A Scandinavian styled living room {Review of NEST}

You can say that it was a twist of fate that made me spend over four years of my life staying in the Nordic countries and it was in Scandinavia where I stepped into this life-changing motherhood journey. Still, it would always be the best thing that ever happened to me and I can only be so grateful that it led me to where I am now. With this in mind, when we were thinking of renovation plans for our new home, I knew I wanted a Scandinavian theme right from the beginning.

Since I'm a noob when it comes to interior designing, many of my ideas and inspiration came from online. I surfed through the internet for examples of Scandinavian homes, I read up on how they are renowned for simplicity, minimalism and functionality, I put together bits and pieces as I envisioned how we wanted our home to be, and I looked for furniture that would help us to emphasize on this theme that is so close to my heart.

That was when I came to know about NEST, an online furniture retailer that specialises in Scandinavian styling, and it made all the difference to my living room. In this A Happy Home post, I'll be sharing with you more about our sofa and dining set, both of which I seriously love.

NEST is rooted in the Scandinavian design tradition characterised by enduring aesthetics, functionality, craftsmanship and an honest expression. With an ambition to deliver a new perspective on Scandinavian design to Singapore, NEST helps to fulfill needs with its emphasis on the timeless style of simple, functional, elegant and intelligent designs.

The first time I browsed through its website, I was surprised by how neat everything was kept and I could easily search for the catalogue I needed. Clear product pictures were displayed along with details on the product description and pricing so it made things pretty straightforward. Once you are happy with your choices, all you need to do is add to cart, pay and wait for delivery.



So, why would you wanna pay for something that you can't physically test out, feel or even see up close? That was something that I asked myself too since I like the feeling of being able to actually sit on a sofa before I decide if I really want it. Well, it's all for the savings, of course. By ordering direct from factories when you buy from NEST, this means you don't have to let distributors, wholesalers or retailers earn your money and this translates to more affordable pricing. Having a 48-hour cooling period post purchase, 30-days trial period and 24-months warranty is also how it maintains its reputation and gives assurance to its customers.

Now, let's take a look at what we got for our new home from NEST. First up, here's our dining set which consists of:

- Platon Table 1.5
- Arthur Bench in Dolphin colour
- 2 x Minya Chair in Taupe Grey
- 2 x Ava Chair in Emerald Colour

These did not come as a set and we actually mixed and matched the pieces to achieve this look (the hubby and the kids had a say too, yup, we are very democratic). What do you think of it? Well, all of us loved it and that surely is a good sign. As you can see, there is a lot of wood involved and this helps us to highlight the Scandinavian tradition too.

The dining table turned out to be a little bigger than I expected and though that means we will have to squeeze a little since we have the sofa on one side and storage cupboards on the other, it also suggests that our guests will have more space to sit around and tuck into meals when they come to our house.

I wanted a bench that could be kept under the table and pulled out easily when necessary so the Arthur Bench was one which fitted my needs perfectly. Don't you just love this shade of grey? I really liked the fabric colour and its simplicity and elegance were the reasons why we chose this bench too.

I wanted two different designs for the dining chairs just because I thought it would jazz things up and make it look more exciting and fun. For myself and the hubby, we chose the Minya Chairs which were minimal yet functional.

As for the girls, they chose the colour of the chairs themselves and it turned out to be a beautiful emerald colour that stands out amidst the wood and matches our house (we mainly focus on blue, green and turquoise) perfectly.

If I have any qualms, it would be fearing that my kids would leave behind stain marks on these beautiful pieces of furniture but that would be a risk I have to take in opting for fabric ones. I was advised by the friendly folks at NEST to make use of Scotchgard fabric protector, which helps to repel stains, in order to make the furniture more lasting so let's hope that helps!

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Moving on to the sofa, I kind of think that it is an indispensable piece of furniture. Yup, it can be small but you have to at least have one there, especially if you plan to sit down to watch TV, do bedtime reading with the kids or let your guests have a place to hang around when they visit.



We used to have a leather sofa and it didn't really work out quite the way we wanted, so this time round, we chose to go with fabric instead. It took me a long time to go through the options NEST offered but after rounds and rounds of decision making, we went for the CENI 3-seater Sofa in Whale colour along with a matching CENI Ottoman.


I love the modern yet classic design of the sofa with its wooden base, plush seating and clean design lines. The slanted legs at the bottom, while looking sleek at the same time, ensure that the sofa is kept sturdy and strong. I can't even describe to you how much 'treasure' we used to have underneath our previous sofa, which was really disgustingly dirty and unhygienic, so I am glad that it's not hard to clean below the CENI sofa and in any case, the sofa can be easily shifted (on my own) so that makes mopping and vacuuming much easier too.

To complement the theme, I specially searched for and bought Scandinavian design cushions from Taobao too. Aren't these cute? I really like them lots! By the way, blue is the husband's favourite colour and green is mine, so we chose to focus on these two (plus their fusion - turquoise) colours for the living/dining room and even kitchen (I'll bring you on a tour for that soon, I promise!) too. You probably can't tell but the squarish cushions unzip to transform into comforters too which come in really handy on our movie nights, so I am totally thrilled that I bought them even thought I didn't know they had dual functions initially.

For the 3-seater sofa, the good news for us is that the cushion seats, arm rests and back rests come with removable covers! Woohoo! Yup, that makes cleaning really much easier for me because with three young kids in the house, even if I did apply Scotchgard, you just never know when messy big-time spills or accidents might happen.

We used to have a L-shaped sofa and I've gotten used to the habit of being able to lay my legs straight when I watch the TV - which is much more comfortable when the baby chooses to climb on me too. The addition of the Ottoman allows us to do so while giving us the flexibility to shift it anywhere we want too. While it also makes a wonderful spot to lay out all my laundry, the important thing is it lets us feel more comfortable when we snuggle and I'm very thankful we chose to have it.

I have to give credit to the folks at NEST who delivered the items and helped to ensure that everything was in place. Not only did they waited patiently (and assembled the furniture pieces in the hot and stuffy carpark) when I had to go out to fetch the kids from school, they were also extremely meticulous with the shifting and placement of the furniture and would go all out to meet our needs.

Yup, for now, I'm just so very thankful that the Scandinavian home dream has finally come true after all the months of hard work. Till more updates and tours!

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This post is part of the "A Happy Home" series where I share all about our new Scandinavian-themed house, the renovation process and some tips and thoughts. Moving is never easy but it comes with an indescribable sense of joy in building up the house of your dreams. Remember, home is where the heart is and nothing is more important than being able to build memories with the people you love.


Disclosure: This is a semi-sponsored review for NEST. We received a special pricing for all items mentioned above. All opinions are our own.