An American Home Gets a Scandinavian Makeover

You may want to bring your hard hat to today's tour! My name's Valentina and Niki invited me to jump in while she is away (hopefully soaking up the sun and eating tons of tapas in Spain!). As I'm writing this, there is massive power sawing going on in the background as my new windows go into the kitchen, so we welcome you in the House of Valentina, even if it is under a cloud of dust!

You might remember me from the last time Niki and I were together. We spent the day running around Malmö and shot a Guide to the City and then only weeks later our family packed what little we hadn't sold and moved.

We lived in Copenhagen for 6 years (one of the many versions of that house was featured here back in 2015!). But our time in Copenhagen had come to a close and we found ourselves heading back to the US. We bought a house close to all the family we had been away from for the last 12 years we had spent abroad and have been renovating it ever since. You can see the before photos here.

Leaving Scandinavia was so hard for us! We absolutely loved living there and tried to bring back as many things as we could. Even now, while our house is undergoing a major renovation, we find a
peace and happiness that really is indescribable as bring Scandinavian style into our American home.

In the next few weeks we will finish up the first floor with reclaimed pine flooring and a brand new Scandinavian style kitchen. We can't wait! We've certainly learned throughout the process of renovating that aiming for perfection is unrealistic and when you know you are about to empty the house to put in new floors, buying tons of furniture probably isn't smart.

In the meantime, though, we are so delighted to share a few favourite corners of our home even with their imperfections because Scandis are pros at making a bed on the floor look amazing or a living room that is half empty look like a million bucks.

As we attempt to channel a little of that Scandi chic, we hope you will come and visit us and chime in with your advice about colours, furniture, and so much more because even though I work in design making my own decision is awful... and it's way more fun with friends anyways!

Find us on YouTube, Instagram and our blog, House of Valentina.

Some of my featured brands; Mobel og rum

Some of my featured colours*:

Family room and master bathroom: Sonic Silver

Fireplace: Nightclub

Master bedroom: Euro Gray

Boy's bedroom: Granite Boulder

Sunroom: Polar Bear

Studio: Hematite

Jack's office: NYPD

*I use the Behr Marquee paint because it comes with a primer in it.

Some of my go-to sources for Scandinavian style in the US: