Scandinavian interior design in Batumi

Scandinavian interior style: what we change by the sea

We put together Scandinavian interior style in Batumi from light, pale wood and fabrics. It comes from Northern Europe, where winter days are short, and everything in it works to bring light into the room: white walls, a light floor, simple furniture, plenty of lamps and soft textiles.

The light in Batumi is different. In summer, floor-to-ceiling windows let in more of it than you need, and a white room is dazzling during the day. In winter there can be weeks of rain, and the same room looks grey. From the style we take the calm and the materials, and we design the lighting for both seasons.

Light: toned down in summer, added in winter

In summer the daylight needs diffusing. On floor-to-ceiling windows we use two layers: a light, pale fabric that softens direct sun, and heavy curtains for the evening and for the bedroom. External awnings change the facade, and in a new building they are only fitted with the agreement of the building's owners, so we usually keep out the sun from the inside. Roller blinds are kept for the kitchen and the balcony door, where long fabric gets in the way.

In winter the main work falls to artificial light. A Scandinavian room is lit by several sources at different heights, because one central ceiling light is not enough for it: a pendant over the table, a floor lamp by the armchair, a lamp on the chest of drawers, wall lights by the bed. For each one we draw a socket or a power point, otherwise the lamps will stay in the picture. We choose warm light, 2700–3000 K, with a dimmer in the living room. How lighting is split into circuits and scenes is shown in a lighting design project.

We note which way the windows face at the measured survey. A north-facing room gets even, slightly cool light all day, and a west-facing one gets hot afternoon sun. Both the curtains and the shade of white on the walls depend on this.

Which white and which colours

The cool white from photos of Nordic apartments behaves differently here: on the north side it turns bluish, and by a west window in the evening it goes yellow. So for the walls we choose a white with a slight warm or grey undertone, and not the brightest one: pure white next to a floor-to-ceiling window on a sunny day hurts the eyes. We try two or three shades as paint samples right on the walls of the apartment, just as we look at tiles and flooring during materials selection, and only then is the whole batch tinted.

The rest of the palette is light and muted: light grey, grey-blue, sage, sand. Strong colour is acceptable in textiles or on one bedroom wall. The walls are painted with washable matt paint: a light wall by the entrance and the sofa will need wiping.

Light wood on the floor and in the furniture

The floor for this style is usually light oak. In an apartment for yourself we lay engineered wood flooring, lacquered or oiled: it has a thin layer of oak on a multi-layer core, and in humid air it moves less than solid wood. Screed preparation and glue-down installation are covered on the page about laying engineered wood flooring. For an apartment let short-term we don't recommend a wooden floor; SPC vinyl with a light oak pattern is a better fit there.

There are two wood tones in a room, three at most: the floor, the furniture and small details. Birch, ash and oak, all sold as “light wood”, can drift into pink, yellow and grey undertones side by side, so we put the samples together and look at them in daylight. Wardrobe and kitchen fronts are made from veneer or wood-effect board with banding on all edges, and solid wood is kept for the table and chairs, which can be sanded back if needed.

Light oak by a window darkens over time and turns a honey tone; that is the nature of wood. UV-protective lacquer and white oil slow this down, and in the sunniest room it is sometimes simpler to lay SPC vinyl with the same pattern.

Textiles that will survive a damp winter

Without a wool throw, a sheepskin on a chair, a soft rug and linen on the bed, a Scandinavian interior looks empty. By the sea each of these behaves in its own way. Wool and sheepskin absorb moisture from the air and start to smell in an apartment closed up for the winter, so we keep wool to throws and cushions that are easy to wash or put out to dry, and choose short-pile rugs in synthetic or blended fibres.

Linen on the bed and the table works well: it washes easily and doesn't hold smells. Pure linen curtains by the sea stretch in damp weather and shrink under the air conditioning, so for floor-to-ceiling windows we choose blended fabrics with a linen texture. How curtains, rugs and throws are chosen and made is covered on the page about textiles and decor.

Wood and wool need humidity within 40–60%, and by the sea in winter it can't be kept there without dehumidifying. In the design we set aside a place and a socket for a dehumidifier from the start, and fit air conditioners with a dry mode in the rooms with wood.

Furniture: legs, open shelves, simple shapes

Here furniture on legs also works for the climate. Air circulates under the sofa and the chest of drawers, the floor beneath them is visible and easy to clean, and a robot vacuum gets through without obstacles. The shapes are simple, the corners soft, and tables and chairs are made of wood or plywood with exposed edges.

The style allows open shelves, but with only a few things on them: books, a couple of baskets, ceramics. Everything else goes into closed cupboards painted in the wall colour, and then even a small room looks spacious.

A Scandinavian interior for rental

For long-term rental the style works almost unchanged. A light apartment with proper lighting and wardrobes is comfortable to live in, and engineered wood under a hard-wearing lacquer lasts for years if the tenant uses a dehumidifier.

For short-term rental we change three things. The wooden floor is replaced with SPC vinyl, the light sofa upholstery is ordered with removable covers or in a fabric that washes clean of wine and coffee, and the bedside table lamps give way to wall lights: guests knock a lamp off the bedside table, and its cable runs across the walkway. There are also fewer throws and cushions: everything a guest throws on the floor has to be washed after check-out.

Common mistakes in a Scandinavian interior

• cool white throughout an apartment with north-facing windows, so in winter the room feels like a hospital;
• light oak by the sink and dishwasher, where water lands every day;
• plywood with exposed edges in the bathroom: the edge absorbs water and delaminates;
• white upholstery without removable covers on a sofa people sit on straight after the beach;
• thin sheers without heavy curtains on a west-facing window, so the living room overheats by evening;
• decor straight out of a magazine, with candles, branches and trays on every surface that have to be moved for cleaning.

How much a Scandinavian interior costs in Batumi

A Scandinavian apartment design project costs from 145 to 190 ₾ per m² and pays for the designer's work from the measured survey to the materials list. The flooring, paint and furniture are not included; they are priced in the renovation estimate and the procurement.

The biggest item in the estimate for this style is the wooden floor. Engineered wood flooring as a material costs from 185 to 265 ₾ per m², and laying it a further 51 to 66 ₾ per m². Wall painting in 2 coats costs from 23 to 36 ₾ per m². If wood is needed only in the bedrooms, with SPC vinyl in the living room and hallway, the estimate drops noticeably.

Made-to-measure furniture and a detailed lighting plan with lamps and sockets in every room push the project towards the upper end of the range. The final cost becomes clear after the measured survey, when we agree together which sheets and rooms the project will include.