space to upgrade and optimise each apartment corner. Leading in with the lounge, a stand-out idea light drops ceremoniously from the ceiling, a simple yet effective statement. Surrounded by white walls, a velvet couch and coffee table mix with a breakfast version and trunk of a tree. As a 1972 Bertrandt poster says Solaris, two hover lamps stand and sit simultaneously. Paired with a black-skinned rug, the look is personal, contemplative – and not overly daring.
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A black wall catches the eye in a bold and masculine move. Hosting a stack of Scandinavian shelving, its dominance reflects off a mirror and saves valuable space. The star of the interior, it provides a sleek feature wall for the bedroom, a leader for a concrete counterpart, and a wrap-around entrance for guests. Continuing the bedroom’s black side wall, it contrasts against light-wooden floors whilst matching the poster, rug and TV from the lounge.
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A look to the kitchen creates difference again, as its walls shine in lighter hues. More muted than many black and white kitchens, its white cabinets pair with a black extractor fan for a monochrome meal-making space. Floored by grey tiles and rimmed by grey bench, its light-wooden island both opens the space and refers to lounge furniture. Not to compete with the black feature wall, it provides a functional space that keeps the interior classic, clean and contemporary.
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Hugged by black and concrete, the bachelor pad is centred in the bedroom. A Rocky poster by Bertrandt welcomes in the viewer, as a half-window behind lights it up. Lit at night by two idea bulbs either side, the bed relaxes in casual white on grey, leading to a keyboard for a before-bed jam. Looking diagonally, its greys, whites and blacks match the kitchen, while forming a decidedly-individual sleeping space.
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The bathroom creates another vibe, using the same Scandinavian influences. Lightened by white tiles and a proliferation of wood, the focal point lies in a granite L-wall at the back. Grey tiles from the kitchen lead into two walls holding white and wood; one with a towel rail and toilet, the other with idea bulbs and a hanging mirror. Cleverly masking a washing machine under wooden cabinetry, a few soaps and lotions act the feature in a shower-built LED panel.
Mustard is the word for our next interior. Designed to fill one room, the bedroom, lounge, kitchen and dining areas form a relaxed Scandinavian centre. A range of white and mustard cabinets catch the eye on the front wall, holding a TV-towering metal stag. Matching a Christmas deer above the bed, grey wooden floors lead to a row of high cabinets, a bookcase-held bed, and an array of framed prints. A large geometric rug adds dashes of colour afront a couch peppered with cushions.
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To the right, mustard catches the eye again in an L-shaped block. Marking the kitchen, its matching cabinetry and SMEG are lit by three hanging lights, which dapple over different-patterned benchtops and tiles. Drawing the viewer in, a chrome extractor fan and utensil row reveal a window to the side, lighting lemons.
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Each corner of the room offers a different delight. Clad in beige and grey tones, a reading spot to the left hides books in its walls and trinkets on its sill. The most mustard of yellow kitchens, the opposing wall offers a bright eating space resplendent with a grey island and Scandinavian side cupboard. A turn to the right reveals the couch and bed relaxing, amidst sprinkled hues and textiles on a ranging wooden floor.
Our final space sits at a grey-painted, brick-clad 40sqm. Another one-room interior, it comprises a living room, bedroom, kitchen and dining area in one compact frame. Facing the couch, walls swathed in light grey perfectly match its fabric, as a multi-hued rug, leaning abstract and black-and-white polaroids sit afront and behind. As a windowed door lights exposed brick, three stripes of grey intersect, adding a distinctive, almost French look. A range of wooden tones line the floor, TV cabinet and unique coffee table, creating a cozy place for evening viewing.
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Stepping back from the couch, the bedroom makes itself known. A column of Scandinavian shelves hold busts, books and potted plants, as a large wooden bed spreads across the space in white and grey. Using classic light wood, a row of wheelable boxes offer under-bed storage; a desk to the side, a place for reflection. Opening up to a window with a city view, a strip of Florentine lino fills a space otherwise empty.
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Grounded on the same lino, the dining room and kitchen hang a gold-painted dome over a round wooden table. Drenched in grey wallpaper, the kitchen inlet affords a cameo appearance of distressed brick. A charcoal fridge and black extractor fan add the industrial beside Scandinavian potted plants, antique plates and chrome accessories. The entrance wall to the side hides the shoes.
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