When we speak of the Gustavian Swedish style, we are referring to King Gustav III who reigned as monarch of Sweden from 1771-1792... Gustav...
A look at Swedish Gustavian style! What it is, how to incorporate it into your home, and how to shop for gorgeous Gustavian pieces!
Entirely made of solid birch wood, the chest of drawers offers a large storage capacity with its three deep drawers. These have been assembled according to an old method which has been well-tried and tested - the dovetail assembly, thus avoiding visible screws. The handles are made out of solid brass, manufactured specially in Sweden for the authentic Gustavian look. The thick solid top with its rounded corners is highlighted by a row of beads and can accommodate various objects such as toys, books, albums, lamps, but also the changing tray sold by us, if you wish to use it as a changing table for the nursery. This timeless piece of furniture is sure to find its place anywhere in the family home, whether it be in the parents’ bedroom, in a hallwall, living room or in a baby’s nursery room.
Decor Inspiration : Turn Of The Century Apartment In Sweden (18th-Century Sweden: The Golden Age of Gustavian Style) Lo stile conosciuto come Gustavian Swedish Style è il neo-classical per quanto riguarda l'archittettura e il design del 18° secolo in Svezia e si fa riferimento al re Gustavo III che regnò come monarca in Svezia dal 1771 al 1792. Nello stile svedese in fatto di design si pensa spesso a dei pallidi colori tenui come il bianco, il panna e il grigio perla non era così nel periodo di re Gustavo III definito uomo di classe dallo stile impeccabile, allora amavano anche i colori intensi e saturi. Questo è un appartamento nel centro di Stoccolma dai soffitti alti, preziose modanature e con delle bellissime doppie-porte e sembra essersi fermato nel tempo. Sono incredibili e belle le antiche finestre ad arco, ci fanno anche immaginare quanto debba essere bella la struttura esterna del palazzo. ( Images via Interior Design Files)
BUNGALOW CLASSIC IS... Fresh. Livable. Thoughtful. And of course, Classic.
In this post - What is Gustavian Style and why I love it! Post may contain affiliate links. Gustavian style is a decorating style named after King Gustav III of Sweden. King Gustav III had gone to visit the Palace of Versailles, and was naturally impressed and decided to create his own Paris of
Gustavian Secretary From Lief
Journey back to an era of refined grace with our Gustavian Revival Side Chair. Carved from the finest acacia wood, each contour and motif whispers of the timeless Gustavian style, transporting you to the cobblestone streets of 18th century Sweden. Gustavian styling, born amidst the opulent courts of King Gustav III, marries neoclassical influences with rustic simplicity. Its elegant lines, intricate carvings, and understated allure encapsulate the essence of that epoch, inviting you to immerse yourself in a world of history and sophistication. Enveloped in natural linen upholstery, the chair exudes a serene beauty, offering a gentle sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of modern life. The choice of linen, celebrated for its resilience and organic charm, further accentuates its connection to nature, beckoning you to unwind and revel in moments of tranquility. Adorned with a soft gray wood finish, the chair radiates a subtle refinement, infusing a touch of contemporary allure into its classic design. This seamless fusion of traditional craftsmanship and modern sensibility ensures that the Gustavian Revival Side Chair effortlessly complements any space, from grand dining halls to intimate boudoirs. Immerse yourself in the elegance and sophistication of yesteryears with the Gustavian Revival Side Chair. A tribute to timeless beauty and exquisite craftsmanship, it invites you to linger awhile, embracing the comfort and allure of a bygone era.
Gustavian Swedish colors are very muted with lots of grays and creams.; but not always. The Gustavian Swedes of the 18th century loved color too!
(via a perfect gray)
See the best of superbly restored historic houses in ‘Classic Swedish Interiors’, just published by author/curator/Swedish national living treasure, the great Lars Sjoberg. Bravo, Lars. Dreamy and delicious authentic neoclassical interiors in Sjoberg’s latest volume on Swedish décor offer inspiration to all designers. There is also ‘The Swedish Country House’ by historian Susanna Scherman. Two new books on historic Swedish interiors are essential for a comprehensive and authoritative design and architecture library. I’ve been fortunate to travel to Sweden several times (always in the glorious summer) and there I’ve spent most of my time speeding from one breath-taking Gustavian-era classical interior to the next. Stockholm. Eighteenth-century. Swoon. These houses, pavilions and palaces are so beautiful in their simplicity, their elegant proportions, and their understated grace. The late eighteenth-century was the golden age of design in Sweden—thanks to the revered young King Gustav III who took his entire court traipsing through Europe. He and his perfumed horde returned to the Stockholm royal palace to recreate elegant Louis XVI interiors and furniture and décor. My sun-struck trips always take me to the dreamy grey/gilded rooms at Haga Pavilion (John Saladino and Paul Wiseman consider these the most beautiful interiors in the world), along with the thrilling Drottningholm opera house, and the hidden recesses and storerooms of the grand National Museum. In my quest for beauty and classicism and Swedish style I also dive into the creme de la creme, a designers’ delight, of antiques galleries, art studios, style ateliers, and palaces and manor houses dotted around the surrounding countryside. Everywhere, in manor houses and books and nooks, the name (and the work of) Lars Sjoberg appears, and I have great admiration for this eminence grise of the Swedish design and architecture world. Sjoberg recently published the new ‘Classic Swedish Interiors’ (Frances Lincoln) with extraordinary photographs of snow-topped cottages and sunlit rooms, dust motes intact, by Ingallil Snitt. This definitive volume is elegant and stylish—and an absolute must for any designer’s library. ‘Classic Swedish Interiors’ is one of the best new design books, highly informative and inspirational. Best of all, Sjoberg’s text is heart-felt and detailed and immediate. His opinions have the power of certainty and experience. This author in his sixties now, and he has restored half of the Swedish countryside, it seems. Half a century ago, when he began, he started an important movement in Sweden, to care for, appreciate and honor hundreds of years of handsome and neglected buildings. Lars Sjoberg, formerly curator at the National Museum of Antiquities in Stockholm, is one of Sweden’s leading authorities on Gustavian interiors, architecture, décor, paints, wood-carving, materials, and authentic decorative arts, all associated with the all-too-brief Enlightenment-era reign of King Gustav III. Sjoberg, who for five years consulted with Ikea on historically based Scandinavian furniture collections, has created his own living archive of houses. Renovating and restoringand reviving houses, he keeps alive authentic Swedish styles, architecture, building methods, furniture building, craftsmanship and the refined and distinctive taste of Sweden’s Gustavian age of greatness and power, liberty and influence, in the region. Over the last four decades, Sjoberg, and Ursula, his wife of 45 years, has acquired forgotten eighteenth-century residences and manor houses and small castles, even little country cottages. With a few hand-picked craftspeople, he restores crumbling walls, repaints walls, sands floors, fixes windows, replasters exteriors, all using paintstaking old techniques and simple materials. Then he furnishes them (rather sparsely, but with great style and taste) and he photographs them as veritable time capsules. ‘My goals have always been to salvage and reveal hidden qualities wherever possible. I feel that if we bulldoze or strip away the past we are depriving the next generation of an essential part of their cultural heritage.’—Author, curator, Lars Sjoberg in ‘Classical Swedish Interiors’ Sjoberg has completed the thorough and highly-detailed restoration of ten houses. He also furnishes them. Some he lives in. Others don't have electricity or plumbing, just like in the rustic old days. He’s totally hands-on—so this white-haired compulsive craftsman can often be seen around town in his shabby and paint-spattered work clothes, his worn-out shoes, tattered jackets and dusty coats, according to my friend Ingela, the found of the wonderful Swedish blog, Love Your Homes . Ingela said Sjoberg is credited with saving houses that others won’t touch—and his reverence for Swedish history is legendary. In the book, we see glorious Sorby, Odenslunda and Salaholm, scattered throughout the Swedish countryside. These are impressive manor houses built by noble families, landowners, successful merchants and even farmers who wanted to bring princely proportions and styles to the provinces. Others, such as the rather palatial Ekensberg—on the shores of Lake Malaren, just west of Stockholm and not far from the center of town—are modeled on Italian villas. Lars Sjoberg is a totally passionate and serious /historical archaeologist. He acquires the houses and this private ownership allows Sjöberg to be a purist, even a cranky one, he admits. When he first started, it was not fashionable to be digging around in dusty houses and fixing up houses that were clearly falling apart. Sjoberg (who recently founded a tech school that teaches traditional building and furniture-crafting) takes his time to re-create the interiors of the Gustavian period. He reconfigures hand-painted linen wallpaper, finds plaster recipes, pokes around antique shops to find the old ceramic-tiled stoves, haunts flea markets to pick Gustavian-inspired grey-painted chairs, strips wood floors, adds imported ladder-back chairs, and in some houses, the grander ones, he dusts off glittering chandeliers. The well-to-do houses have gilded moldings, and he styles them with plaster busts, draped beds, and saggy chairs. All of them he dresses and arranges for photography, right down right down to blue-painted dinner plates and platters, cups and teapots. But these are not tarted up…no stylists’ tricks for him. ‘I feel very strongly that it is ultimately damaging to our humanity if we surround ourselves with things that are not worth maintaining and restoring. It must affect our psyches to know that we live in an ephemeral world, bequeathing little of value to the coming generations.’—Lars Sjoberg in ‘Classic Swedish Interiors’ Photos in the book are sensational. Bravo to photographer Ingallil Snitt for marching forth in the Scandinavian deep winter to capture gardens and manor houses in the snow, and to meticulously shoot the fading afternoon light of a Swedish January. In Ingallil Snitt’s poetic images, we see Sjoberg’s artistry and sensitively constructed aesthetic experiences, moment by moment. These are the rooms of our dreams. Sjoberg’s style ranges from bare and haunting country interiors stripped of overt ornamentation to exuberant and rich gold consoles and framed portraits. The original state of some houses is presented in a calm and placid state of dusty and weathered beauty. Sjoberg himself gets up on rickety ladders, totally obsessed as all great talents must be, and his helpers wander through furniture and paintings and the objets d’art that he collects. They are stacked and piled in unused rooms and hallways. And while we are on a Swedish kick, I recommend another fine new book on Swedish historic interiors, ‘The Swedish Country House’ by Susanna Scherman (newly published by The Monacelli Press with photography by Ake Lindman). Many of the twenty houses are shown in their delicious country settings. Haga Pavilion is shown here—but oddly the dining room, which many consider the most beautiful room in the house, is not depicted. Still, the book is an excellent reference for authentic painted finishes, decorative painted motifs, woodwork, and architectural styles dotted around Sweden, from Ystegarn in the north to Torpa in the south. This is an important addition to a design/architecture reference library. Photos: photographs from ‘Classic Swedish Interiors’ copyright Ingallil Snitt, are used with express permission of the publisher, Frances Lincoln.
At last, I can say it is finished! Painted and waxed on all sides. Of course things never go as quickly as I imagine... But finally, I have a finished desk, and I love it! I don't like to point fingers, really, but I totally blame it on the drawer. You remember, the middle one with missing molding pieces... When I tried to pry off the other pieces, it wrecked the top layer of veneer - at least I think it was veneer. Anyway, it peeled, and I had to fill and wait to dry, and sand and fill and wait to dry and sand and you get the picture. I wish it still had the molding, but I can live with it this way... Maybe if you didn't know it was there, you might not miss it...so don't tell anyone! The finish was actually pretty easy to achieve... I mixed two gray plaster of Paris paints - one warm like ASCP French Linen, and one a bit lighter and cooler like ASCP Paris Gray. I mixed a grayed down white for accents. I painted the darker warmer gray on first, then the lighter cooler gray, and finished details in white. The architecture shows much better now...see the feet? Then, a bit of sanding, a coat of clear Johnson's Paste Wax, and then some Johnson's Paste Wax mixed with brown paint used as a dark wax in certain places. I was so glad to not have to do anything except deep clean the once NASTY top! Here's a photo to jog your memory... And another from the day I brought it home... And this morning, in my living room... I am glad Julie and I went out to garage sales. I'm glad I asked how much the desk cost. I'm glad it was only $5. I'm glad I know how to mix plaster paint from .50c mismatched paint samples from Lowe's. All in all, this desk revision didn't cost a dime. I already had all the stuff I needed for the paint and wax. I kept the same hardware, though painted some of it white since it would not come off! I like it white, anyway, so that is another thing of which I can be glad! These pieces were my inspiration: via One King's Lane Via Georgia Lacey Antiques Via Tone on Tone Via right here at Revisionary Life! Word for the Day: 1 Chronicles 16:31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!” Possibly Linking With: Sunday http://www.twiggstudios.com Sunday Show-off Link Party http://www.niftythriftythings.com/ Nifty Thrifty Sunday http://thoughtsfromalice.blogspot.com/ Sundays at Home Monday http://modvintagelife.blogspot.com Mod Mix Monday http://boogieboardcottage.blogspot.com/ Masterpiece Monday http://thededicatedhouse.blogspot.com http://southernhospitalityblog.com Make it Pretty Monday Thrifty Treasures Tuesday http://www.knickoftimeinteriors.blogspot.com/ Vintage Inspiration Tuesday http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/ Nifty Thrifty Tuesday http://www.cedarhill-ranch.com/ The Scoop http://www.astrollthrulife.net/ Inspire Me Tuesday http://cityfarmhouse.com/ Inspiration Exchange Linky Party Wednesday http://savvysouthernstyle.net/ Wow Us Wednesday http://www.notjustahousewife.net/ Show Me What Ya Got http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/ What’s it Wednesday http://lavendergardencottage.blogspot.com Cottage Style Party http://www.thethriftyhome.com/ Penny Pinching Party Thursday http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/ Under $100 Link Party http://staceyembracingchange.com/ Creative Inspirations http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/ Time Travel Thursday http://www.jannolson.blogspot.com/ Share Your Cup Thursday Friday http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/ Feathered Nest Friday http://www.missmustardseed.blogspot.com/ Furniture Feature Friday http://redoux.blogspot.com/ Friday Redoux Link Party http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/ Frugal Friday http://www.jenniferrizzo.com/ Fabulously Creative Friday Saturday http://www.funkyjunkinteriors.net/ Party Junk http://too-much-time.com Get Schooled Saturday http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/ Show and Tell Saturday
Gustavian Swedish colors are very muted with lots of grays and creams.; but not always. The Gustavian Swedes of the 18th century loved color too!
When we speak of the Gustavian Swedish style, we are referring to King Gustav III who reigned as monarch of Sweden from 1771-1792... Gustav...
Fönsterputsning pågår. Fönster är ju något av det viktigaste för utseendet på ett hus. Och rätt fönster på rätt hus är en bra tumregel, tycker jag. Villa N hade fått extremt osmickrande nya fönster på sjuttiotalet. För små och utan spröjs gjorde de inte mycket för att bidra till husets skönhetsvärden. Att byta fönster är ju en kostsam affär och när vi skulle göra det var det viktigt att det kändes rätt. Rätt ekonomiskt, estetiskt och byggnadsvårdmässigt. Vi ville ju inte göra samma misstag som på sjuttiotalet och återigen sätta in nya fönster i huset som just nu är moderna men på sikt kommer att kännas så fel. Dessutom ville vi ha fönster som går att underhålla och renovera och som därmed har en chans att följa med huset in i nästa sekel. Alla "underhållsfria" fönster gick därmed bort. Underhållsfria fönster går nämligen inte att underhålla. De måste kastas när de blir slitna. Estetiskt ville vi återföra huset till sitt ursprungliga utseende och då behövde vi någon som kunde tillverka efter våra önskemål, utan att det kostade skjortan. Vi vände oss till Snickarglädje, men det finns säkert fler mindre fönstertillverkare som tillverkar fönster på traditionellt sätt. Kulturglas, kärnfuru, linoljekitt och linoljefärg, traditionella beslag och specialritade för att matcha fönstren på husets originalritningar gör att huset känns vackert igen. Visste ni förresten att gammalt fönsterglas ger ljusare rum eftersom ojämnt glas reflekterar ljuset bättre. Många frågar om våra fönster, både här på bloggen och i verkligheten. Folk i renoverartagen stannar till, ringer på dörren och vill veta vilka fönster vi har. Nu vet ni :)
Wallpaper Ludvig cream is an older original from the archives that we now bring back to life. We love to get inspired by the beautiful crafts, and the elegant, neat shapes of the Gustavian style. Like an exquisite detail of typical Gustavian furniture, the rosette has the leading role in this pattern.
About An exceptional Swedish Gustavian hand-cut tin chandelier with six arms, Origin Sweden, circa 1800. This charming tin-chandelier is magical and reflective. In Scandinavia, candles are important elements found in any interior (or exterior) in every day life. The desire to capture light stems from the long, dark Northern winters; often using light paint colors and reflective materials such as this tin chandelier. The original objective of bringing “light” into peoples homes during Winter days still works in our homes today. Beautifully simple, elegant furniture combined with crystal + tin chandeliers and mirrored sconces lit by candles all come together to create a magical interior. All pieces have a purpose and no excess is evident however there is a warmth which emanates from their aesthetic. More importantly though, Swedish antiques mix so well with pieces from all over the world spanning many centuries. There is a timelessness to all they created. We also sell bespoke, handmade white candles; in custom sizes as well.
HGTV's antique furniture and design experts share what to look for when selecting Gustavian-style Swedish furniture.
January...where is the snow? Not here in Louisville, perhaps in Sweden and the French Alps. Photo of French Boiserie Plaster from Europe...
The island of Funen in Denmark is one of the most romantic landscapes in all of Europe, and home to one of the best preserved Renaissance water moat castles to be found in the world (pictured above), Egeskov Castle. Rhonda and I are planning a trip to Copenhagen in the spring and look forward to returning to magical Funen and Egeskov Castle. Late last night, with plans for our trip and the anticipation of an antiquing spree dancing in my head, I was looking at the Danish Auction house Bruun Rasmussen's website and discovered a sale going on today featuring pieces from a manor house on Funen called Gelskov Gods. It may be too late for readers to participate in the auction but surely there will be more inventory from Gelskov Gods to choose from soon, as the owners, Anette and Heine Dahl Bartsch, are art dealers and antiques importers of French and Belgian furniture as well as the Danish. Here are some views of their amazing property, Gelskov Gods: Here are Anette and Heine in front of Gelskov Gods. The couple fell in love with the Danish island of Funen ( Fyn in Danish) and moved from Copenhagen several years ago to under take the restoration of the manor house. It is now a fantastic destination, featuring a B & B and gallery in the main space. Antiques are found throughout the property with a full shop devoted to them that is open in the stables. Gelskov Gods would be the perfect place to stay for those wanting to explore the surrounding area. Here, (above) another view of Egeskov Castle, just one of over one hundred and twenty three manor house and castles dotting the landscape of Funen. One of the many traditional windmills found in the countryside.... Hesselagergard floating above the lilypads... Funen is Denmark's third largest island so you can truly return again and again and always be inspired by architecture and design that you may have missed on an earlier visit. Rhonda and I can't wait and we will be sure to visit Anette and Heine! To learn more about Gelskov Gods go to http://www.gelskovgods.com/ To plan a visit to Funen in which you can follow in the footsteps of Manor hopping native son Hans Christian Andersen go to HERE
