Product Description

Each picture in this book could stand alone as a work of art - a testament to Sweden's innate sense of style. Period by period, house by house, breathtaking images and elegantly authoritative text focus on those special features of the traditional Swedish room that have made it one of the major influences on decorating today. Every room is inviting, whether it is a royal guest room, an artistocratic boudoir, or a farmer's kitchen. Every detail is enchanting, from the simple checks and stripes of the fabrics to the way they adorn window frames and form bed canopies, from the elegant outlines of a Gustavian chair to the gleaming titles of the ceramic stoves. The pale distressed colours and light-suffused interiors of the manor houses contrast with the rich claret red wooden exteriors and glowing, ingenuous wall paintings of the farmhouses. The authors trace the development of this quintessentially Swedish style from its antecedents in the seventeenth century through its heyday in the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, to its followers today. The photographs include detailed close-ups with explanatory captions, so that The Swedish Room is both a source of original, practical decorative ideas as well as an irresistible voyage of discovery through some of the world's most appealing interiors.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #77431 in Books
• Published on: 1995-06-03
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .79" h x 10.27" w x 10.28" l, 2.74 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

From Amazon.com
The Swedish palette of soft pastels conveys an aesthetic simplicity like no other. Even though I do not live in a stately mansion or a castle (beautifully photographed throughout the book) I became inspired to add the same colors and textures to my own decor. Stenciled borders, tromp l' oleil, marbling, and delicately painted wall canvases add harmony and warmth to your living space.

Ingram
Spare, light-filled rooms, pale wood floors, simple furniture with elegant lines--these are the hallmarks of Swedish interior design. In this book, art historians Lars and Ursula Sjoberg trace the development of Swedish style from its beginnings in the 17th century through the restorations and reinterpretations that have brought it into the 20th century. Color illustrations throughout.

From the Back Cover
the Swedish interior has been an endless source of imitation. The Swedish Room guides the reader through more than two hundred breathtaking images and an authoritative accompanying text which focus on those special features of the traditional Swedish room that have made it one of the major influences in decorating today.

Whether in a royal guest room or a farmer's kitchen, the traditional details -- wide-board, unpolished wooden floors, simple checked or striped fabrics, the elegant outlines of a Gustavian chair, and the gleaming tiles of a ceramic stove -- all work to delight the eye.

Ursula and Lars Sjoberg trace the development of the quintessential Swedish room from the seventeenth century through its heyday in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries to its reinterpretations today. With glorious photograph by Ingalill Snitt, The Swedish Room is booth a source of practical decorating ideas and an irresistible voyage of discovery through some of the world's most appealing interiors.

Praise for The Swedish Room

"The Swedes have long been some of the cleverest colorists around, as Lars and Ursula Sjoberg reveal in their new book."

-- Town and Country

"[Here are] inspiring images of rough-edged but strangely regal eighteenth-century farms, country houses, and city mansions. Poetic, accessible juxtapositions abound. Homespun gingham checks upholster Versailles - style chairs. Town houses display humble whitewashed walls, while artful stenciling decorates their country cousins."

-- Mitchell Owens, New York Times