My Scandi-Inspired Dining Room

Small space living comes with its set of challenges and rewards. For one, it doesn’t take nearly as much furniture to fill up our modest 1,500 square foot townhouse. On the other hand, picking the right pieces and having enough room for storage proved to be a challenge while decorating our dining/living room.

I spent countless hours researching Scandinavian design to understand what makes their beautiful spaces so appealing. Aside from being minimal, they know how to mix the old with the new making their approach to interior design relaxed, warm, and inviting.

While Geoff and I have a deep appreciation for mid-century modern furniture I knew we didn’t want to lean into the mid-century aesthetic too much and lose our personality in the process.

We’re very fortunate to have a record player table that once belonged to his grandparents in our home. The touch of vintage contrasts nicely with the geometric legs from the EQ3 dining room table and works well with the Nicaraguan artifacts that I have sprinkled all over the place. (I’m originally from Nicaragua and having objects from my home country is very important to me.)

Since we already had a lot of different wood tones in the dining room I knew I wanted to create balance by introducing more black accents via the table, chairs, and the canvas print, by Swedish graphic designer, Olle Eksell. Black also happens to tie in the accessories displayed on my bookshelf beautifully.

My overall vision was to have a space inspired by the Scandinavian aesthetic while staying true to our personality and style. I didn’t overthink the process and decorated with what I had on hand, only moving furniture around to create the impact that I was after.

10 Principles of Scandinavian Design

1. Minimal

2. Opt for Quality

3. Think Neutral (but have fun with pops of colour)

4. Bring Nature Inside

5. Cozy is a Way of Life

6. Functionality

7. Clean Lines

8. Use Contrast

9. Have fun with Graphic Pattern

10. Eco-Friendly and Efficiency are Important

DINING ROOM DETAILS

Dining room table, EQ3 (discontinued, similar here)
Canvas Print, Olle Eksell from Photowall Sweden
Chairs, Structube (similar here)
Record player table, vintage
Lamp, Herman Miller (small size)
Rug, Ikea (similar here)
Bookshelf, EQ3 Climb Shelf (similar here)
Porcelain Hand, Jonathan Adler fruit bowl

Photographed by Nathalie Martin.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you choose to buy something, I will get a small commission from the sale. This doesn’t impact the price you pay. Affiliate links are just another way to monetize my blog.

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