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Embracing the crisp wintry air, adorned with twinkling lights and joyous melodies, the holiday season gracefully dances upon our doorstep once more. Amidst the frosty embrace of December, let us gather around the hearth of togetherness and celebrate the season! Celebrating the holidays at the cottage surrounded by nature holds a unique and enchanting charm that captivates hearts and creates unforgettable memories. Integrating Scandinavian design elements into your festive outdoor winter space is easy to do and helps make your gathering cozy and memorable for your guests.
Scandinavian Christmas décor is renowned for its simplicity, natural elements, and cozy yet elegant style. When extended to outdoor space, it beautifully blends with the winter landscape, creating a serene and inviting atmosphere. Here are some examples of how Scandinavian Christmas décor complements outdoor spaces:
Natural Elements: Scandinavian décor often incorporates natural elements like pine cones, evergreen branches, and birch wood. Outdoors. These elements seamlessly blend with the surroundings, especially against a backdrop of snow, adding a rustic and authentic feel to the space.
Candlelight and Warmth: Candles play a significant role in Scandinavian Christmas décor. Placing lanterns, candle holders, or string lights along pathways or on outdoor tables creates a warm and welcoming ambiance, especially during the darker winter evenings.
Simple and Elegant Design: Scandinavian décor embraces simplicity and minimalism. Using simple yet elegant ornaments, such as wooden decorations, straw ornaments, or minimalist wreaths on doors and fences, brings a touch of sophistication to outdoor spaces without overwhelming the natural beauty.
Hygge-Inspired Coziness: The concept of ‘hygge’ which embodies coziness and comfort, is central to Scandinavian culture. Adding soft blankets, fur throws, or comfortable seating around a fire pit or outdoor seating area encourages people to gather, relax and enjoy the winter landscape.
Red and White accents: Traditional Scandinavian colours for Christmas are often red and white. Integrating these colours through textiles like cushions, tablecloths, or ribbons on wreaths and garlands adds a festive touch while harmonizing with the wintery scenery.
Evergreen Decorations: Evergreen wreaths, garlands, and swags made of pine, spruce, or fir can be adorned with simple white or red ribbons, berries, or wooden ornaments. Placed on doors, fences, or outdoor structures, these decorations evoke the freshness of the season.
Natural Centerpieces: Decorating outdoor tables or gathering space with natural centerpieces composed of branches, pinecones, and seasonal foliage in vases or baskets adds a rustic yet charming appeal to the settling.
Incorporating Scandinavian Christmas décor into outdoor space revolves around embracing nature, simplicity, warmth, and creating a welcoming environment that celebrates the beauty of winter. It’s about harmonizing with the surroundings while infusing a touch of festive cheer and comfort into the outdoor setting.
Creating an outdoor festive winter wonderland with a Scandinavian vibe can transform your space into a cozy and inviting area for holiday gatherings and help make your function memorable for your guests. Here are some helpful tips to get you started:
Choose outdoor furniture that embodies Scandinavian design principles – clean lines, minimalistic style, and functionality. Opt for wooden or metal pieces in light tones to compliment the Nordic theme.
Consider wooden benches, simple chairs, or sleek tables that blend well with the natural surroundings.
Enhance the furniture with cozy textiles in neutral tones or classic Scandinavian patterns like simple stripes or checks. Use wool, alpaca or faux-wool blankets, cushions, and sheepskin throws for warmth and comfort.
Arrange the furniture in a central gathering area, such as around a fire pit or an outdoor fireplace. This focal point will encourage coziness and conversation.
Natural and Minimalist Decorations
Embrace natural elements in your decorations. Adorn the furniture and nearby areas with evergreen garlands, spuce branches, pinecones, and birchwood accents.
Incorporate minimalist and handmade decorations like simple wreaths, wooden ornaments, or straw decorations, which are characteristic of Scandinavian design.
Use soft and warm lighting to create a cozy atmosphere. Opt for lanterns, string lights, or candles placed in lantern holders or hurricane lamps to illuminate the space softly.
Scandinavian Colour Palette
Stick to a neutral colour palette with pops of red or green. Use whites, greys, and natural wood tones as the primary colours, adding subtle touches of traditional holiday colours sparingly.
Introduce elements that evoke “hygge,” the Danish concept of coziness and contentment. Consider placing blankets in baskets or providing warm drinks like mulled wine or hot cocoa to enhance the cozy ambiance.
Incorporate rustic and functional accents such as wooden crates or baskets filled with firewood, adding both a decorative and practical touch to the space.
If available, incorporate natural focal points like trees or bushes. Adorn them with simple lights or garlands, keeping the decoration minimalistic yet festive.
Ensure that the outdoor furniture is weather-resistant and easy to maintain. Allow your teak furniture to complete dry before storing again indoors. Do not put any outdoor furniture, throws or blankets away again in storage damp. Allow all pieces that you use in your outdoor winter wonderland to dry completely.
By integrating Scandinavian design elements, natural accents, cozy textiles, and soft lighting into your outdoor space, you can create a serene and inviting festive winter wonderland that captures the essence of Nordic charm and warmth.
Outdoor lighting can not be overlooked, even in the daytime. String lights around the main area that you will be gathering is a must, even during the daytime the winter skies in Canada are more grey than blue, so better to be prepared and have the string lights hung and ready to go for when guests arrive.
Twinkle lights in nearby shrubs, bushes and trees create a depth to your outdoor setting adding to the magic. Keep in mind these shrubs, bushes and trees don’t all have to be evergreens to adorn them with strings of twinkle lights, placing these lights on bare branches also gives a special ambiance.
Another form of lighting to add to your Scandinavian Christmas outdoor cottage retreat are lanterns. Place the candle-filled lanterns on steps, by chairs or on tables to add a feeling of warmth to the outdoor space (they will not give off enough heat to warm a person, but the glow is sometimes all you need to feel warm!). Grouping these lanterns in small groups of three maybe with a spruce bough entwined creates a focal point in a corner if needed.
When using candles for outdoor use, don’t overlook the battery-operated versions. Admittedly these are a more expensive option, when you are hosting your get-together, you won’t have to worry about the candles staying lit. Just remember to bring the candles in when you are done with them. Regular candles also work well and are a more cost-effective option.
Throws, Sheepskins, and hot chocolate! These are the three things that you can not have too many of. Drape throws on the backs or arms of chairs as well as pile extras in baskets. Easy access will make your guests more inclined to snuggle up and enjoy themselves.
Sheepskins on chair seats, strewn on benches or even placed on the back of chairs to help create a wind break add to the cozy factor and create a sense of warmth and hygge.
Hot chocolate as well as all of the extra additives at the ready make for happy guests old or young! Consider leaving out a tray filled with candy canes, marshmallows, cinnamon sticks, White chocolate chunks, butterscotch and chocolate sauce or whatever else you can think of that would make for a great hot chocolate.
All in all, if you keep in mind simplicity, nature and function when you are putting together your Scandinavian inspired outdoor space to entertain in you will end up with a cozy place for you and your company to make memories in!
Remember when choosing your patio furniture to use for your Outdoor Scandinavian inspired entertaining space that not all outdoor furniture is suitable for winter months. Stay away from pieces that have deep cushion, although these are warmer to sit in, they will be cumbersome to move around and take a long time to dry. Opt for warm blankets, throws and sheepskins to warm and soften your seating areas as these are easy to bring indoors and dry off in no time.
Glass-top tables are another item that we do not recommend using in your Outdoor Scandinavian inspired entertaining space as the cold temperatures are hard on glass and nobody wants to be finding pieces of broken glass in the snow!
For more informaion regarding Hygge and patio furniture in the winter, click on these blog posts for an interesting read!
We all know that the holiday season can be stressful, trying to make everything perfect for everyone. Be sure to take time to stop and enjoy your family and friends during this time. It’s the little moments that will be remembered. Indulge in conversation with loved ones you haven’t seen in a long time, the rest can wait. By choosing furniture you may already have or simple wooden furniture that is easy to store, decorating simply with what nature has already provided, and having food and drinks at the ready for guests to munch on you will decrease your stress level creating a calm atmosphere for everyone to enjoy.
May this cherished season be a symphony of kindness, a celebration of love, and an ode to the beauty found in simple moments shared.
