Walk into a Danish living room in December and you won’t find a single inflatable reindeer. What you’ll find is a window full of woven paper hearts, a bowl of clementines studded with cloves, and about forty candles doing the work of every overhead light. Scandinavian holiday decorating proves that a home can feel more festive with fewer objects, as long as each one is warm, tactile, and made with some care. The best part is that nearly everything in this style can be made at your kitchen table with materials that cost almost nothing.

This guide walks you through DIY holiday decorations inspired by Scandinavian design, from paper ornaments with centuries of tradition behind them to simple natural arrangements you can pull together in an evening. You’ll learn the principles that make the look work, then get practical projects with clear steps, so your home ends up feeling calm and glowing instead of crowded.

The Principles Behind Nordic Holiday Style

Before you cut a single piece of paper, it helps to understand why Scandinavian decor looks the way it does. Two ideas do most of the heavy lifting. Hygge, the Danish concept of cozy contentment, explains the focus on candlelight, soft fabrics, and gathering spaces. Lagom, the Swedish idea of “just the right amount,” explains the restraint. Together, they produce rooms that feel abundant without being cluttered.

A Palette You Can Actually Stick To

The traditional Nordic holiday palette is narrow on purpose. Think white, cream, and soft gray as the base, with natural wood and straw tones, deep forest green from fresh branches, and one accent color. That accent is usually a muted red, the shade of old barn paint rather than fire engine paint. Some homes swap red for dusty blue or soft blush, but the rule stays the same: pick one accent and repeat it.

Limiting your palette makes DIY projects look intentional. A handmade ornament that might look rough next to a dozen glittery store-bought ones looks charming against a quiet background.

Materials That Do the Work

Scandinavian design favors materials that look better with age and handling. Keep a small kit on hand:

• White, red, and kraft paper in medium weight
• Natural straw, paper straws, or thin wooden dowels
• Cotton twine, linen thread, and wool yarn
• Beeswax or soy candles in simple colors
• Wood slices, pinecones, and fresh evergreen clippings

If you enjoy working with foraged items, our collection of crafts using natural materials offers more ideas that pair well with everything below.

Woven Paper Hearts and Paper Stars

If one decoration represents Danish Christmas, it’s the woven paper heart, known as a julehjerte. Hans Christian Andersen is credited with making one of the earliest known versions in the 1860s, and Danish families have been hanging them on trees ever since. They’re flat, cheap, and surprisingly satisfying to make.

How to Weave a Classic Paper Heart

1. Cut two rectangles of paper, one red and one white, each about 3 by 9 inches. Fold each in half so you have two 3 by 4.5 inch pieces.
2. Round off the folded end of each piece with scissors to create a half-circle shape.
3. From the folded edge, cut slits toward the open ends, stopping about a half inch before the edge. Three or four slits on each piece works well for a first attempt.
4. Hold the two pieces at right angles and weave the strips through each other, alternating over and under. Reverse the pattern for each new strip.
5. Glue a loop of thin ribbon or twine inside the open end for hanging.

The first heart will probably look wobbly. By the third, your hands will remember the rhythm. Try varying the number of strips or using striped paper for a different pattern.

Paper Stars for Windows

Folded paper stars are another Nordic favorite, especially hung in windows during the dark months. A simple version uses four paper strips woven into a three-dimensional star that casts delicate shadows when backlit. Use heavy white paper or even parchment, and hang them at varying heights with fishing line so they seem to float. Because the whole look is understated, our guide to minimalist crafts for a clean aesthetic is a good companion if you want to push the simplicity further.

Himmeli and Straw Ornaments

Straw has deep roots in Scandinavian winter traditions. The Swedish julbock, a Yule goat made from bound straw, has been a seasonal symbol for generations, and Finnish himmeli mobiles are geometric straw sculptures that hang above dining tables. They look architectural and modern, which is why designers keep rediscovering them.

Making a Simple Himmeli

Traditional himmeli uses cut rye straw, which can be hard to source. Paper drinking straws, thin brass tubing, or even bamboo skewers cut to length work just as well. For a basic octahedron, which looks like two pyramids joined at the base, you’ll need twelve pieces of equal length, about 3 inches for a tabletop piece.

Thread your needle with strong linen thread and string four pieces into a square, tying it off tightly. Then build a four-sided pyramid on top by threading in four more pieces that meet at a single peak. Repeat on the bottom. Leave a long thread tail at the top to hang it from the ceiling or a branch.

Once you master the basic shape, you can make clusters in graduated sizes or attach tiny beads at the joints. A single large himmeli hung above a table makes a bolder statement than a dozen small ornaments.

A Straw Goat for the Mantel

If you want to try a julbock, craft straw or raffia bundles work well. Bind several bundles with red thread into a body, neck, and head shape, then add horns from small twisted pieces. Keep it rustic. Perfect symmetry isn’t the goal, and the slightly crooked ones are usually the favorites.

Candlelight and Glass Holders

Scandinavians light more candles than almost any other culture, and the reason is practical as much as decorative. Winter days in Stockholm or Oslo can offer fewer than six hours of daylight. Candles aren’t an accessory there, they’re a daily necessity that happens to look beautiful.

Advent Candle Traditions

In Sweden and Norway, the four Sundays before Christmas are marked by lighting a new candle each week. You can create your own advent display with four pillar candles in different heights on a wooden board or tray, surrounded by moss and small branches. Keep the colors matching, all white or all deep red, so the arrangement feels cohesive.

Saint Lucia’s Day on December 13 brings another candle tradition, with a crown of greenery and light. You don’t need to participate fully to borrow the idea. A low wreath of evergreen laid flat around a thick pillar candle makes a beautiful centerpiece.

Handmade Holders From Everyday Glass

You don’t need expensive holders. Old jam jars, glass tumblers, and yogurt jars make atmospheric lanterns when wrapped in twine or frosted with a bit of paper. Our walkthrough for DIY candle holders made from recycled glass covers several techniques, including etching and wrapping methods that suit this style.

If you’d like to go a step further, learning how to start candle making at home lets you pour your own beeswax or soy candles in simple muted tones. Handmade candles also make a lovely gift when tied with a sprig of rosemary.

One safety note that matters more than any styling advice: never leave candles unattended, keep them away from paper and straw ornaments, and consider battery-operated tea lights for the spots near your himmeli or paper stars.

Greenery, Dried Fruit, and Foraged Finds

Where American holiday decor often leans toward shiny plastic, Nordic style brings the forest indoors. Fresh branches, cones, and dried fruit give a home that earthy, resinous smell that no candle can quite replicate.

Dried Orange Slices

Dried oranges are the easiest project in this guide and arguably the most beautiful. Slice oranges about a quarter inch thick, pat them dry, and bake on a rack at 200 degrees Fahrenheit for two to three hours, flipping once, until the slices are translucent and slightly curled. Thread them on twine for a garland, tuck them into wreaths, or hang single slices in a window where light passes through the flesh like stained glass.

Branches, Cones, and Wood Slices

A few bare birch branches in a tall vase, hung with a handful of paper hearts, can replace a full Christmas tree in a small apartment. Pinecones can be bleached lightly with diluted white vinegar solution or simply left natural, then piled in a wooden bowl. Wood slices cut from fallen branches become coasters, ornaments, or tiny place cards. Drill a small hole, sand the edges, and write a name with a fine marker.

When gathering anything outdoors, take only what has already fallen, and let items dry for a few days indoors to avoid bringing in insects.

Wool, Felt, and Soft Textiles

Hygge depends heavily on touch, so a Scandinavian holiday room always includes something soft to wrap yourself in. Think chunky knit throws draped over a chair, sheepskin on a bench, and linen napkins at the table. If you want to understand why this works so well, our piece on why soft textures make a space feel warmer breaks down the effect.

Tomte Gnomes From Scraps

The tomte or nisse is a mischievous household spirit in Scandinavian folklore, usually pictured as a small figure with a tall pointed hat and a long beard. Modern DIY versions are simple and charming. Cut a cone from red felt or an old wool sweater sleeve, glue it closed, and fill the base with rice or sand for weight. Add a ball of wool roving for the nose and a fluffy beard, and tuck the hat low so the face disappears.

Make a family of three in graduated sizes and line them up on a bookshelf. They’re also a good project to do together; our ideas for easy holiday crafts for the whole family include several that pair nicely with a tomte-making afternoon.

Simple Textile Swaps

You can also change the feel of a room by swapping a few textiles rather than adding new decor. Replace regular cushion covers with off-white wool or linen, lay a runner of natural burlap down the dining table, and tie napkins with a strand of green twine. These small shifts take twenty minutes and set the tone before anything else comes out of the box.

Bringing It All Together

Scandinavian holiday design succeeds because of editing as much as making. Once you’ve created a few projects, the real skill is placing them so each one has room to be noticed. A good rule is to group decorations in odd numbers and leave generous empty space around each cluster.

A practical starting layout looks like this:

• Window: three paper stars at different heights, plus a row of lit glass jars on the sill
• Dining table: a himmeli overhead, a low greenery runner, and two white candles
• Mantel or shelf: a small tomte family, a bowl of pinecones, and one dried orange garland
• Entryway: a wreath or birch branches with paper hearts, plus a wooden slice for a welcome message

Resist the urge to fill every surface. If a spot feels empty, a single candle often solves it better than another ornament.

A Quieter Kind of Festive

The charm of Scandinavian holiday decorating is that it asks for patience rather than money. A few hours with paper, straw, and scissors gives you ornaments that carry meaning, because you made them and because the designs have been passed down through generations of long, dark winters.

Start with one project this week. Weave a paper heart or slice a few oranges, and see how it changes the feel of the room. Then add one more thing each weekend until December, and you’ll arrive at the holidays with a home that feels collected, calm, and unmistakably yours.