apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Wah. I miss the white-painted floors of my old apartment.

Besides the light. It is interesting to note the balance in these rooms. The furniture is edited down to the comfortable minimum and there are few unnecessary object cluttering table tops. I also love the balance in the furniture between modern and old.

I love the white-painted floors in the first photo! We've been thinking of doing that in our bedroom...anyone have any tips or know of any good resources to direct us?

Love the painted floors but I also loooove the herringbone pattern on the living room floor (3rd picture)!

Brooklynnina, I just painted the wood floor in one of the bedrooms in my house white. It came out BEAUTIFULLY!

I'll be posting a full list of the process on my blog this weekend, but in brief, this is what I did:

- scraped out gunk from between floorboards
- two passes with orbital sander (medium, then fine)
- patched holes with Zinsser Ready Patch
- vacuumed like crazy
- cleaned with TSP substitute
- vacuumed like crazy
- Zinsser BIN 1-2-3 primer (2 coats)
- spot-primed any stains bleeding through with Zinsser shellac spray
- Benjamin Moore Floor & Patio epoxy-reinforced enamel (2 coats)

the third picture reminds me of my flat I had in Oakland, oh to float furniture in the middle of the room, sigh.

I like the white painted floors in pictures not sure if I would day after day. I am more drawn to dark floors because almost everything and anything looks great on them.

I really like the last photo! White floors are very pretty, but then I think they would be horrible to keep clean. :) I prefer the contrast of a wood color with all the white, it warms it up.

These are so beautiful! I live in central Michigan (super long winters) and for our current house, have gone with all while ceilings, white trim and pale walls. It's made such a huge difference this Winter in my mood. Our last house (same town) had some darker griege walls, and all the trim was the original dark stained wood. While cozy, it felt more cooped-up in the Winter.

i love how a lot of the furniture and accessories in these spaces are from ikea :) makes it feel more accessible to me

Gorgeous rooms! Makes me wish I had that much space in my rooms.

Living in Seattle it's especially important to decorate with bright colors! I love the Swedish style.

Ashley
rainycitystyle.blogspot.com

Does anyone know the name for the type of fireplace pictured? Is it possible to find something similar in the US? Thanks for any help.

I'm a big fan of scandinavian interiors.. I just can't get enough... If you are a fan too, I'd like to share a couple of links of my blog with you, where you can see lots of examples of both swedish and danish interiors.

http://delikatisssen.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/un-sueno-blanco-en-goteborg/
http://delikatisssen.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/inspiracion-copenhague/
http://delikatisssen.wordpress.com/2008/11/19/inspiracion-estocolmo-suecia/
http://delikatisssen.wordpress.com/2008/12/24/amplitud-en-33m²/
http://delikatisssen.wordpress.com/2008/11/18/2-habitaciones-64-m²/

Masonry heater

I love the emphasis on space and light in these interiors rather than a lot of trendy furniture. It's the kind of place that allows you to focus on your life, rather than on collecting a bunch of things that will be out of style in two years anyway.

It's a Swedish tiled stove, called a Kakelugner of Kakelugnar.

There are antique and new ones available:

http://www.lindholm-kakelugnar.com/omoss.php?lang=en
http://www.stacken.kth.se/~xymox/swedish_antiques.html
http://www.krona-kachelofen.com/
http://www.kakelugnspannan.com/indexeng.htm

There is a fellow in Vermont who has been trained in them (there always is in Vermont!!)

http://www.vtbrickoven.com/masonry/swedish1.html

Very nice. At the foot of the bed is a Karaja Runner. They often have similar look to Heriz Rugs, but typically have Single weft construction and are often found at a lower price point.

Living in Sweden and having spent alot of time looking on the real estate market I just have to point out that all those pictures are taken by profesional photographers using various techniques to lighten up the photos to the extreme.

We had out own apartment photographed and could hardly recognize - it was alot whiter and lighter than in reality. Not to say that it was terrible trying to live in in it during the weeks it was out on the market, because all our stuff were gone.

That's the other point - ALL of these have been homstyled - meaning that most of the furniture have been removed. It is common practice here that when you sell an apartment you remove as much as possible of the furniture.

Trust me - nobody live with as little stuff as they are having in those photos!

I disagree with Evergirl. I lived 6 years in Denmark, (very similar to Sweden) and I have to say that living with less furniture is the trend among the new generations. You're rigth on the techniques for selling houses, to lighten up the pictures etc. but scandinavians under 40 tend to follow this trend of living with just a few good pieces of furniture, instead of "living in a museum". They simply hide all the stuff they aren´t using at the time and renew the look of the rooms with accesories and linens. Of course it gets messy sometimes, clothes and shoes on the bedrooms floor, magazines and letters on the dining room table, they sure have a routine like the most of us. We all try to declutter when taking photos of our homes. But believe me this style is the trend in their homes.

Thank you all for the masonry/stove references. I've seen them in a few different pictures and didn't know what to ask for. I'm trying to find a replacement for our truly awful insert fireplace so your info is helpful.