Copenhagen - interiors highlights

Last weekend we went on a little city break to Copenhagen. Given that my husband recently married a half-Dane in a Danish church (in London) but has never been to Denmark, I thought it was high time he visited "the motherland" (literally the motherland in my case). That was how I pitched it to him anyway, and to be fair, it was 80% of the reason for the trip, but the other 20% of the motivation was so that I could get a long overdue dose of interiors inspiration from the source of all my design inspiration, and hopefully squeeze in a bit of shopping too!

Here are the interiors highlights from the weekend..



Hay House

The Copenhague CPH90 desk from HAY

I've been dying to visit Hay House for ages as it is a bit of a "design destination" and is often declared a must-see in guides to Copenhagen. To my great surprise (and delight), Mr HoL loved it as much as I did and wanted to buy the first thing he clapped eyes on in the store - this desk and chair, the Copenhague CPH 90. So that's gone on the 'must buy' list.

Copenhague bar stool, HAY

Next on our wish list is some bar stools for our breakfast bar. I've had an eye out for some nice ones since we moved in as I'm desperate to make sure the basic, £25 ones we bought as a stop gap from IKEA don't make themselves to much at home and become permanent features. We both made a beeline for these in the store and I headed straight up to the cash desk to order them only for my excitement to be cut short when they told me they don't ship internationally - how infuriating is that?! I have the name of their UK agent though, so the stools aren't going to get away with me that easily.

Illums Bolighus

Illums Bolighus, Copenhagen

Illums Bolighus is like a palace to Danish design and is basically the best homewares store on the planet in my eyes. It sells absolutely everything you need for your home - from Vipp bins and lovely Bungalow teatowels, to Louis Poulsen lighting and my favourite, a whole section with almost the full collection of Carl Hansen chairs. On the one hand it's distressing that there's not one in London, on the other hand, it's a very good thing that the North Sea is between me and this store as I could literally bankrupt myself in a day in here.

Øl & Brød

Øl & Brød, great smørrebrød and beer as well as great interiors

This lovely beer and smørrebrød (Danish open sandwiches) restaurant was just around the corner from our apartment and its gorgeous interior has solved my 'what colour to paint the kitchen' dilemma. Once I'd stopped ogling the paint colours and lovely fittings, I got round to ordering a couple of delicious smørrebrød, aquavit and beer. A great spot for lunch if you're passing. 

Our airbnb apartment

Finally, as this was my Mr HoL's first trip to Copenhagen - and to Denmark - I wanted to really impress him with the awesomeness of the city and country as a whole, and I also wanted to give him a sense of the Danish lifestyle. With that in mind, I decided to book an Airbnb apartment rather than a hotel and found this gem in ultra trendy Vesterbro (named 4th or 3rd most hip place in the world according to our cycle tour guide!). As you can see, the apartment was gorgeous and there were loads of great design ideas to pinch - I loved the floors best of all and have started campaigning to strip our floorboards again and lye soap them so they look just like these floors.. The host herself was just lovely and had thought of absolutely everything so we had such a great stay. It turned out during a chat at the end of our stay that she works for Norr11 who recently opened a store in London, so I'll be paying them a visit to see if I can literally buy the look from her apartment! www.norr11.com

Here are the details if you're planning a trip to Copenhagen and fancy booking this amazing apartment..

Suite Dreams in København

Apartment in København, Denmark. Marianne's beautiful apartment is situated in Vesterbrogade, an inner city edgy hub for shopping, culture, Tivoli, city parks. Total luxury awaits inside: a chef's kitchen, rain shower, sumptuous bed, five star furnishings and artwork. The Apart... View all listings in København