10 Scandi style secrets for your living room at Christmas

The Scandi living room is always so lovely at Christmas, with plenty of textures, beautiful decorations and hero styling moments to inspire. When it's cold outside, it's the space where people gather, sharing moments of hygge – no wonder, living rooms get plenty of space on our homes pages in a Christmas Special. Here are a few of our favourite style secrets gathered from past issues of Simply Scandi.

1 Combine luxe textures with secondhand finds

Velvet, wool and linen are the perfect choice for an elegant Scandi living room at Christmas, especially when teamed against pale walls and floors. In the living room of Mette's Danish apartment, the sofa and table are second-hand finds from DBA, a Danish online marketplace. Mette even sources many of her Christmas decorations secondhand, scouring flea markets all-year-round. "If you appreciate the stories of these pieces rather than looking for trends, they go together and you won't get tired of them," she says. 

See more of Mette's gorgeous home in Simply Scandi Christmas 2023. 

Photography: Tia Borgsmidt/House of Pictures.

2 Turn your coffee table into a star

Frame your coffee table with a hanging candle wreath above, adding a beautiful warm glow once lit. It's a trick Eleni has used in her Swedish apartment. The living room is her family's favourite place to gather and relax. "It's the best place to get into the Christmas spirit," she says. 'We hang out there the most and light fires in the stove." Eleni gets the festive mood going in November when she starts decorating with greenery and home-made paper stars at the windows, before gradually adding more and more decorations. Some of my favourite things that I put out for Christmas are baubles I found at a flea market,” she says. “They’re so beautiful and no one else has the same ones!”

Check out more of Eleni's gorgeous home in Simply Scandi Christmas 2023. 

Photography: Cecilia Möller Kirchsteiger/Living4Media. 

3 Add twinkling candleight

We all know candles are a much-loved part of home life across Scandinavia, but at Christmas they really come into their own. Trees are dressed with candles – often real or for the safety conscious battery-operated ones – while Advent candle rings and wreaths form a coffee-table must-have accessory. Choose dinner candles that echo your Scandi Christmas colour scheme, like Kristine has in her Danish apartment, which add a lovely soft glow to an otherwise cool room. "My style is normally quite simple," she explains, "but during December it's much more extravagant."

Take a tour of the rest of Kristine's home in Simply Scandi Christmas 2024. 

Photography: Anitta Behrendt/Living Inside. 

4 Find your foliage vibe

From mini Christmas trees to sprigs of fir or pine used as trims on kraft-paper wrapped gifts, pine cones to candle displays, foliage goes a long way in a Scandi Christmas home. In Helena's Danish home, nature plays a big role in her Christmas decor, when her home is filled with spruce, pine cones and branches. "I love decorating with what I can find right outside my own door, instead of going down and clearing out the local florist," she says. 

Helena's home featured in Simply Scandi Christmas 2022, out of stock in print.

Photography: Elisabeth Dahlberg/House of Pictures. 

5 Make your Christmas living room reflect you and yours

Christmas starts early at Tarja's home just outside Helsinki, with preparations beginning in October. The family loves to craft, making cards and decorations in the cosy living room. The tree is decorated with favourite finds, along with Tarja's Maileg pixies. “Decorating is just a small part of creating a Christmas mood, though – it’s a combination of flowers, mulled wine, gingerbread and things that mean something to you,” she shares. Her home, which is mainly white, is easy to dress for Christmas. “I have a passion for vintage red-and-white linens, which I search flea markets for. You can safely say that I buy every red-and-white textile that I come across,” confesses Tarja. 

See more of Tarja's home in Simply Scandi Christmas 2023.

Photography: Krista Keltanen/Living Inside.

6 Rethink where you put your tree

The Scandi Christmas tree is given pride of place, rather than tucked away in a corner ‘because that’s where it’s always gone’. Sometimes trees are brought forward, away from the walls, which does mean decorations need to go all over, rather than just at the front. In our launch digital issue Simply Scandi Christmas 2020, Sille's Danish home made our cover. At the heart of her living room stands a gorgeous fresh fir tree, which gives off a fantastic scent and allows Sille to display her decorations, many from local Christmas markets. ‘Less is more’ is a style philosophy that Sille applies to her Christmas decorating too. “Much of Christmas is sumptuous and very colourful,” she explains.

Photography: Tia Borgsmidt/House of Pictures.

7 Use shape to create warmth in a neutral space

Alexandra’s Christmas style is elegant and natural, like her Danish home. “Colours are muted,” she explains, “and I avoid over-decorating anything. I prefer a few things over lots of knick-knacks. Yet she's used soft shapes for upholstery, furniture and rugs to add interest, leading the eye towards her Christmas tree in her living room. The tree itself is dressed with ribbons and a few special decorations – as well as twinkling candle tree lights. 

See more of Alexandra's understated Scandi look in Simply Scandi Christmas 2025.

Photography: GlottiPres/Annika & Elisabeth Kruse. 

8 Bring in touches of spruce green

At Christmas time, Camilla’s Swedish home feels calm and peaceful, thanks to its country surroundings and serene, all-white colour scheme that’s lifted with luxurious textures and beautiful, natural materials. Try adding pops of spruce green, echoing festive foliage touches and providing unexpected contrast, like Camilla has in her living room. Lighting becomes even more important during the darker months – Camilla's used vintage-style wall lights and candles to bring character and a cosy vibe.

Is Camilla's Christmas style your favourite? See more in Simply Scandi Christmas 2023.

Photography: Camilla Isaksson/Living4Media. 

9 Style easy – yet special – arrangements

Trine decorates her Danish home for Christmas with lots of fresh foliage. “Christmas flowers, branches, moss and cedar are a big part of my Christmas mood,” she explains, “and so easy to use. Take branches of something like silk pine, which are decorative on their own, but when popped in a beautiful vase and dressed with a few baubles can look so lovely.” As a result, the deep windowsills, sideboards and coffee table are full of festive freshness.

See more of Trine's Christmas look in Simply Scandi Vol 16 Winter.

Photography: Anitta Behrendt. 

10 Be true to your own Scandi style

Mari describes her Christmas style as "not overly into frills, being very much an eclectic at heart, with touches of industrial and futuristic." She admits that traditional Christmas decorations don’t really fit in her Norwegian home. "Instead, it’s music, paper stars and plenty of lights that set the mood. Even my house plants get draped in fairy lights,” she smiles.

See more of Mari's home in Simply Scandi Christmas 2025.

Photography: Filippa Tredal/House of Pictures.