I'm just back from the Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair. I had a whirlwind three days in the gorgeously snowy, super design-savvy city to soak up as much Scandinavian goodness as I could fit onto my memory card to bring back and share with you. As I start to wade through the nearly 2000 photos I snapped, it seems right to begin with the place I started each day, my home away from home...
My room was on the top floor (5th) of what was once the largest (non-royal!) building in the city, a theater, which has been recently renovated into its current incarnation as lodging. For a large, very centrally located hotel (just a few minutes walk to the main train station) that is part of a big, well known chain, it was amazingly cozy and homey. Here's a few reasons why:
Decidedly non-chain-hotel-room details abound: amazingly tall pale blue velvet drapes, wood floors with an area rug, a modern chandelier dangling from unusually high ceilings, batten board detailed walls behind the bed instead of a headboard, a bin for sorting recycling, mismatched nightstands, tons of lighting choices and the best part...
...my own turntable with a selection of vintage vinyl to play. One guess as to what was on the top of my stack of albums (keep in mind the locale)...yep, ABBA! The one that got the most play during my too-brief time in the room? The Diamonds are Forever soundtrack.
The public spaces were also welcoming - and busy, with both guests and locals - which I viewed as a sign of success. Every time I passed this centrally located "group workspace" desk, with its line of outlets down the middle, someone was there working - often quite a few people. I think the reason why it wasn't standing empty as these things often are is due in part to the fact that it was glammed up a bit - instead of feeling like some "business center" afterthought, with cold and clinical workstations, it was a shiny gold table with interesting lamps, right in the heart of things.
The cafe off the lobby was bustling. It had a mix of seating options for singles or groups, plenty of reading materials and the most surprising detail to my American eyes...
... the during-the-daytime burning candles (which were seemingly EVERYWHERE in Stockholm). From cafes and restaurants, bars to hotel lobbies, small boutiques to department stores, at the entrances to furniture showrooms and in designers' studios - everyone had candles burning, often in this type of tall candlestick. They automatically evoke the feeling of home and hearth, making even the most public of gathering spaces feel warmly welcoming.
All in all, the not-so-secret secret behind this cozy style that I experienced at my hotel (and elsewhere) in Sweden seems to be to make the outside world more like your home - use the textures and fabrics and color and light that feel attractive to people, first and foremost. If this place had been designed for "high traffic" or "productivity" it certainly would have looked very different and most likely would not have inspired a second look, let alone the snapping of so many photos.
MORE INFO:
• The Hotel: Scandic Grand Central
• The Designers: Koncept Stockholm
(Images: Janel Laban)
Tina Wilson's Striking Style 
Before & After: A Bathroom Goes From Pinky Peach to Sleek and Chic
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Hose Jockey Wall Mount
20 Scrumptious Brunch Recipes 
Magic One-Ingredient Ice Cream 5 Ways: Peanut Butter, Nutella, and More
Comments (18)
Ha- you are right about the open flames all over Stockholm - I was shocked! One jewelry store even had a ring made of wax with a wick in it.
In the US some kid would have burned his eyebrows off on day one and all the candles would be banned...
Is that a mattress topper on that bed?? It looks so cozy - like it hugs you when you sleep.
I noticed two dips in the bed. Were there two separate duvets?
Not a mattress topper, those are the duvets. In most, if not all, of Scandinavia, they use two separate duvets--and no top sheet. Really, it's the only sleeping system that makes sense. I still can't understand why Americans use the configuration that they do!
Love the pictures, but I've got an increasing bone to pick, if that makes sense, about the way we sling around the word "cozy." I quite liked everything I see here, that's not the problem, I'm just feeling as if I see certain words pop up that don't describe the space and feel like mindless verbiage for someone trying to tone up a post.
yes, it's two duvets on a very comfy bed
Sailawayblonde, giving up my top sheet took some getting used to, but now I greatly prefer sleeping without it.
How can sleeping without a top sheet be a good thing? I personally like the option of having a top sheet and duvet.
@sailawayblonde, I would bake to death under two duvets. It's not unusual for me to only use the top sheet and a very light blanket even in winter (of course, San Francisco winter has nothing on Swedish winter!).
I want to hop into that bed and stay there all day, reading. And I love all those lamps on the gold table. I was thinking it had to be some swanky but odd restaurant before you said it was a workspace!
Red, it's two duvets side by side (i.e., one for each person) not layered on top of each other, so I don't think you would bake to death. But personally, when I lived in Scandinavia I never got used to this. If I'm sleeping with my partner, I want to be able snuggle together under one large duvet. With two, there's always cold air coming in between each person's separate duvet. In a cold climate, I like a top sheet, too, as even a thin extra layer helps preserve body heat on cold nights.
If you have a pet sleeping with you or a partner who takes the covers, the two duvet system is divine. Also, if you purchase your duvets from Scandinavia, you will be plenty warm enough in the winter and cool in the summer. The varied weight of their duvets work in many climates--perhaps not the West Coast or the South, though! Try it, you'll never go back.
I'm a spartan, I guess, but I just have to say: there are 8 pillows on that bed (picture #1), making up half of the surface area of the mattress. I find that an unnecessarily large number of pillows for one bed. Swedes: they're so weird!
I have a great affinity for hotels, I feel so comfortable in them, and the ones with great design make me melt. Someone once told me that my apartment looked like a hotel and I took it as the greatest compliment - although they probably didn't mean it as one. :) Keep on posting fabulous hotels AT, I love them!
I love Sweden. Last time I was there, there was so much to take in visually. I find their design sense in public spaces to be far more sophisticated than what you see in the U.S.
Those are two duvets side by side but that is a overlay mattress on top of the bed not a duvet.
Your typical Swedish bed has a thin mattress over a bed that looks more like a box spring. They use a overlay topper mattress which varies in thickness but not a actual mattress like Americans use. They do not lay on a duvet. Besides you should never lay on a good duvet.
Duvet issues aside (I don't understand this duvet-with-topsheet thing either) I notice the curtains in this room are actually two sets of curtains of the same material. The outer set are floor length and the inner (nearly concealed) set are shorter so that when they are pulled they don't cover the radiator. Clever!
I'm surprised that there's that much color in the hotel room! Swedes have a thing with white on white on white...not to mention extreme minimalism. There's no set rule on how to make/dress your bed - it's whatever tickles your fancy. I've been living in Stockholm for 6.5 years, and I still haven't adopted the duvet-only-no-top-sheet lifestyle. Fortunately, it has gotten a bit more common where stores sell top sheets. But then again, I usually do my shopping when I go home for the holidays (much cheaper and variety).
Ann Veal, to each his own. I sleep with four pillows: one on which to rest my head, one for hugging, a smaller one for between my knees, and one to occasionally cover my head.
Eight pillows for two people? Totally works for me.