The Swedish Room

by Ursula Sjöberg and Lars Sjöberg

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0711209154
• ISBN13: 9780711209152
• Release Date: September 1994
• Publisher: Frances Lincoln
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 2.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 10.3" x 10.3"

Customer Reviews

Love this book!!! Help me name the style I really go for,...Gustavian!

This is a great book! Specially for a novice in Swedish style. The pictures are really beautiful and the description is very detail oriented. Also the way the author use of the history and phsysical location of the different periods make a difference when being introduced to something new. A definetly A+!

Swedish interiors through the centuries

The cover and the look-inside-glimpse do not do this book justice att all. It's not all that rural and folksy, but has a wide range of interiors from palaces, mansions, farms and cottages. The in-put from Italy (and later France) was huge in the days when Sweden was a major European power in the 17th century. The book moves on into the Gustavian era of simple elegance and continues to regency and the summer-houses that became popular in the 19th century. A very well illustrated book with excellent photos.

The Swedish Room

Beautiful book, well researched and written with carefully selected and beautiful photos. A must have for anyone interested in Gustavian interiors and the homes that contain them. The interiors selected for this book are the relatively simpler ones with soft color schemes and a cleaner, pared-down look - ones more acceptable to contemporary tastes - rather than the gilded neoclassical palaces of the same period. If you are interested in the more palatial interiors of the same period I recommend: Neoclassicism in the North, Swedish Furniture and Interiors 1770-1850 . I noticed in browsing through this book, that a number of the interiors selected for inclusion in The Swedish Room are actually the simplest rooms in otherwise grand palaces.A very pleasing selection of interior views overall and much better than Barbara Stoeltie's similar book, The Country Houses of Sweden.

Comprehensive & useful

I have found this book a constant inspiration when considering the Swedish style in general and Gustavian in particular. The photos and colours are excellent. The text begins by being historically interesting and illuminating but becomes unfocussed and then banal. The translation is awkward in parts. Still the information is superior to the commonly gushy interior design style.Although there is a section on contemporary versions of the classic Swedish styles, it remains primarily an homage to the original rather than an illustration of an inventive combination. Nonetheless, an excellent reference book.

A Decorative Artist`s Delight

This is a wonderful book for an a decorative artist or faux- finisher. It has a wealth of information you can use in designing ideas for this very popular time in history . I have used this book many times in designing art for furniture and walls .A must-have for any decorative artist or designer.