Japandi style is undoubtedly one of the most trending interior styles today - we see a lot of japandi homes in magazines and on Pinterest. This time, we take a step further and instead of analyzing a complete interior look, we’ll have a closer look at furniture that fits into japandi interiors, especially bedrooms - focusing on japandi nightstands.
Japandi bedroom visual - source: https://www.behance.net/gallery/150289981/Mini-Japandi-home-Quy-Nhon
What makes a nightstand japandi?
There are some essential features that contribute to the japandi look - we highlight three of those to give an overview of japandi nightstands.
1. Made of natural materials
Japandi interiors are filled with natural materials and avoid artificial designs. Instead of plastic, metal, and other artificial materials, nature is always preferred - therefore wood has a significant role in japandi furniture, also japandi nightstands. Usually lighter colored woods work well, such as oak, and its various stained shades (stained to gray or white), ash, bamboo, also pine.
Besides wood, rattan and cane also work well, both on furniture and on decoration.
2. Simplicity and function
Japandi furniture is not about great ornaments and luxurious design - instead, japandi nightstands focus on simplicity and practical usage. Contributing to a clean and tidy room that avoids clutter, these nightstands usually have some internal storage that is great for hiding those things we do not want to break the minimal look of the interior - practically, a drawer, or cabinet door.
If there is any ornament, that is usually related with texture (such as vertical lines, fluted surfaces) or maybe with traditional Japanese ornaments, such as kumiko.
3. Low-height design
Japandi nightstands typically have a low height.
To understand the importance of low height furniture, we need to go back to the traditional Japanese interior style. In earlier times, people in Japan had absolutely minimal furniture in their homes and they did most of their activities on the floor - such as sleeping, dining and living social life. Sitting on the floor was made convenient thanks to tatami mats (traditional Japanese mats that were placed on the floor). As people sat on the floor, they needed low height furniture for practical usage - low height table for eating, low height small tables for having a tea ceremony and to gather around as a family. Chabudai, for example, is a Japanese coffee table: a simple, low height furniture, usually with storage inside.
Back to the japandi nightstands: it is obvious, coming from the Japanese origins, that these nightstands tend to have low height - so they work well besides low height beds, such as futon beds (also a traditional Japanese furniture). Of course, japandi is a mix of Japanese and Scandinavian styles, but due to the Japanese effect, tall nightstands with long legs usually do not offer a great fit for japandi bedrooms.
Floating nightstands, made of solid wood, can be a great idea for japandi nightstands. As floating nightstands are wall-mounted, their height is variable, you can mount it low for a low bed, creating a nice japandi look.
+1 decoration
Nightstand styling also goes a long way when you work on a japandi interior. If you do not have a japandi nightstand, you can still contribute to the japandi look by having the right decoration and applying nightstand styling tricks. Below you can find some types of decoration that fit into japandi interiors and can give a japandi look to a non-japandi interior as well.
Organic decoration
Japandi style often features organic decoration - usually a simple piece like a branch of a wood, or grass, maybe a cherry blossom. Look for ikebana styling to get ideas of traditional Japanese flower arrangement.
Wabi sabi decor
Wabi sabi is the philosophy of finding the beauty in imperfection. Wabi sabi vases celebrate their handmade features and they do not want to seem perfect. Kintsugi, an artistic form of wabi sabi, is about showing the beauty of broken things: when a vase is broken, it can still get repaired and the pieces glued back together - emphasizing the broken line with a golden ink to show the beauty of its imperfection.
Asian art
You can do magic with Asian and Asian-inspired art pieces on your wall, or on your nightstand. Look for Japanese woodcuts or woodcut prints (perhaps Hokusai is the most popular author), but also you can find great ink arts. There are many monochromatic (black, grey or brown) ink arts that radiate Japanese culture in your room, usually showing a scene with animals or nature.
Are you interested in japandi? Learn more about the japandi style and japandi furniture.