21 Scandi Christmas Decor Ideas and Tips for a Cozy Holiday at Home

Scandi-style Christmas decorating is cozy, warm, and understated, the perfect antidote to the excesses of holiday consumerism and modern life. To bring some Scandinavian vibes to your holiday decor, focus on simplicity; embrace a neutral palette; and decorate using natural materials such as paper and wood. Add hygge vibes with candlelight and layers of texture with chunky knits and fluffy faux fur. Base your decor around things that you can forage, upcycle, and make yourself, like these simple Scandi-inspired holiday decor ideas that will add charm to every room in the house.

Layer Sources of Light

Create a cozy atmosphere by layering sources of ambient light. This mountain house Christmas mantel from Emily Henderson Design has a mix of pillar and taper candles flanking a large decorative LED-lit star centerpiece that complements the rustic natural wood mantel and roaring fire.

Create a Bookshelf Vignette

Mix a quirky assortment of neutral-toned objects with gold and silver accents to create a personalized Christmas vignette on a bookshelf or open shelf. Lobster and Swan mixed a gilded cat portrait, a winter-themed literary journal, snail shells, dried greenery, and a Christmas message to create a festive feel that complements the English country cottage decor.

Make a Gingerbread Wreath

If you enjoy baking Christmas cookies, make an extra batch and turn it into a holiday wreath. Inspired By Charm created a Scandi-inspired wreath made of iced gingerbread cookies shaped like snowflakes and stars to decorate the French doors in the dining room.

Wrap Bare Trees in Burlap

Wrap the base of bare trees in burlap and tie them with twine for a low key Scandi-style feel, like this Christmas hallway from Marie Flanigan Interiors.

Make Paper Bag Snowflakes

Made with nothing but some brown paper lunch bags, scissors, and a glue gun, these giant paper snowflakes from Most Lovely Things add a festive feel to the windows throughout the holiday season and are neutral enough to stay up through the rest of winter.

Drape Garlands All Around

Use real or faux green garlands to line the periphery of your room, like this townhouse living room from Brexton Cole Interiors that is edged with pine garlands festooned with small white berries across the mantel and antique dresser.

Hang a Lighted Garland

Hang a lighted garland above your bed to create a minimalist Scandinavian-inspired bedroom, like this space from designer Annie Sloan. Chalk paint on the wood-paneled walls and simple linen bedding in cool shades of white and pale gray complete the streamlined holiday feel.

Make a Foraged Wreath

Use foraged pine cones to make a Scandi-inspired wreath. Finding Lovely glue gunned pine cones and cedar roses to a foam wreath form for this simple project, then tied it with two tones of velvet ribbon to decorate the hallway door.

Layer Cozy Textures

Add cozy textures from faux fur to chunky or cable knits to infuse a hygge atmosphere in unexpected places. This kids' reading nook from Emily Henderson Design is tucked into a stairway niche that is decorated with plush textiles in soft shades of white and gray. A mini wreath decorated with pine cones and warm LED lights adds a finishing touch.

Add Graphic Accents

Add graphic accents to a neutral table with simple touches like the woven pompom-edged placemats and decorative bowls in this light neutral holiday table setting from Finding Lovely.

Green the Front Entryway

Decorate your front door and entryway with simple, wintry decor to create a cohesive look. Emily Henderson Design hung a rustic bunch of greenery on the front door, decorated the front hallway mirror with a sprig of mixed greens, added a faux fur throw to the front bench, and leaned a pair of vintage skis in the corner for a modern Scandi-style Christmas feel.

Hang an Advent Calendar

Hang a pale neutral advent calendar on the wall that doubles as decor. Finding Lovely filled the space between the windows with a large homemade advent calendar, hung white wreaths in the windows, and flanked the understated centerpiece with a pair of bare trees whose bases are wrapped in fabric to complete the soft Scandi-style look.

Decorate With Real Candles

Decorate a tiny tree with real candles to create a timeless and nostalgic Scandi-style feel. Sandra Foster complemented a romantic candle-lit table setting for two with a diminutive Christmas tree lit with real candles (don't leave open flames unatttended for safety reasons).

Hang Rustic Twig Stars

Add a rustic touch to your windows for Christmas with homemade stars made with foraged twigs and a glue gun, like these from Most Lovely Things.

Stick to Black and White

In a room decorated in shades of white and black, keep holiday decor simple and elegant with warm white lights on the tree, a quilted tree skirt, and silver accents, like this room dolled up for Christmas from Brexton Cole Interiors.

Decorate Bare Branches

Nothing says Scandi-style Christmas like a vase of bare branches. Most Lovely Things adorned them with neutral paper ball decorations made from cupcake liners for an affordable, handmade touch.

Set a Homey Table

Pair neutrals with homey decor touches to bring streamlined Scandi style to a holiday lunch. Just cover the table in a creamy linen tablecloth, add a fluffy white table runner down the center, and scatter some bottle brush trees, frosted pine needles in a clear glass vase, and house-shaped candle votives down the center, like this table setting from Emily Henderson Design.

Put a Mini Tree in a Basket

Place a real mini tree in a natural woven basket to decorate your front entry, like this Scandi-inspired scene from The Merrythought.

Choose Flocked Greenery

Small touches of flocked greenery add a snowy Scandi-style feel to this light and airy bathroom from Emily Henderson Design, from the lighted wreath in the bare window over the bathtub to the flocked mini tree at the base.

Add a Touch of Red

Red-and-white Scandi-style knit sweaters, stockings, socks, and slippers are a holiday staple. You can introduce touches of red in an all-white space using anything from berries to the red-and-white painted wood strands of beads that decorate the chunky open wood shelving in this holiday pantry from A Beautiful Mess.

Light the Porch With Stars

Decorate your front porch for the holidays with lighted snowflakes and stars to create a Scandi-style feel outside as well as inside, like this homey porch from Modern Glam.

Read the original article on The Spruce.