My Love of Scandinavian Homes & How Hygge Inspires Our Mountain Home

I have long admired Scandinavian homes, particularly those in Sweden and Norway, our neighbors to the north whose beautiful homes can send me down an Instagram rabbit hole for hours. I love the antiques, simplicity, layers, candlelight, natural textures, and, of course, all that snow. They seem to understand hygge instinctively, embracing the seasons and bringing the outdoors into the way they live and decorate. It’s something I’m drawn to here in the Vermont mountains, too, where the colors and natural elements just outside our windows continually find their way indoors. Scandinavia is very much on my bucket list, but until I get there, I thought I’d share how my admiration for Scandinavian homes has inspired the way I decorate our own mountain home.

What I Admire Most About Scandinavian Homes and Hygge

If you’ve found your way here from one of my Scandinavian home tours, you already know how much I enjoy sharing these beautiful homes throughout the seasons. From snowy Swedish cottages to flower-filled spring and summer homes, what strikes me most is the thoughtfulness behind the way they live and decorate. There’s such care in the smallest details—the time they take, the way they appreciate what they have, and the gratitude they seem to bring to their homes, their surroundings, and the changing seasons.

For me, hygge is a big part of that appeal. It’s less about following a particular decorating style and more about creating a home that feels meaningful and good to live in—candlelight on darker days, natural textures, flowers and branches brought in from outside, warm layers, favorite old pieces, and rooms that change along with the seasons. Those are many of the same things I’ve naturally gravitated toward in our own mountain home, which may be why Scandinavian homes have always felt so familiar to me.

Explore the Scandinavian homes I’ve admired through the seasons and the beautiful ideas that continue to influence the way I decorate:

How Scandinavian Hygge Inspires Our Mountain Home

Around our mountain home, that Scandinavian influence shows up less as a particular decorating style and more in the details I’m naturally drawn to—layers of sheepskin and vintage textiles, candlelight and old woods, flowers and branches gathered outdoors, antiques with a story, and colors borrowed straight from the landscape. It changes with the seasons, but the idea behind it remains much the same: decorate with what you love, embrace where you live, and take the time to enjoy it.

Sheepskins: The Scandinavian Layer I Use Everywhere

Sheepskins are one of those Scandinavian details I fell for years ago, and now I truly use them everywhere—indoors and out. I layer them over chairs, benches, sofas, and around our outdoor fire pit, usually choosing warm browns and tans that look beautiful against the blues and greens throughout our home. My favorites, hands down, are the luxurious sheepskins from Rare Sheepskins. Beyond their incredible softness and natural beauty, there’s even something about that wonderful fresh-leather scent that makes them feel especially authentic. For me, sheepskins are an easy way to add warmth, texture, and a little Scandinavian hygge wherever they land.

Explore more of the ways I decorate with sheepskins, from layered interiors to our outdoor fireside gatherings in the mountains.

Bringing the Outdoors In: Colors From Just Outside Our Windows

Living in the Vermont mountains, so much of my decorating begins with what I see just outside our windows. The blues and greens of the mountains, warm browns, autumn reds and oranges, and winter whites naturally find their way indoors, along with birch logs and branches, foraged flowers, evergreens at Christmas, and beautiful old woods. I love letting the seasons lead the way; it’s a simple connection to the landscape that reminds me so much of the Scandinavian homes I admire.

Antique Oil Lamps: A Light in the Window

There’s something about seeing a candle glowing in the window of a Scandinavian home, especially with snow falling outside, that always gets me. It says someone is home, there’s warmth inside, and there’s a light on for you. I love creating that same feeling in our mountain home with antique oil lamps. In spring and summer, I often turn them into flower vases, but as the days grow shorter in fall and winter, I bring them back indoors, where their soft glow feels especially welcoming.

See how I decorate with antique oil lamps throughout the seasons, from flower-filled summer vignettes to their warm glow in fall and winter.

Living With Old Things: Antiques With a Purpose

One of the things I admire about Scandinavian homes is how naturally antiques and older pieces become part of everyday life. I feel much the same way about the antiques and family heirlooms in both our Vermont and Maine homes. I don’t want beautiful old things tucked away for safekeeping—I want to use them, decorate with them, fill them with flowers, and move them around with the seasons. Whether it’s a piece passed down through my family or something I found while antiquing, living with these old treasures is part of what makes a home feel personal to me. There’s something special about appreciating what you already have and taking the time to enjoy it.

Explore more of the family heirlooms I live with and love, and the stories that make these old pieces so meaningful in our homes.

Bringing Home What’s Growing Outside

One of my favorite things about Scandinavian homes is how naturally flowers, branches, and greenery become part of the home, often in the simplest ways. I do much the same in Vermont and Maine, gathering whatever happens to be growing around me and bringing it indoors. Garden flowers, hydrangeas, wildflowers, evergreens, and branches often end up in an antique pitcher, old bucket, basket, or family heirloom. I love that combination of something old with something freshly gathered—it celebrates the season, the landscape, and the beautiful things we already have.

A Crackling Fire: My Favorite Kind of Hygge

There may be nothing that says hygge to me more than a real fire crackling in the fireplace on a snowy day. When we arrive at our home in Maine during the winter, lighting a fire is one of the first things we do. I love the ritual of it—the crackle of the wood, that unmistakable woodsmoke scent, and the warmth inside while the snow piles up outdoors. It’s such a simple pleasure, but maybe that’s exactly the point. Scandinavian homes have always reminded me that winter doesn’t have to be something we wait to get through. Sometimes the coldest, snowiest days give us the very best excuse to stay close to the fire and enjoy being home.

Letting the Seasons Change the Way We Live at Home

I think another reason I’m so drawn to Scandinavian homes is the way they seem to truly embrace the changing seasons, especially winter. While so many people dread the first snowfall, I can hardly wait for it. We love getting outside to ski and snowshoe, and I love bringing that snowy, ski-lodge feeling indoors, too. Fall will probably always be my favorite, especially here in Vermont when the mountains turn those incredible shades of red and orange, but by the time winter ends, I’m just as ready for armfuls of tulips and daffodils—even when they’re sitting against a window with a spring snowstorm outside. And summer brings another change entirely, with coastal antique furnishings, open doors, and more time spent outdoors. I love allowing each season to have its moment, letting its colors, textures, and natural beauty shape the way we live at home.

A Scandinavian-Inspired Christmas Porch in the Snow

Some of my favorite Scandinavian Christmas scenes are the ones outdoors—simple evergreen trees tucked onto porches and steps, glowing lights against the snow, and little touches of red standing out against all that winter white. Those images have inspired our own Christmas porch for years. I fill it with outdoor Christmas trees, evergreens, snowy planters, ice luminaries, and pops of red, then let Mother Nature do the rest. Once the snow starts piling up around everything, with the mountains beyond, it becomes one of my favorite places at home during the holidays. There’s something about Christmas decorating outdoors in the snow that feels wonderfully Scandinavian to me.

Après-Ski Living: Taking Hygge Outdoors

Our porch doesn’t close down once Christmas is over—or once the temperatures drop. Winter is when I have some of the most fun with it, creating little après-ski moments inspired by the way Scandinavians embrace life outdoors even in the cold. I’ll make ice lanterns to glow in the snow, bring out vintage skis, old demijohns filled with winter branches and red berries, DIY ice buckets, bar carts, sheepskins, and plenty of warm drinks to enjoy around the fire. The reds look especially beautiful against the snow and bring in another Scandinavian touch I’ve always loved. For me, après-ski is really just another version of hygge: get outside, enjoy the snow, then gather somewhere warm and welcoming with something good to drink.

What Scandinavian Homes Have Taught Me About Home

After years of admiring Scandinavian homes, I think what has stayed with me most isn’t any one decorating idea. It’s the thoughtfulness behind the way they live—the appreciation for home, nature, the changing seasons, and the simple pleasure of making everyday surroundings feel special. I may never have a truly Scandinavian home, and I’m certainly not trying to create one. Ours are filled with family heirlooms, flea market finds, collections, color, and all the things we’ve gathered along the way. But the feeling I admire in those Scandinavian homes has absolutely found its way into ours: bring nature inside, light the candles, use the old things, welcome the snow, fill the house with flowers in every season, and most of all, take the time to enjoy where you are and what you already have.

If you enjoyed this glimpse into the way we live and decorate through the seasons, explore more from my Sunday Home series:

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