October 6, 2016
Sometimes we arrive late and exhausted from work and there’s only one thing we need: a zen interior that make us feel calm and relaxed. How do we achieve that? With Japanese style influence!
Peaceful simplicity surrounds the modest designs of Japanese culture. Thousands of years steeped in tradition have influenced Japan’s architecture and interior design aesthetic, resulting in a serene and very cultural interior design.
Japanese style evolves around clean and uncluttered living, holding tightly to balance, order, ancient customs and a love for natural beauty. Find here tips to create a zen interior with Japanese style influence.
Japanese culture is saturated in a love and respect for nature. The best way to maintain a strong connection with the natural world, is to bring nature indoors.
Adding traditional Japanese plants, such as bonsai and bamboo, into your home will give it a small Japanese cultural touch.
The Japanese entry is called a genkan. This is the area that greets visitors and also the place where shoes are immediately taken off and usually replaced with indoor slippers.
As you notice in the image below, the entryway has a shelf or cabinet called a getabako that is used for storing shoes (tips of the shoes are usually placed pointing outwards, unlike the image below). As you will also notice, the entry is simple in design with wooden elements and a lot of natural lighting.
While a lot of authentic Japanese homes do not segregate furniture-filled rooms for certain purposes such as sitting room or TV room, we can still mimic Japanese simplicity into our sectioned-off homes.
Most of Japan’s furniture is low to the ground, or when it comes to tea ceremonies, floor cushions usually forgo furniture. Mimicking this design aesthetic can be as simple as incorporating low-to-the-ground furniture into our homes
As mentioned above, open space and minimalist design principles reign in Japanese design. So let’s look at another way this design aesthetic is achieved — Natural Lighting.
Natural light abundantly fills these homes, bringing with it serene views and colors of nature. What could be a better way to light up your home? Large, expansive windows and ceiling openings such as skylights, are the perfect way to add this bright design into your own home.
Try diving deep into the peaceful Japanese culture by creating a truly serene space in your home that is meant for mediating, having tea, or doing yoga.
Look at the room featured below. It is an amazing nod to Japanese culture and would make a perfect place to have Japanese tea. Find a quiet place in your own home to lay out a floor cushion for meditating or just sitting and relaxing.
An authentic Japanese screen is called a Shoji, and it is an essential design element in Japanese homes.
Due to the high cost of housing, Japanese homes tend to be small and a lot of residents rent apartments, so conserving every square inch of space is essential. Unlike doors, these Shoji’s slide back and forth, saving space that a swinging door would take up.
The serene sounds of water bubbling will fill your meditative ears and immediately have a calming effect. Just like plants, elements of water are imperative in the Japanese home.
Ofuro, translated as bath in Japanese, is a tranquil tradition that is well-worth adding to your home.
One of the best ways to harmonize with nature is to add natural wooden elements into your home. Japanese culture is known for using wooden elements throughout their homes.
Walls, doors, screen grids and frames are all made of natural wood. The most common woods being western versions of maple, cypress, hemlock and red pine. Bamboo is also a popular wood used for decorative purposes, as can be seen in the image below.
Original article: Freshome
