Hygge at Home

It's often said that Danes are among the happiest people in the world. The Danish culture has adapted to the winter months with Hygge. Hygge, pronounced "hooga", translates into a feeling rather than a single word - relaxing with friends over good food/wine, having created a cozy surrounding and atmosphere typically enhanced by fire or candlelight. As we step closer to winter and the temperature begins to cool down, we've looked into ways you can incorporate Hygge into your home. 

Instead of lighting a real fire, here we've placed an arrangement of candles and hurricanes inside the fireplace to create a similar feeling of warmth.

  

Incorporating natural materials like wood, leather, cashmere, wool and fur will help create authentic warmth, a log fire also helps obviously! 

Get the Look

1) Basic Pillar Candles from John Lewis - here

2) Reindeer Hide here

3) How to Hygge by Signe Johansen- here

4) Boucle Cashmere Cushion from De Le Cuona

5) Karma Cushion from Elitis

6) Cushion by Wickenden Hutley

7) Cashmere Blankets here

8) Cashmere Bed Socks from The White Company

9) Mauviel M'Heritage Copper Pans here

10) Feu de Bois candle from Diptyque

11) Log burning Stove from Chestney's

12) George Smith armchair designed by Wickenden Hutley

13) Drinking chocolate from Charbonnel et Walker

14) Kastehelmi Clear Cakestand here

FLASHBACK TO A WINTER WEDDING

Before we all get totally immersed in the current warm spell and think of all things summer, we wanted to share the photos of Charlie's wedding that took place in February (it has been a busy start to the year in the WH studio on all fronts)! 

Winter weddings can seem a challenge to some, with a cooler light and less natural colour by way of sunshine, flowers and (if you’re lucky) blue skies - but Charlie was inspired by the romance of dark evenings and candlelight.  Like the starting point to any of our projects Charlie started by sourcing inspiration and a colour palette.  Rich faded tones, soft textures (velvet ribbon and feathers featured throughout) and hints of gold, would all be set off by plenty of candlelight.  Charlie's Mother's honey was used as table favours and the bee motif carried through as her marital name is now Humm!

We hope you enjoy seeing the beautiful photos of the day along with Charlie's inspirations that allowed her to create the most stunning Winter Wedding... 

INSPIRATION BOARD

PHOTOS FROM THE WEDDING

Charlie hand drew a feather motif which was then used throughout the wedding stationery on invitations, RSVP cards, details for the day and the menu placed on the tables... And of course she designed all stationery herself (perfectionism is the curse of the Interior Designer)!

  

Feathers featured in buttonholes, whilst the bouquets were tied with a faded crimson velvet ribbon. 

The local church was filled with an abundance of foliage and candles.  

When designing we consider all views of a scheme and Charlie did the same when looking at the church flowers, every guest had stunning displays in their sights. 

The dinner tables perfectly captured the feel of the wedding; elegant feathers tied with velvet ribbon were used as place settings, with simple silver cutlery and candelabra.  Small pots of honey from the Mother of the Brides’  bees were finished with printed labels and varying shades of thin velvet ribbon around their neck for guests to take home as a sweet reminder of the day.

   

Charlie hand drew animal motifs for all of the place settings and table names and put her amazing calligraphy skills to good use! 

              

Simple decoration of hellebores, cherries and macaroons on their three tiered cake. (Bottom to top: Berry and vanilla, Earl Grey and Lemon, Coffee and Walnut).

Huge Congratulations to the new Mr and Mrs Humm! (and Raffia).

Winter Travels

Happy New Year!

We hope you all had a lovely break whether it was spent at home with family and friends, or like some members of the WH team, travelling Europe. Europe at this time of year is beautiful. Every town had bright festive street lights, Christmas markets, the best local food, mulled wine and an amazing atmosphere. 

Christmas in Brussels

Christmas was spent in the centre of town down a beautiful cobblestone street. The Christmas markets were a short walk away, as was the Grand Palace with it's enormous Christmas tree and gold detailed buildings. Even the Manneken Pis statue was dressed for the Christmas occasion!

Bruges

We were welcomed with blue skies on our day trip to Bruges. After a day spent admiring the architecture, we burnt off the Belgium waffles as we climbed the Belfry of Bruges just in time for sunset.

Amsterdam:

Amsterdam has one of the most amazing city maps with it's many canals. Remembering that cyclists own this city, we rented our bikes and explored as the locals would. 

Berlin

Visiting Berlin is a must do. We recommend taking a free walking tour to learn about the history and architecture of the city. The tour takes you to many historical places including the Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie and the Holocaust Memorial. 

Wishing you all the best for 2016!

-The WH team