Hold on to your woolly hats, there's another trend on its way from our friends in Scandinavia. Conveniently, it arrives to coincide with everyone worrying about how to carry off cosy hygge when the weather warms up. Now there's no need to sweat out the summer in furry blankets with your hands wrapped around a mug of steaming hot chocolate. Out with the (c)old, in with the new. Say hello to lagom.
Translated from the Swedish, lagom means 'just the right amount'. Not too much, not too little. It's all about balance, self-restraint and living simply and sustainably. Clever people in the know describe it as a way of living, compared to hygge which is about creating and feeling moments in time. Lagom may be an easier, more universal concept to grasp than its snuggly, subjective counterpart. One person's experience of hygge as they pull on woolly socks might be another person's itchy, rash-inducing nightmare.
If you've bought into hygge (and I mean literally bought into - Scandi chic adds pounds to the price of any product), then how can you embrace lagom without breaking the bank? Here are some straightforward tips to help bring lagom into your life simply by de-hyggering the hell out of it.
Blankets
You won't need faux reindeer skins in the summer and, let's face it, hygge will have made a Brexit by next winter so don't even bother storing them. Embrace sustainable lagom living and limit your impact on the environment. If you can't turn your unwanted blankets into costumes for school Viking history days then - fleas permitting - your local cats' home will willingly accept them. (Forget the Danes, we all know that cats really invented hygge - let's give it back to them.)
Nordic deer / moose / reindeer
Put anything with antlers out to pasture. If you can't manage that then at least take the fairy lights off their horns. Think simple - these magnificent beasts were not created to bear the weight of the Blackpool illuminations. And remember, Christmas decorations are for Christmas, not just for life.
Quality time with friends
Ah, hygge, 'the art of creating intimacy'. Throughout 2016 you have welcomed your friends into your home to sit on your white-washed wooden bench and share your expensive hot chocolate. If they're not as middle class as you or tend to follow their own path rather than buy into expensive trends then they may not have returned the favour. Now's the time to get your own back. Lagom is about moderation, so if your guests outstay their welcome then go ahead, tell them that you've had 'just enough' of them. It may mean setting aside your self-restraint but it will make everyone happy.
Candles
Burn them! Burn them all! When every candle is gone they will no longer drain precious oxygen and the equilibrium of the atmosphere in your home will be restored.
Be comforted - some things won't change
Whether you go Swedish with lagom or Danish with hygge, you are without doubt destined for great happiness (although where was hygge when Hamlet needed it?). It seems that all our troubles can be solved with a dash of Scandi. Thankfully, lagom presents precisely the same opportunities to be smug as hygge did. You're just doing it in a less wintery way.
Of course, as with hygge inspired products, you can also expect to pay over the odds for anything giving off a mere hint of lagom. WARNING: following a trend of moderation can be expensive and involve a lot of indulgent props if you want to do it right and really impress your friends. There's just about the right amount of irony in that.
This post was first published on Crumbs & Pegs.