Creating a Boutique Scandinavian Hotel Look With Icon By Design

While most of us wouldn’t object to spending the night in a 5 star ultra-modern hotel, their interior spaces are often bland and soulless, leaving MUCH to be desired. World-renowned interior designer John Stefanidis once said “Often what’s wrong with some modernist houses – they’re kept vacuum-sealed all the way through. And then people wonder why they haven’t got any atmosphere”. Unfortunately, the same holds true for so many 5 star luxurious hotels today! At Icon By Design we firmly believe that if you’re working round-the-clock for that luxury getaway, the hotel room that you stay in should be invested with a sense of passion and personality.

Thankfully, we’re starting to see a rise in the popularity of luxury ‘boutique’ hotels that, much like Icon By Design, strive to define their interior spaces with pieces you’re instinctively drawn to. Better yet, these hotels are increasingly adopting quintessentially Scandinavian design principles: minimalist, timeless furniture with pared-back design, an emphasised awareness of space and those iconic clean lines that embrace irregularity, asymmetry and the organic nature of objects created from natural materials. We’ve handpicked a few hotels that execute these interior design principles to perfection and have added in a couple tips on how you might best achieve this look from the comfort of your own home!

The Living Space

Their aim was to create a hotel that appealed to both business travellers and tourists, and we think Grims Grenka in Oslo achieved just that. They’ve really nailed the ‘less is more’ approach, prioritising function without sacrificing aesthetics. Incredibly sleek, contemporary and “fuss-free” pieces help maximise the airy and spacious feel.

The Noah 3 Seater Sofa, accompanied by an armchair and our Felix coffee table with a tempered glass top is the ideal starting point for creating a living space that is simple, uncluttered, warm and welcoming. The fabric contrasts sophisticatedly with the solid American white oak base to create those simple, clean lines that underscores Scandinavian design. The sofa itself offers more rustic elements to what is seen in the entrance to the Grims Grenka, yet the core design principles remain consistent (this also allows for a more warm, homely feel). Much like their furniture, these pieces all hang low off the ground to truly encapsulate a sense of space and modernity. If muted, neutral tones are more your style, than the pebble grey fabric is just for you.

The Bedroom

Scandinavian influence finds its way to The Big Apple in emphatically understated fashion, in the form of 11 Howard in ultra-trendy Soho. The luxury boutique hotel’s stunning interior was made possible through the collaboration of creative director Anda Andrei, and Space Copenhagen, an innovative Scandinavian design firm. The guest rooms here are a master class in Scandi styling! Just look at that unpretentious, muted colour palette of navy, grey and pink, the use of bright and natural tones in the wooden elements and free-flowing natural sunlight brought in through the oversized window.

To achieve a similar style, give the Anya King Size Bed Frame in solid oak a try. Make full use of the space in your bedroom by placing a Bruno bedside table on either side (this will also help create clean, Scandinavian lines) with matching bedside lamps. You can create a similar look to that of the lounge section of the 11 Howard guest room by incorporating a Franz 2 Seater Sofa in light grey fabric accompanied by two Franz plank armchairs, centred by a Magnus Round Coffee Table. Alternatively, if you’d rather mix-and-match the chairs like they’ve done at Howard 11, pair one Franz plank armchair with a Henrik dining chair with a dark grey fabric seat.

The Study Nook

Singapore is fast becoming a holiday destination favourite worldwide. As such, it’s become a melting pot for interior innovation, showcasing some of the world’s most exquisite boutique hotels. A short walk away from the bustling Orchard Road, Hotel G proves definitively that you can create some of the most aesthetically pleasing and space-efficient study nooks with ease for those times you need to get work done from home. Their nooks are extremely compact and incorporate those iconic Scandinavian elements we love so much: the clean, naturally formed lines in the wood, a muted colour palette of grey and natural oak and maximising the usability of small spaces with minimalist pieces. Scandinavian and industrial go together like gin and tonic, so we implore you to try and emphasise this where possible – like Hotel G have with the exposed cement wall.

If you don’t have the required space for a home office, you need not stress. This neat, simple yet sophisticated study nook can be recreated in just about any area of the house. Better yet, you can do so effortlessly with pieces from Icon By Design. The Jolanda office desk paired with a Nestor solid oak dining chair in a dark grey fabric are all you’ll need for this one! The desk itself is so versatile that you essentially have creative freedom to style it however you please: thick books, a framed photograph, a small desk lamp (or a light hanging from the ceiling for that extra industrial touch like Hotel G have done), a glass/chrome coffee plunger or like Hotel G, a miniature pot plant to emphasise the natural elements at play. Natural sunlight will not only complement the solid American oak spectacularly, it also aids productivity, so try creating your nook close to a window or under a skylight.