HOW TO ADOPT THE PRINCIPLES OF SWEDISH DESIGN IN YOUR HOME
Exploring the Scandinavian way of living and how we can all benefit from a little ‘hygge’ and ‘lagom’ in our lives.
WHAT IS ‘HYGGE’ AND ‘LAGOM’?
‘Hygge‘ was introduced to the UK in recent years as the Danish ideal of a warm, cosy home and lifestyle. This can be achieved through additions to your home to create a ‘hygge’ feeling, including candles, real fires, throws and blankets, and comfort food and drinks such as homemade cakes, treats and hot drinks.
The Swedish word ‘lagom’, meaning ‘Not too little, not too much’ or ‘Just the right amount’ is thought to be a way of life for Swedish households, implying a balance of living an enjoyable yet sustainable lifestyle. It’s essentially about creating a permanent work/life balance, happiness and reducing your environmental impact on the planet.
Swedish furniture store IKEA has even created its own project ‘Live Lagom’ to teach people how to live more sustainably.
WHAT IS SO UNIQUE ABOUT SWEDISH AND SCANDINAVIAN DESIGN PRINCIPLES?
According to Wikipedia, Scandinavian design is a design movement characterised by simplicity, minimalism and functionality that emerged in the 1950s in the five Nordic countries of Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Denmark.
It’s clear that in the UK we’ve been a fan of Nordic design for some time – the first IKEA store selling Swedish designed furnishings opened in the UK in 1987 and now has 20 stores nationwide. Alongside this, the internet has opened up a wealth of opportunities to explore the Scandinavian lifestyle, with items for our homes, such as sofas, furniture, lamps, cushions, rugs and tableware. We can even purchase Swedish fashion from online retailers shipping to the UK.
In fact, Sweden is the birthplace of many other successful innovative companies, including Volvo, Electrolux, Ericsson, H&M, Skype and Spotify to name a few. It is also the origin of many important inventions, such as the three-point seatbelt and of course, The Nobel Prize is the legacy of Swedish inventor, Alfred Nobel.
Many homeowners in the UK are now embracing the Swedish style and ethos in the homes they create, often working with package home companies in the UK to create their own Scandinavian inspired, energy efficient homes.
Some of the Scandinavian design principles are highlighted in this item on the Real Homes website, that explores Scandinavian room designs:
https://www.realhomes.com/design/cosy-scandi-room-design-ideas, and this article from Land of Rugs: 25 interior updates to create a modern scandi style.
HOW TO ADOPT A SCANDINAVIAN STYLE IN YOUR HOME
Scandinavian style interiors can be adopted in any room in your home, by using clean, simple lines, stylish yet practical storage, large windows that let in the light, combined with natural materials, such as wood and wool to add warmth and texture.
Furthermore, you can also embrace the Swedish respect for the environment which is reflected in their passion for efficiency, sustainability and recyclability of their materials and design – only 1% of Sweden’s waste goes to a rubbish dump and 52% of their energy comes from renewables.
When creating a Scandinavian inspired home it’s clear that you need a balance of clean lines, simple style, energy efficiency and lots of light.
Westcoast unique bonded construction composite windows and doors provide these elements in abundance.
Offering some of the best energy efficiency and thermal insulation ratings on the market, their high quality, low maintenance aluminium exterior and warm, wood interior bring the light in, but keep the elements out.
HOW TO CREATE ‘LAGOM’ WITH COMPOSITE WINDOWS
We believe that our Swedish manufactured composite windows and doors fit perfectly with the ‘lagom’ way of living, with sustainability at the heart of our ethos.
Manufactured following the Swedish principles of functional, yet elegant design, efficiency and durability, our windows and doors are built using the highest quality materials to withstand all weather conditions, for a superior lifespan and minimum maintenance.
Our double and triple-glazed composite windows use our unique construction to achieve impressive energy efficiency ratings and high levels of insulation, achieved through improvements in glass sealed unit performance and in our aluminium and timber bonded construction.
Along with this, Westcoast are committed to using only energy efficient sustainable materials that can be recycled or disposed of by environmentally friendly methods. Because of our unique window construction we don’t need to rely on preservative to treat our wood, only water-based paint.
What better way to embrace the ‘lagom’ way of life, with Swedish manufactured composite windows and doors for your self-build project, replacement windows or commercial development.
The Westcoast triple-glazed Design series of composite windows, doors and sliding doors offers a contemporary feel, suited to modern architecture with a deeper glass unit creating a minimal step between outer glass and frame for maximum light, a flush finish and simple, elegant lines. The deeper triple glazed unit not only looks good, but provides greater efficiency – the larger glass cavity increases the windows thermal performance, giving you a U-value of 1.0 W/m2k for opening and 0.9 W/m2k for fixed windows.
Take a closer look at the triple-glazed Design series and the colour and finishes available: STYLES & OPTION
For more ideas for your new-build project, visit our COMPOSITE WINDOWS IMAGE GALLERY.
