LIVING
WHAT IS
SCANDI CHIC, REALLY?
BY MILOU STAUB
Have you noticed how loosely the term Scandinavian style gets thrown around these days?
Anything pale, wooden and vaguely tidy seems to earn the label. But the real thing is built on something more specific than a colour scheme. It rests on five ideas, and they’ ve barely shifted since the look first took hold across the Nordic countries decades ago.
Everything in a room should earn its place, the space should feel calm without feeling cold, daylight should be allowed to do as much of the work as possible, natural materials should be everywhere you look, and – the bit people usually forget – there should be a strong dose of hygge, that particularly Danish talent for making a room feel like a hug.
That last point is really what separates Scandi style from plain minimalism. Both favour clean lines and uncluttered surfaces, but minimalism is happy being cool and a little austere – all grey, glass, and hard edges, the sort of room you admire rather than sink into. Scandinavian design wants you to actually live in it: a wool throw over the sofa arm, a candle burning, wood with some warmth still in its grain.
Colour stays deliberately toned down: warm whites and soft neutrals on the walls, with colour introduced sparingly through a cushion, a piece of art, or a rug rather than the wall itself. Timber does a lot of the heavy lifting: pale oak, ash or birch, always left matte or soap-finished rather than glossed up.
And contrary to the assumption that it’ s an expensive, curated look, a Scandi-inspired need not be expensive to pull off. The philosophy is really just decluttering, a tin of warm white paint, and a handful of well-chosen pieces. These can be built up gradually from local homeware stores like Mr Price Home, @ home, or Woolworths, or from second-hand finds, rather than needing a single big-budget shopping trip.
There’ s also a reason it translates so well to local homes despite its Nordic roots: strip away the heavy wool and sheepskin, swap in linen and cotton, and the same bones – light, airy, uncluttered, natural materials – suit a warm climate just as easily as a Scandinavian winter. It simply trades cosiness for breeziness.
Seventy-odd years on, it hasn’ t dated, because it was never really about trends, just about a room that works properly and still feels good to come home to. IB
66 INBOUND SA / OCTOBER 2026