People of Belarte - Henna Kotona
Welcome to Henna, an interior enthusiast living in southern Finland. Her home may seem calm to the eye but it’s in fact quite lively since she and her husband have two sons under the school age, as well as two lively Boston terriers. When we ask Henna how her interest for interior started
she says: ”You really can never know where life takes you, that’s what I have to say about both my work and my hobby. I spent about ten years without going to a hair salon and basically had only furniture drifted to me from my family and friends and here I am now working as a hairdresser for a decade and having this very active interior themed Instagram account!”
You have a very coherent home and it all goes in different beige hues, can you tell us a little about it, what’s your interior philosophy?
My home has this really coherent vibe to it but my roots are in vintage and boho style. I still love those type of interiors but nowadays when
I have loud music and noise at work and all this bubbly laughter and ongoing brotherly bickering I really felt I had to make my home, calm but still cosy. And I have a personal mission to prove that you can have nice pieces of furniture even if you have small kids!
What is your best tip for someone who wants a monochrome home? Do you have any dos and don’ts when it comes to interior?
The tones in my home are quite monochrome so I want to add different textures as in warm wood, stone, ceramics and some black so it doesn’t feel too bland. And that’s what makes it more interesting to me, to have some tension between the objects instead of making everything look perfect. It really is more interesting when something is a bit off. So my do’s are mixing textures and styles and having something asymmetrical. And my don’ts are focusing on being too perfect and all matchy matchy even if you are playing with a restricted color palette.
Tell us a bit how you chose the wallpaper designs for your home?
I chose plaster lines for its calming effect and for the wonderful vibe it gives our home office . I always love to change things but this has enough neutrality to it I know I won’t get bored with it! Ocean creatures was my personal fave and fell in love with it immediately when I saw it.
One of my boys love pink and the other blue and they are so interested in sea creatures so this was an absolutely perfect match.
”They love dinosaurs, space and sea creatures so why not have all of them in their small kingdom”
Whats your best tips for someone decorating their first kids room or nursery?
Kids room was really hard for me to decorate at first but then I just relaxed and started to have fun with it. I thought about things I loved as a child and i listened what my boys wanted. They love dinosaurs, space and sea creatures so why not have all of them in their small little kingdom! And when all these fun little details are combined with a neutral color palette it doesn’t feel too loud , it just feels happy and playful just like it should be.
From where do you find inspiration and energy, both in general but also interms of interior?
Decorating my home is my number one hobby, it really gives me life! I’m an entrepreneur so I can make me a few hours every now and then to stay home alone and just decorate and take pictures during the daylight and I also love what I do for a living so I’m really in a good place right now even though I never could have seen this coming as a teenager.
