Monochrome Scandi Style / Copenhagen Collection
Shut the front door! This is the first time I've properly shared a corner of my home since this blog post last year. You might need to sit down. Are you ready?Our living space has been much neglected in the 18 months we've been renting this house. I started out with the best of intentions, aiming for a clean and fresh monochromatic scheme, it suits this mid-century house so perfectly and would make the most of the beautiful light we get, sitting at the top of a valley. I bought two sets of basic cotton tabbed curtains to cover the giant front window, joined, hemmed and dyed them, painted the walls white and ordered our sofa. Then I got distracted and bought a rug which went completely against the grain, and suddenly I was adding in a mish-mash of cushions which, although they looked great on their own, as a collection, they just didn't work. Completely lost, I went off to focus on my office (more of that to come).
So when John Lewis got in touch about their new Copenhagen Collection and would I like to try some of the pieces, I jumped on it as a chance to turn our living space around. The collection oozes monochrome Scandi style, focused on texture- natural wood, wool, cool marble and metal, and you don't need to change your entire look to enjoy it either. It's the perfect time for an update, now Autumn is well and truly upon us, and I relish our evenings cuddled up amongst the cushions and blankets. After playing around and editing out a few bits and pieces, it looked like a completely different space and with very minimal effort. Even Rob was enthusiastic about my choice of cushions, which is highly unusual for him and said it suddenly looked very homely. I win.
I'm not a fan of televisions, in fact, if we didn't have children, I'd scrap it all together, but for now we're stuck with it, so I'm always looking for ways to blend it in a little more. I love the shape of this copper based Albus Twisted Table Lamp with black shade, I've teamed it up with a black framed photo, typographic print designed by my brother and a botanical print on the shelf above to draw attention away from the TV. The little birds nest fern sits in a hand thrown black pot from Tunisia. I'm addicted to buying plants.
Our sofa is looking a little on the sparse side now I've taken the away the offending cushions, but the Chevron and Copenhagen designs have given it a much stronger look. I brought the knitted cotton blanket, originally meant to be a large bedspread, out of storage. It was knitted by my mum who abandoned it years ago and left it gathering dust on a shelf in her living room, so I rescued it. Looks so at home there, don't you think? This corner of the sofa becomes Reuben's during the day when he's a little sleepy after nursery and he loves to snuggle up under the blanket with a warm milk.
My favourite piece of all has to be the bold striped, hand woven Listrado rug. I used this as my "jumping off point" and built on that. Our carpets are horrendous and 'Mr Malawi' (our landlord) refuses to replace them, despite the balding underlay, frayed spots and the occasional screw hiding underneath (I kid you not) so rugs are my go-to piece to give the floors a lift and zone the important areas. The little table is one of three that Rob picked up years ago in a charity shop. They didn't look anything like that when he bought them, but they've been given a new lease of life as a recent DIY project and I can now look at them again. I'll be sharing that with you in a short while, keep those eyes peeled.
The next step will be to warm up the look with some soft pink cushions, a colour that gels really well with Winter Scandi style, a few more copper accessories, maybe even add in some sequins, because I love a little sparkle.So what do you think of monochrome Scandi style? Mosey loves it, don't you?