How to Create the Best Interior: Understanding "Style"

Over the past week, "stay at home" has completely become the watchword.

Many of you may have started a fully remote lifestyle, but are you spending your time comfortably at home for long periods?

If your life was all about going out before the world became like this, you might not have spent much time or money on your home because it was just a place to sleep, and many of you might feel like "I realized my home is just full of things from Nitori, IKEA, Muji, and 100-yen shops".

"My home isn't bad, but I don't particularly love it either."

"Even if I want to make it look nice, I have no idea how to do it."

I started writing this article because I thought there might be people who feel that way.

There is no practical information on interior design

I don't know how long this self-restraint lifestyle will last, and since I'm at home, I want to make it comfortable. However, even if I have a vague image, I have no idea how to realize it. I think that's how most people feel about interior design.

I have always felt that there is too little practical information that serves as a reference for interior design.

Furniture is large and expensive, and since you can't change it easily, it's difficult to use trial and error like you would with fashion. Moreover, the information in magazines and on the web tends to be at two extremes: either budget-friendly tips like "How to use Nitori, Daiso, Seria, and Muji" or high-end furniture like "a 200,000 yen designer chair per piece."

Since the information I wanted wasn't available, I decided to summarize it myself.

Until a few years ago, I worked as a freelancer making dresses at home. After that, I joined an internet company where remote work was routine, and since I've always enjoyed spending time at home, living my daily life at home for long hours is normal for me.

Furthermore, due to various circumstances, I moved often and had to replace all my furniture, so I had many opportunities to recreate my interior from scratch. Since I spend so much time at home, I wanted to create a space I loved, and over the past 10 years, I have moved 7 times, and each time I moved, I thought about and experimented with "how stylish overseas interiors are composed".

I wrote about that transition here. By the way, the current house is where I moved to after writing this. I move too much, even by my own standards.

Perhaps thanks to that (?), my room has been featured in magazines twice in the past.

I thought about it by looking at overseas interiors on Pinterest

The essential service for thinking about coordination is Pinterest.

The link above is a collection of boards I have pinned. There are over 600 interior photos collected here, and recently, there are few interior photos on Pinterest that I haven't seen before.

As a result of looking at so many photos, visiting interior shops in search of what I imagined, and recreating my home's interior many times, I feel like I have personally come to understand the elements necessary for a stylish interior.

Since we are in such a time, I will write about those observations in several parts.

Now is the time to have the best home possible.

I hope this will be of some help to those who have been feeling down, cooped up in a bleak room all day, every day, both weekdays and weekends, due to the daily remote lifestyle. If you can learn to love your home a little more, you will surely be able to happily overcome this situation where you have no choice but to stay home.

At this very moment, since"staying home saves the world,"we might as well spend our time creating the best home.

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Understanding Interior "Style"

When you look into interior design, the first thing you always see are style names like "modern" or "Scandinavian." In this article, we will also start by learning what kinds of styles exist. However, I don't think there is much point in the common explanation of simply lining up representative photos and saying, "Yes, this is modern interior design."

In the first place, why is it necessary to understand style to begin coordinating? It is becauseby grouping vague images and impressions and sharing them as a collection of abstract concepts, you become able to reproduce and combine them.

When you are not very familiar with interior design, even if you are shown a vague finished image as a reference, most people cannot reproduce it because they receive very little information from it.

For example, it might be helpful to think about when you draw a picture. Even if you are suddenly told, "Draw a picture of a cat as realistically as possible!," most people who are not artists cannot do it well because theyhave no experience observing and understanding the details of a cat and cannot recall them well,so they can only draw "something fluffy that looks like a cat."

Interior coordination is like drawing a three-dimensional picture by placing objects in the space of an empty room. Moreover, it is like a collage made of cutouts with fixed shapes called "interior goods" for living, such as sleeping, relaxing, eating, and using a computer. Of course, you cannot just cut out interior goods you saw in a magazine and use them as they are. In reality, it is rare to get exactly the same thing as the image, so if this"degree of understanding of the elements that make up a style" is low, you may end up failing by buying items that are far from your ideal without realizing it.

Unless you have an unlimited budget, to choose items that you can use for as long as possible with limited money, you need to avoid such failures byunderstanding with as high a resolution as possible "what kind of features the items that create a specific impression are composed of."

Mapping "Texture" and "Color Tone"

So, although the introduction has been long, I have mapped representative interior styles from two perspectives that greatly influence comfort and visual impression:"texture" and "color tone."

There are many other styles besides the ones listed here if you classify them in detail, but I have picked them out based on my own judgment as to what a MECE classification of the broad genres might look like.

"Glam style" and "Bohemian" are genres that have been established recently, so some people may not know them. I will explain what each style is like in the second half, so I hope you can first get an image of what kind of taste each one creates.

First is "texture." In the table above, I have placed each style on two axes: luxury vs. comfort, and simple vs. decorative.

"Texture" refers tothe interior of the house itself and the touch and feel of the interior items placed in it.The impression of the room and its comfort are greatly influenced by what kind of textures you incorporate and in what balance.

When talking about interior design, people tend to focus on color first, but I think this "texture," or material, is more important than color.

The next thing to consider is the color tone. Are the colors used in the space dark and strong, or pale and gentle? Should you keep the number of colors low and chic, or be colorful? Rather than the choice of "what colors to use" itself, it is important to first decide where to align the overall color taste.

In the table above, I have mapped them assuming a standard coordination for each style.

Styles are meant to be mixed

Many people may think that once you decide on a style, you must stick to it without wavering. However, in reality, especially in international interior design, there are few homes that are strictly unified by a single taste, and various styles are often woven together. Scandinavian design chairs and sofas are used in all kinds of styles, and mid-century lighting is also a versatile player.

For example, Scandinavian-style couch sofas like this

and mid-century lighting like this

If you look closely, you will notice that they are used in quite a variety of styles.

My personal frustration is that Japanese interiors are boring because they limit themselves to one style, and I even believe that the greatest joy of interior design is crossing basic styles and enjoying the mix. Let's actively mix them up.

Mixing textures skillfully

However, when mixing textures, a few tips are necessary. There are styles that blend well no matter where you place them, and styles that are so unique and have such a strong presence that they are difficult to blend in.

First of all, the versatile "Scandinavian" and "Mid-Century" styles mentioned earlier are relatively easy for beginners to blend in. Conversely, it is difficult to blend in styles with strong personalities such as "Classical," "Asian," "Japanese," or "Country," which are heavily influenced by the culture of a specific region.

For example, it is easy to imagine that it would be difficult to blend a high-class, classical Victorian chair into the warm, rustic image of a cafe-style interior. If you do it well, it might look incredibly stylish, but unless you are leaving it to a professional, you should assume that finishing it tastefully on your own requires a fair amount of experience and trial and error. It's the same as how extreme "off-beat" fashion items are for advanced users.

At first, it is easy to mix things that do not have too strong a personality and are close in mapping. If you are combining things that are far apart, it becomes important to make good use of versatile accessories or materials that can act as a "bridge."

Also, when mixing items of different styles, if you only include one item of a different taste, it often ends up looking out of place, so it is often more calming to distribute a certain amount of the unified style throughout the room.

Mixing colors skillfully

Depending on the style you choose, the colors of the interior are naturally determined by the colors of the materials (such as Japanese or cafe-style), but basically, there is more freedom in mixing colors than in textures. Depending on your sense of playfulness, it is fine to finish with a color scheme that is completely different from the mapping in the table mentioned earlier.

For example, the Glam style, which has been popular in the West in recent years, is mainly about creating a gorgeous look with whitish, pale colors and shiny materials such as gold, mirror finishes, satin, and velvet fabrics.

However, there are many examples where impactful patterns or colors in a mid-century style are mixed into that base texture. The residence of American designer Jonathan Adler is exactly like this.

This type of interior is very impactful and wonderful, combining an extraordinary futuristic feel with gorgeousness. (However, it is quite difficult to do this in Japanese homes because the ceilings are low and the interior finishes are cheap, and I wonder if it is comfortable to live in... It might be an interior exclusively for "showing off.")

Representative elements included in each style

From here on, I would like to explain the details of the items used in each style and the overall image. Please note that I am not an interior expert, so everything is based on my own judgment and prejudice.

Scandinavian

I think the most common style in Japanese homes is this kind of 'pseudo-Scandinavian' style. Items that represent Scandinavian style include simple tables made of light-colored, smooth wood like oak, chairs with a sleek resin finish, and plain sofas or rugs with a coarse texture like wool, cotton, or linen.

In Japan, for better or worse, there are many coordinations that are simple overall and scream 'Scandinavian!', but it seems that overseas Scandinavian interior coordination often involves a mix that adds bohemian (described later) elements like rattan or baskets, rather than being completely Scandinavian.

Tower Mansion Modern

This is also a common style in Japanese interiors. I personally don't like this type of interior at all. However, for some apartments like tower mansions, it is such an established style that you could say it's the only option.

It feels like smooth processed artificial materials, mirror finishes, downlights, generally dark overall, spacious rooms, and large windows. It seems to be influenced more by the interior finish than the furniture, and the things that can be matched with it are limited.

I don't like it much, and there are plenty of other examples of this type in the world, so I'll move on quickly.

Japanese

Tatami mats, washi paper, bamboo, smooth and curved wood, staggered shelves, and sliding doors. It is Japanese without needing explanation. I'll move on from this quickly too.

Cafe Style

If you live in a regular home that isn't a tower mansion, this is the easiest type to do after the safe Scandinavian style. Chairs and tables made of rough, textured wood like pine, handmade-looking shelves and counters, chalkboards, enamel canisters, and so on. Since the large furniture is almost entirely wood, the overall color tone is also a brighter brown.

Mid-Century

Mid-century design is the king of stylish interiors. There is no end to the famous designers and works, such as Eames with the well-known shell chair, Nelson with masterpieces like clocks and benches, Saarinen with the tulip chair, and Jacobsen with the Swan chair and Egg chair.

Typical materials include beautiful teak wood with a smooth finish, colorful fabrics, and plastics with futuristic shapes that look somewhat space-age.

Like the Sputnik light, which has light bulbs at the ends of rods.

Or Serge Mouille's lights, where the thin arms conversely accentuate their presence.

There are many distinctive lighting fixtures as well.

As you can tell from the enthusiasm in my writing, this is a style I love. However, the problem is that original products, not reproductions, often cost hundreds of thousands of yen, making them too expensive...

Industrial

This is a genre that is also called vintage or masculine interior, where the rugged, factory-like atmosphere is cool. Recent stylish cafes are all like this. The materials used are concrete, brick, leather, pipes, aluminum, etc. Since this style is heavily influenced by the atmosphere of the building, if you want to do this perfectly, a room with exposed concrete and an open ceiling would be ideal.

However, it is also a style that is easy to incorporate into a mix, such as just a chair or just a table.

Bohemian

Moroccan riads, which are small inns repurposed from historic mansions, have an interior atmosphere that defines the Bohemian style. Along with the Glam style, this has recently become very popular in the West. It features a mix of African and Western tastes, creating a natural, relaxed impression.

Typical items include ethnic patterned rugs, rattan tables and chairs, baskets, macrame accessories, and plenty of plants.

Along with Mid-Century, I really love this style, and in my attempt to emulate it, my house has become filled with houseplants.

It pairs perfectly with Mid-Century sideboards and chairs, and it can also be styled more simply with a Nordic touch.

As it is a new style, it is currently difficult to find items for it in Japan, but I think it is a style that is easy to incorporate into the interiors of standard Japanese apartments, so I hope it becomes more popular domestically in the future.

Asian

While Bohemian is a style that incorporates a moderate amount of modern simplicity, Asian style emphasizes a more authentic ethnic feel. The "Asia" referred to here is mainly the atmosphere of Southeast Asia, specifically the image of a resort in Bali.

With dark-colored woods like walnut and teak, furniture featuring heavy ornamentation, baskets, and vases, the overall design feels "heavy" while simultaneously evoking the feeling of an outdoor tropical space, or a design that feels like it has gaps for the wind to pass through.

Classical

A style that inherits classic European designs such as Rococo, Victorian, and Baroque styles. It is characterized by button-tufted chairs and sofas, glossy materials like leather and velvet, molding (wall and ceiling decorations), and fireplaces. In contrast to the warm and open feel of Asian style, it feels like furniture for a sealed room in a cold climate.

It is impossible to execute this perfectly in Japan unless you live in an imported house, so you might want to give up on it otherwise. However, using it as an accent, such as by having just one classical armchair, can sometimes create a nice mix. If you have a strong longing for it, you might want to give it a try.

Glam Style

As I touched upon briefly at the beginning, this is a style that has been gaining momentum in the US and elsewhere in recent years. The keyword is "gorgeous." It features gold finishes, mirrored surfaces, satin and velvet, and furniture with curved decorative lines. I think this style matches the demand of people who are "bored with Nordic simplicity" or "like things with a princess-like feel but don't want to go as far as Classical."

It seems difficult to pull off in Japanese homes, but if the interior is simple and stark white, there might be a way to do it.

Country

The warm Country style is something that those who love it, really love. There are many derivative styles, such as the colorful and cute Eastern European style, or Shabby Chic, which involves intentionally distressing white wood. What they all have in common is chunky pine furniture, detailed decorations with a rounded and cute impression, checks or small floral patterns, and the use of tiles.

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Phew, finally done.

If I started breaking things down into fine categories, there would probably be even more, but these are the basics. I think the rest are just variations created by mixing colors and textures.

Now that we have a general shared image of each style, from the next post onwards, I would like to think about how to create your ideal style in your own room while introducing various examples.

I intended to write this first post more lightly, but the introduction ended up being incredibly long...

See you next time!

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