A Serene Swedish Home Has Mastered a Beautiful, Monochromatic Color Palette

Marléne, with husband, and two children, two cat, and one dog
Gävle, Sweden
2260 square feet

Welcome to “The World at Home: 31 Real House Tours Around the Globe.” Check out where else we’ve visited this month here.

Marléne, an interior influencer living in Sweden, has a real knack for mastering a monochromatic color palette. The home she shares with her husband and two kids (plus pets!) is awash in soft neutral colors that create an incredibly serene feeling to the space. But this house isn’t boring just because it’s lacking in bold or brash colors. Marléne has incorporated patterns and textures in a way that has added tons of interest to the home.

Describe your home’s decor style in 5 words: Wood elements, warm colors, DIY and cozy.

What’s your favorite thing about your home? I love my kitchen because of the space and that we have a lot of storage. It’s light but yet have that cozy feeling. I want the kitchen not to be so sterile. I honestly love our whole house because we have done so many things here since we moved in 9 years ago. You wouldn’t believe how big of a transformation it is.

My home is a place that represent us. I want it to feel unique and not like everyone else’s house. I love to make my own furniture, it doesn’t have to be that straight lines a and smooth surfaces, I like it rustic.

What’s your least favorite thing about your home? The basement! Its a good space and it has a LOT of potential but we really don’t know where to start

What city is your home in? How does the space itself and the decor reflect the region (if it does)? My home is in Gävle, 1,5 hour north of Stockholm. The city lies next to the ocean and we have about a 10 minute walk from our home to the ocean. The city is middle-sized with about 100,000 in population. My house surely reflects on the area where I live. We have a lot of beautiful forests here and thats where I can think and get my inspiration from.

What’s your best small space trick? I’m a big fan of details in rattan and with a little imagination you can easily use small spaces. I have used small shelves from IKEA and placed them above each other in a small corner in our house and then I used small rattan baskets on every shelf to get as much as storage as possible. It’s cheap, so it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. I try to give my followers inspiration to actually use their imagination and create things that fits YOUR home.

What’s the most recent thing you’ve bought for your home? The most recent thing I bought was a couple of cushion covers and some small interior details.

What’s the one thing that makes your space feel like home? The one thing that makes our house feel like home is that it is made by us, by our needs and preferences. I believe that you can get a lot of inspiration from social media but in the end it’s all about what you want and what you desire.