If you live in a “cozy apartment” (read “small”), then stylization for Japan is just for you. This clear minimalist style is excellent for expanding small spaces. He will help you see your apartment from a party with which you have never seen it. Just use the advice of the Japanese design for your apartments, and it will seem to you that you moved to a new apartment with an area twice as many.
About the Japanese style
Most of the population of Japan lives on a small area in the southern part of the country, since the northern part is a mountainous area with a cold climate (only one main city region in the north remains). Most of those people who live in this crowded southern part of the country have settled in cities. Therefore, these several areas are densely populated. In fact, while scientists still continue their disputes, many people already consider the capital of Japan a city with the highest population density. Everyone saw Tokyo in films. These crowds of people who constantly move somewhere against the backdrop of city landscapes, reminiscent of more fantastic films about the future. It is very surprising that residential areas in Japanese cities are very small. After all, all these people should live somewhere! Such circumstances forced the Japanese to become masters of the design of small spaces. The size of an ordinary Japanese apartment is about 40 square meters, however, thanks to some design tricks, it is perceived even more. Do not reject the Japanese style on the move as excessively modern and minimalist, wait. The minimalist style that we associate with Japan really takes place in Japanese design, but you can simply accept the general principles that underlie this design and apply them to the style that you prefer.
The fundamental principles of the Japanese style
We remove the clutter once and for all.
One feature that you will notice in any Japanese apartment, regardless of its design, is the lack of unnecessary things. The mess is minimized. If you have something you need to store, you should have a special place for this. If you cannot decide where to put something, ask yourself if it may be a sign that you do not know how and why this item is used, and perhaps you never use it? Nothing reduces the already small room as a bunch of unnecessary things that threaten to absorb the remaining living area. Be ruthless and throw away everything you don’t need. And vigilantly make sure that the trash does not fill your apartment again.
Open room.
The absence of unnecessary things helps to make space more open, but there are also a few more ways to achieve this goal. Walls dividing small space into smaller rooms can hide the space, making it even less. Of course, you have no particular choice if you live in an apartment with such a layout, but mirrors on the walls will help you to smooth this effect. You can also give depth to your rooms with the help of proper lighting. Let the natural light penetrate your apartment. Refuse one light source, replacing it with several daylight lamps, bright light bulbs. If you have a studio apartment, it will be easier for you to embody Japanese design ideals so that your housing is functional and it seems more. Many use partitions to divide the space of the room. Instead of solid partitions, put Japanese screens. These translucent partitions will allow the daylight to penetrate all the corners of the rooms, but at the same time they will divide your room into different areas and create a sense of solitude, as conceived.
Correctly selected furniture.
Have you ever been to an ordinary Japanese restaurant? The tables there are very low, so you have to sit on pillows laid out on the floor. This is a very good way to save space. If you follow Japanese aesthetics to the very end, you will free yourself a lot of space. However, many people do not want to go so far. Western culture considers furniture the necessary attribute. The reason for such low tables and pillows is a small size of Japanese apartments, where such furniture looks modest and does not take up much space. Therefore, try to ensure that the furniture that you buy also meets these requirements. Avoid heavy dark wood products that not only take up a lot of space, but also overlap the passages in small rooms. Instead, look for small furniture from light wood or pastel colors upholstered with fabric. If possible, choose a furniture that misses light: a sofa that has legs visible, a corner table with individual legs, and not with a solid bottom, and so on.