Japanese style interior +120 photo ideas

Residents of European countries, accustomed to cozy interiors with upholstered furniture, massive wardrobes and chest of drawers, heavy solid wood doors and many decorative elements, the Japanese style is able to surprise and amaze with its elegance and minimalism. This ethnic style in the last decade does not leave the top positions in the list of the most popular interior styles, as it combines impeccable color compositions and strict minimalism, laconic forms and non-standard solutions, naturalness and austerity. The Japanese style in the interior at first glance seems impersonal and without individuality, but after a few moments, the ascetic and restrained beauty of the room becomes noticeable.

Origin of style

Japanese style is a folk style for the design of residential apartments and houses in the country of the Rising Sun. And since the Japanese are a fairly conservative nation, they managed to preserve and improve the principles and traditions of interior design, invented about 5 centuries ago. Sliding bamboo doors, low tables made of natural materials, light curtains and compositions of dried flowers are elements that are present in the modern Japanese style, and, according to the descriptions of historians, in the atmosphere of the houses of the samurai who lived in the Middle Ages.

The Japanese style owes its origin and characteristic features to the specific climatic and environmental conditions of the Japanese islands. In relatively small areas of the islands, regularly subjected to earthquakes, people could not build stone houses. Indeed, in this case, they would risk to be buried under the ruins at the first eruption of an underwater volcano. And the Japanese didn’t make sense to build a large area building. Firstly, the territories allocated to each family by shoguns did not differ in large areas, and secondly, people understood that an earthquake could happen on any given day, which would destroy the results of all their labors.

Japanese style is characterized by the use of natural materials and the minimal presence of metal elements in the interior. This feature of housing design in the Land of the Rising Sun is explained by the fact that there are very few metal deposits on the islands. In past centuries, steel in Japan was very expensive, and therefore the Japanese believed that it was wrong to spend such a scarce resource on the production of household items.

And of course, the worldview and beliefs of the inhabitants of this country had a significant influence on the origin and development of the Japanese interior style. Restraint, practicality, love of beauty and harmony and the ability to see beauty in details - these features inherent in the Japanese, are reflected in the ethno style.

Since the traditional dwelling of the Japanese was a small area, the Japanese style is the best suited for small one-room and two-room apartments. This style makes it possible to use every square meter of area with maximum benefit and at the same time create a feeling of space and harmony.

Principles and traditions of design

The interiors, designed in Japanese style, are both similar and not similar to each other. The common thing in them is a sense of space, the absence of any unnecessary elements and contrast, and the individual - a combination of colors, decorative elements and features of the separation of functional areas. This ethnostyle is one of the few styles that combine minimalism, functionality and a pronounced individuality.

The principles and traditions of interior design in Japan were formed over the centuries and remained virtually unchanged. And the main principles in this style are the following 8 principles:

1. Everything superfluous is superfluous. A lot of free space, a minimum of furniture and decorative "trinkets" and the presence in the house of only necessary things - the most important principle of the Japanese style.
2. Only smooth surfaces. The floor, walls, furniture and household appliances should have smooth shiny surfaces. And they should not be put on decorative ornaments, making napkins or laying things.
3. Only light natural materials. Rice paper, bamboo, light wood, ceramics - materials that the Japanese traditionally use for interior decoration.
4. Harmony is achieved through contrasts. Yin and Yang, fire and water, black and white - the balance of opposites is one of the basic principles of the Japanese philosophy. This principle is also reflected in the design of the dwelling furnishings, so this ethnicity is characterized by a combination of contrasting colors.
5. The more light, the better. Large windows, light walls, sliding doors with white frosted glass, light scattering Akari lamps - the invariable attributes of the Japanese home, designed to make the room bright and visually add space to it.
6. Minimum walls and doors. Japanese style is characterized by the division of space into functional zones by means of screens, paper partitions, lighting or contrasting colors. In the traditional houses of the Japanese there were no separate rooms at all - the whole space was divided into zones by exclusively paper partitions.
7. Live and dried plants - the best interior decoration. The traditional decorations of the Japanese interior are ikebana, bonsai, ceramic figurines, tea ceremony utensils, vases, fans and akari. Moreover, other decorations, in addition to bonsai and ikeban, must be present in an atmosphere at a minimum.
8. Life on the floor. In Japanese homes, all furniture is low, and most often chairs, armchairs and beds do not have legs at all. Residents of the Land of the Rising Sun are accustomed to sitting and sleeping on the floor, so large soft chairs and sofas with a lot of pillows will not fit into the apartment's atmosphere in this ethnic style.

Color palette

Japanese restraint is fully manifested when choosing flowers for home decoration. There are no too bright colors and screaming patterns, the interior, as a rule, is made in a bright color palette. Residents of the Japanese islands prefer warm light colors - cream, light yellow, beige and olive. Darker warm tones are used to create contrast.

As a rule, at least two colors should be present in the interior of a single room - the base one, in which all the main elements of the decor are decorated, and an additional one, which emphasizes the main color and creates a contrast. Successful color combinations are collected in the table.

In modern Japanese style often combine three colors - one main and two contrasting. As a rule, the walls and the ceiling, as well as part of the furniture, are made mainly in color, and the decorative elements are in one or two additional ones. The most common combinations are:

• White with black and pink;
• Beige with brown and red;
• Light shades of yellow with black and gray;
• Light brown with white and black;
• Warm shades of brown with white and beige.

Materials

On the Japanese islands, natural materials such as rice paper, bamboo, an array of light and dark varieties are used to decorate the walls, floor and ceiling, and to create furniture and interior decorations. Metal and plastics are applied to a minimum.

When you design an apartment or room in this ethnic style, it is better not to use plastic and metal elements at all. In the best option, in the room, everything other than technology should be made of natural materials.

Walls

The walls of the room, decorated in Japanese style, are necessarily monochromatic. They may contain elements of decor - a single-color wall picture, a panel, a Japanese fan or a minimalist picture. Neither the traditional colored wallpaper or interior paint for the Japanese-style wall decoration will work.

The ideal option for wall decoration would be a roll covering of natural materials (rice paper, wood veneer, etc.). This coating hides all the irregularities of the walls and is completely unpretentious in operation. But in addition to the roll cover, monochrome wallpaper of white, beige or other warm light color can be used as a finishing material. In this case, wallpaper with a pattern in the Japanese style is glued on one of the walls.

Floor

Japanese prefer classical wooden floors to modern linoleum and tile. Moreover, in this style it is better not to use parquet or floorboard, but simply lay the floor with a board of light or dark rock and cover it with varnish.

In the kitchen and hallway, the floor is not covered with anything. And in the living room, bedroom and other living rooms, tatami mats are placed on the floor covering - reed mats stuffed with rice straw or cotton. Moreover, tatami should be laid in such a way that the corners of three or more mats do not touch each other - it is believed that this will bring trouble into the house.

If it is not possible to cover all the floors in the residential area of ​​the apartment with tatami mats, you can only put mats near the bed, chairs and other furniture.

Ceiling

The ceiling is made in the same color as the wall. It should be smooth and monotonous, so for the best use trim stretch ceiling canvases. And the glossy and mirror ceilings in the Japanese style - this is nonsense, as well as paintings on the ceiling. A flat matte ceiling in the color of the walls is the best solution for the decoration of housing in the “Land of the Rising Sun” ethnic style.

Furniture

The furniture in the house, designed in Japanese style, should be made of natural materials and executed in a minimalist design. And the less furniture will be in the room, the better. The surfaces of tables, dressers and chairs should be smooth and lacquered and match the color of the room. As a rule, the Japanese choose furniture of such shades that will create a contrast and at the same time harmoniously combine with the main color of the room.

As close as possible to the floor - one of the basic principles of Japanese interior style, so the sofas, chairs, bed and tables in the Japanese house have low legs or do not have them at all. In the center of the house (living room) there should be a table for the tea ceremony, on which as a decoration you can put a beautiful ceramic set.

To store things in Japanese homes used wardrobes with sliding doors. The doors and side walls of these cabinets must be made in the same color as the walls and ceiling. Sliding wardrobes are placed near the walls in the hallway, living room and bedroom so that they do not stand out in the interior, but “merge” with the wall.

If there are no decorative elements on the walls in the room, it is allowed for the closet door to be decorated with a bright pattern made in the appropriate style.

Lighting

The Japanese prefer natural or as close as possible to natural light. That is why instead of doors and walls they use partitions with rice paper, and the windows in their houses are very large.

Lamps in an apartment decorated in the Japanese ethnic style are not hung on the walls or ceiling, but installed on the floor. And ideally you need to use for lighting Akari - lamps, consisting of a metal frame and a shade of rice paper. They gently diffuse the light and provide even and pleasant light to the eyes.

Chandeliers are also used by the Japanese, however, the design requirements of the chandeliers put forward the same requirements as for other elements of the interior - restraint, conciseness and minimalism. The most suitable for the house in the Japanese style will be square or rectangular flat chandeliers, made in the same color or decorated with painted hieroglyphs.

Accessories and decor in the interior

Accessories are used to create contrasts and accents. Natural materials are used as decorative elements - dried and living plants, dry branches, stone compositions. Also in the house in the Japanese style would be appropriate aquarium.

Arrange accessories and decoration elements should be in special niches in the walls - tokonome. Moreover, the Japanese regularly change the decorations in the token, depending on the season, holidays or their own mood. And the most pertinent decorative elements in the "Land of the Rising Sun" ethnicity are:

• Japanese dolls;
• Ikebana;
• Dwarf live plants;
• Figures from matte ceramics;
• Japanese vases.

It is important that the Japanese prefer to decorate their home not with purchased items, but with hand-made items. And you can make yourself not only a composition of dried flowers, but also a wall panel or drawing.

Japanese curtains and textiles

Japanese curtains are cloths of one-color fabric, covering the windows like panels. In the daytime these curtains are assembled in such a way that they become almost invisible. On the curtains, in contrast to other textiles, the drawings are not applied.

Knitted and woven bedspreads, rugs and other home textiles in housing in the style of the "Country of the Rising Sun" are appropriate. These things also serve to decorate the interior and place accents, so they are decorated with drawings with hieroglyphs, Japanese gardens and nature. It is also allowed to decorate walls with woven panels with thematic drawings.

Japanese fan

Large fans of cloth or rice paper - the traditional decoration of the Japanese house. These fans depict hieroglyphs, sketches from myths, or the nature of the Japanese islands.

A Japanese fan is hung horizontally on the wall so that it is closer to the ceiling, and not to the floor. In one room there can be only one fan, and in the bathroom, in the kitchen and in the hallway such wall decorations are not used.

Japanese partitions

Partitions in the Japanese style are used to separate functional areas. They are made of bamboo and rice paper and are easy to clean and rearrange. According to the color of the partition should be combined with a touch of walls and ceiling. It is allowed to apply thematic drawings on partitions.

You can also use fabric screens as partitions. Silk and other lightweight fabrics capable of transmitting light are most commonly used.

Bedroom interior

In the bedroom you need to place only the most necessary pieces of furniture - a bed, a chest of drawers, one or two chairs and a lamp. A chest of drawers, a bed and chairs should be low, and in case there is a podium in the bedroom, you can put a bed on it without legs or just put a mattress with a rigid frame.

Light silk curtains are hung on the bedroom window, and compositions from natural materials are used to decorate the room. To make the room more comfortable, you can decorate the bed and chairs with silk pillows with hieroglyphs painted on them. Also over the bed often hang a picture or a fan.

The floor of the bedroom can either be completely laid out with tatami, or left uncovered. But in the second case, a mat made of rice straw should be placed by the bed.

Living room interior

A typical living room design in a Japanese house is a spacious bright room decorated in a minimalist style. The walls in the living room are necessarily light warm tones, and the floor is covered with tatami. Furniture in the room should be at a minimum - a low table for tea in the center, one or two compact sofas near the walls and a few low chairs. TV is better to hang on the wall, and not to buy a separate cabinet under it.

As interior decorations, you can use compositions of dried flowers and branches, ceramic figures, dolls, fans, panels and wall drawings. But it should be remembered that the decorative elements should be combined with each other and not occupy space. It is optimal to put them in niches in the walls or at the corners of the room.

Nursery interior

The nursery in the Japanese house is also decorated in a minimalist style, however, when creating the furnishings in this room, it is possible to use brighter colors and interior decorations designed for girls and boys. For example, you can decorate one of the walls with wallpaper or a picture with a favorite cartoon character of a child.

As a rule, a comfortable low bed, a table and a chair, a wardrobe or wall shelves, a chest of drawers are usually placed in the nursery. When making a room for a boy, gray or olive is most often used as the base color, and beige or pink is used for the girl.

Also, when decorating a nursery, we should not forget about the traditional for this style jewelry made from natural materials and lamps. But in the rooms of children of preschool or primary school age it is better not to put the lamps on the floor, but hang them on the ceiling.

Bathroom interior

A bathroom in a Japanese house or apartment is a place to rest and relax. The walls in the bathroom are most often either light-colored, or decorated with bamboo or rice straw. This room should be divided into three functional areas:

1. Dressing area, separated by a screen;
2. Zone with shower;
3. Zone with a bathroom completely hidden in the floor (ofuro).

Офуро по форме может быть как квадратной либо прямоугольной, так и овальной. Делается эта ванна только с дерева. According to Japanese tradition, before you go to the ofuro, you must take a shower.

If the apartment has a small bathroom, you can divide it with a screen into two parts: a dressing area and a shower. In both large and small bathrooms, matte clay decorative elements and ceramic wall tiles with Japanese-style paintings will be appropriate.

As a bathroom lighting, you can use several spotlights, scattering the light and filling the room with a soft even glow.

The interior of the kitchen and dining room

Kitchen and dining in Japan - is one room, divided into two zones. In the "kitchen" zone, food is prepared, so all the necessary equipment is installed there. Since the Japanese prefer minimalism and functionality, in their kitchens there is no place for massive appliances and many cabinets. In the design of the kitchen in the Japanese style using built-in kitchen appliances and one or two spacious kitchen cabinets made of wood.

In the area for eating is a table with chairs. Like all other furniture, the kitchen table should be low, and mats can be used instead of chairs. At the time of eating the table was covered with a plain cloth or mat.

The main color for the design of the kitchen can be both light and dark shade. As elements of decor in this room, designers recommend the use of floor vases, sophisticated monophonic sets, wall panels and lampshades made of rice paper.

IMPORTANT: In the kitchen, traditional Japanese curtains are not hung. Instead, light white or beige cotton curtains are used.

Dishes

The Japanese in everyday life use dishes from ceramics, made in simple rectangular, round or triangular shapes. For everyday meals using plain dishes, and for the holidays the table is served with sets.

In the kitchen in the Japanese style must be such dishes:

• Van - deep, but small dishes with a lid for rice and first courses;
• Hati - shallow wide serving bowls for main dishes;
• Tyavan - drinking bowls for tea;
• Katakuti - bowls with a spout for sauces;
• Chyatsu - bowls for garnish;
• Dobin - teapots;
• Bon - round or square trays.

Interior hallway

The entrance hall is usually decorated in a darker color than the living room. There should be a minimum of furniture in this room - one or several compact sofas, closets, wardrobe for shoes, and possibly a minimalist-style dressing table with a large mirror.

As decoration for the hallway is best to use bonsai and floor vases with bamboo. The walls of the room can be decorated with pictures of nature, panels or composition of dried leaves and flowers.

Conclusion

Japanese traditional interior design is the most discreet and minimalistic and at the same time one of the most elegant Oriental styles. It does not have flashy luxury and superfluous details, which is why modern people like it so much. Restrained beauty, harmony in details, balance of contrasts and functionality are the main advantages of the “Land of the Rising Sun” etnostila. Such a decoration of the house or apartment will appeal to people who do not need excesses and value peace and tranquility.