There are plenty of Japandi homes that seek to emulate a ryokan, and plenty of homes that would be fitting as Muji showrooms, but this home ingeniously blends these 2 styles in a single HDB. With wood-heavy contemporary furniture pieces alongside traditional decor features, this home is a fine specimen of Japanese interior design.
Wood-enclosed living area
Image credit: Goy Architects
The home is very much defined by contemporary-style furniture that would not be unfamiliar to those who feverishly browse the Muji catalogue. The angular nature of these designs are actually quite complementary to the more traditional ryokan style, creating this thematically interesting mix of old and new.
Image credit: Goy Architects
That said, the ryokan-style features share the spotlight too, with this centrepiece coffee table, and a jute rug with black trim that mimics tatami mats, adding plenty of character to the place.
Image credit: Goy Architects
Whilst visually wood-heavy in design, the recurring grain patterns reveal the laminate nature of the wall and floor treatments here. Besides being an affordable alternative to using real wood for this renovation, it helps to keep the colour of the home uniform too.
Other ryokan-style details include a jute lamp that hangs next to the dining area.
Image credit: Goy Architects
Shoji screens on the windows add to the ryokan feel
Image credit: Goy Architects
Most Japandi homes try to diffuse the light in the home for a softer, more calming illumination. This home does that by covering all the windows here with shoji doors, concealing the surrounding scenery of high-rise buildings and tropical greenery.
The shoji doors can be opened should you miss the sights of sunny Singapore.
Image credit: Goy Architects
This is arguably the most prominent feature in this home, as it elevates a Japandi-style room to one that almost feels like you’re actually in a Japanese ryokan.
Feature cabinet that almost looks like a museum display
Image credit: Goy Architects
Plenty of real estate in this ryokan home is dedicated to the dining area, which is humble and elegant in its simplicity. This gives it a spaciousness that lends itself to the calming atmosphere.
What really will get your attention here though, is the glass-fronted, built-in display cabinet. With its LED strip lighting highlighting curated books and really choice ceramicware, you might mistake this for a traditional Japanese museum display.
Minimal Japanese kitchen
Image credit: Goy Architects
Both the dry and wet kitchen areas are sleek and minimalistic, but the dry kitchen makes for a great conversation space as well.
Image credit: Goy Architects
With seats for 3 that face the shoji doors, you can almost imagine yourself enjoying chado in a Japanese inn.
Image credit: Goy Architects
The wet kitchen has strip lighting which adds a classy modern touch to the sleek Japandi style. Having shoji sliding doors to separate it from the rest of the home is a good way to adhere to the design theme of the home, whilst keeping any cooking fumes confined to the kitchen.
It may seem like there is little in the way of light fixtures here, but the strip lights keep the work space illuminated, and the translucent shoji doors help keep this area adequately bright during the day.
Simple bathrooms with zen-like elements
Image credit: Goy Architects
The bathrooms in this ryokan home are designed with little Japanese touches like a wooden stool and a Hinoki bath bucket to help it stand out from your everyday toilet. All of it comes together to create an incredibly aesthetic, almost zen-like atmosphere.
Image credit: Goy Architects
There is a strong dedication to the design theme, with even the bathroom shelving here being done up in what looks like a wood laminate. The textured walls here are borrowed from the wabi-sabi style, and give the bathrooms a pleasant visual depth.
Muji hotel-esque bedrooms
Image credit: Goy Architects
The bedroom seems to have been partitioned as part of the renovation process, with half of it turned into a walk-in closet. There are plenty of features added here as a result, including a whole row of wardrobes, a dresser desk and some shelving facing the bed for decor and other trinkets. All of this is topped with a neat wood trim that runs around the ceiling, creating a room that you’d find in the likes of Muji Hotel Ginza.
Image credit: Goy Architects
The other built-ins are equally interesting, such as the built-in nightstand that seamlessly connects the vanity and headboard. Covering the lighting fixtures in the bedroom with wood keeps the overall look homogeneous, while reinforcing the design theme.
Image credit: Goy Architects
An HDB flat reno that looks like a Japanese ryokan with Muji vibes
With plenty of Japanese homes out there, sometimes you might want to look for inspiration beyond adding a nice round window and plenty of birch-shade wood to your reno plans.
This home, with its very authentic-feeling traditional Japanese features combined with Muji-style furniture and built-ins, might just be the Japandi home you need to look to for that extra spark of inspiration.
For more design inspo:
- A vibrant, eclectic & colourful $23K condo reno
- A $90K 5-room HDB flat’s Japandi-inspired renovation
- Forrest Li’s wife buys a Gallop Road GCB worth $42.5M
Cover image credit: Goy Architects
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