Scandinavian summer house design is as much about how a building feels as how it looks – and no one illustrates that better than a real customer build. Here’s the story of how Ulrik and Bente from Denmark created theirs, and how you can achieve the same style in your own garden.

When Ulrik and Bente ordered their bespoke summer house Stefan 1, they already knew what they didn’t want. They’d looked at many standard solutions, but something was always off – windows positioned in the wrong place relative to the sunlight, or just a few square metres short of what would make the difference between a storage shed and a real usable space. Nearly a year on from installation, the result of finding the right solution is one of the most beautifully styled Scandinavian summer houses we’ve seen a customer create.

“We haven’t regretted for a second that we bought from you,” they told us. “We’ve got the most wonderful little house we dreamed of. Along the way, everything went flawlessly – and the things that arose along the way, you were quick to solve.”

How we found the right solution together

Through a series of conversations and sketches, the Stefan 1 summer house began to take shape around their exact requirements. Wall thickness, roof pitch, door and window placement – nothing was fixed until they were happy with it. We advised on the technical side while they led on the aesthetic, and the result was a building designed around their garden and how they wanted to use it.

One of the most important decisions was dividing the interior into two zones: a large, bright living area with space for seating and a small desk, and an integrated storage area behind a timber facade, meaning no separate shed was needed, and the garden kept its calm, uncluttered feel.

The finished building is painted a bold sky blue outside and crisp white inside. What a genuine example of Scandinavian summer house design done with care and confidence! Now, let’s look at what defines the style and how you can recreate it in your own garden.

What is Scandinavian summer house design?

Scandinavian summer house design is rooted in simplicity, natural materials, and a strong connection between the interior and the outdoors. It draws on a design tradition common across Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland – one that values function as much as form, and warmth as much as visual appeal.

Central to the style is the concept of hygge – a Danish and Norwegian word that describes a feeling of cosiness, comfort, and quiet contentment. In a summer house context, hygge isn’t about expensive finishes or matching furniture sets. It’s about a space that feels genuinely welcoming: soft textures, natural light, personal objects, and a sense that the building belongs to the people who use it.

In practice, Scandinavian summer house design tends to share a few defining characteristics:

• White or light-painted interiors that maximise natural light
• Exposed timber structure left as a visual feature
• A restrained colour palette with warm accent tones
• Natural materials – wood, linen, wicker, wool
• A wood-burning stove or other heat source as a focal point
• Personal, often vintage, objects that give the space character

This summer house ticks every one of those boxes.

Styling guide: Scandinavian summer house design

Start with white walls and exposed structure

The single most impactful decision in this build is the all-white interior. Every surface is painted white – the tongue and groove walls, the ceiling boards and the exposed roof beams. Far from feeling clinical, it creates a bright, airy space where natural light bounces freely and the timber structure becomes a decorative feature in its own right.

Leaving the apex roof fully exposed rather than adding a flat ceiling is a classic move in Scandinavian summer house design. The visible rafters, ridge beam, and collar ties all read as architectural detail rather than unfinished construction. In a log cabin or tongue and groove building, the structure is already attractive – there’s rarely a good reason to hide it.

If you’re painting a timber interior, a breathable wood paint or pigmented oil finish will show the grain and texture of the wood rather than sitting on top of it.

Build in a mezzanine if the roof height allows

One of the advantages of a summerhouse with a high apex roof is the loft space it creates. Here, a simple fold-down ladder leads to a mezzanine sleeping area set into the roof. Fitted out with a mattress and bedding, it makes the building genuinely versatile without adding a single square metre to the footprint.

Not every summer house will suit a mezzanine, but if yours has the internal height, it’s worth considering early in the planning stage before the interior is fitted out. A summer house with a side shed is another way to add practical space – keeping tools, bikes, or garden equipment separate so the interior stays clean and uncluttered, which is very much in keeping with the Scandinavian approach.

Layer textures rather than colours

The colour palette used in this build is deliberately restrained – whites, greys, and natural wood tones, with mustard yellow cushions as the main accent. What gives the space its warmth and depth is texture rather than colour: a wicker pendant light, linen and patterned cushions, a woven rag rug, a sheepskin throw, rattan baskets used as storage.

None of these are expensive or hard to find, but layered together they create the kind of richness that is difficult to achieve with paint alone. This is the practical heart of hygge interior design. Comfort and warmth are built from tactile, natural materials rather than bold decorative statements. For more inspiration across a range of styles, take a look at our summer house interior design ideas.

Make the kitchen part of the design

The kitchen in this summer house is one of its standout features. Rather than fitting standard units, the owners have built something far more characterful: open shelving above the worktop, a freestanding cooker, butcher-block style counters, and – the detail that makes it – ticking-stripe fabric curtains in place of cupboard doors beneath the worktops.

The striped cotton instantly softens what could have been a purely utilitarian corner and gives the kitchen a relaxed, unfussy quality that suits the rest of the space. Open shelving displaying crockery, mugs, and ceramics means the kitchen contributes to the overall aesthetic rather than working against it.

If you’re planning a larger summer house and want to include a proper kitchen area, this approach shows how much is achievable without bespoke joinery or a significant budget.

Use a wood-burning stove as a focal point

A small steel log burner with a flue exiting through the roof apex does two jobs in this build. Practically, it extends the usability of the space well into the colder months. Aesthetically, it anchors the lounge end of the room. An armchair and footstool positioned beside it complete the hygge effect and create a reading corner with real atmosphere.

If you’re planning to install a wood burner in a timber building, always use a HETAS-registered installer and check your local summer house planning permission rules before fitting the flue.

Let personal objects tell the story

What lifts this summer house from nicely styled to genuinely characterful is the personal detail. A vintage botanical print hung on the wall. A retro kitchen clock. A Danish flag above the coat hooks. A plate rack displaying blue-and-white china. A bookcase filled with well-read books.

These are not things you can buy as a set – they accumulate over time, and that’s exactly the point. Scandinavian design has always understood that a space becomes meaningful through use and familiarity, not through showroom perfection. The entrance area here, with its coat hooks, shoe rack, and wicker baskets, is a particularly good example, practical and personal in equal measure.

A summer house with a veranda creates a nice transition zone between inside and out, if you’re drawn to this style but want more outdoor space – the ideal solution for the kind of relaxed, indoor-outdoor living that Scandinavian summer house design naturally encourages.

About the Stefan 1

The Stefan 1 is a compact Nordic-style summerhouse with a high apex roof, tongue and groove Nordic spruce walls, and German tilt-and-turn windows with toughened safety glass. The internal height created by the roof pitch is what makes ambitious interiors like this one possible, including the mezzanine sleeping loft you can see in the photos above.

At Summerhouse24, we specialise in log cabin garden buildings – Nordic timber buildings built with tongue and groove Nordic spruce construction, designed to last and sold factory-direct without reseller markup.

Browse our full range of summer houses if you’d like to explore different sizes and configurations. From small summer houses ideal for compact gardens to larger summer house buildings with space for a full kitchen, lounge, and more.

And, if nothing quite fits, we can adjust any of our models according to your needs. Or – build a completely bespoke summer house, according to your specifications.