Inspiration: Swedish Summer House

In Nordic countries there is a tradition of Summer Houses, a simple small shelter or cottage to stay in when the weather is pleasant. This is a tradition in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Finland. City families who could afford to had a second home by the sea or in the country.

Many of these are now vacation rentals.

The Summer House in these photos belonged to Emanuel Swedenborg. It is part of the open-air museum and zoo on the island Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden.

The walls are ochre yellow. Yellow ochre is a common natural mineral,  silica and clay with goethite, a form of  iron.

The grey color has been popular in Sweden since the 1700s. They are the same colors seen inside homes from small cottages to grand Gustavian estates.

I love the combination of the two traditional colors.

The windows are trimmed in dark Falu Red,  a traditional paint color that was originally a byproduct of copper mining. In some of these photos the door is red, too. The photos were taken at different times.

The roof appears to be made of metal with a finish that looks like weathered wood. Or maybe it really is weathered wood.

The formal garden around the tiny house keeps the same scale.

Stone steps lead up to the double front doors.

This photo is a bit blurry, but I wanted to get in to see the detail of the wood walls.

See how the shutters are made?

There is a little bit of a ledge over the windows.

The roof has two spires, topped by stars.