Japanese Style

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Gilded Walls

Applying Genuine Gold leaf or Metal leaf to walls or ceilings can create a striking feature in any interior. Ribbon Leaf can help get the job done quickly and with more precision. Learn more and purchase Ribbon Leaf now.

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Arts and Crafts Style

The Arts & Crafts ideal stressed simplicity, natural materials like wood and brass, and a return to individual craftsmanship-as opposed to the newly dominant methods of mass production. Ornament in Arts & Crafts pieces is limited, and when present, it is meant to echo the function and construction techniques of the piece.

Painted Marble Finish - Learn how!

In Italy, the word marble is synonymous with Carrara, after the great marble quarrying region in the north of the country. Through centuries marble has enhanced interiors world wide. Creating the impression of real marble in your home can quickly elevate the presence of any furniture or object. It adds interest and charm and transforms everyday objects into heirlooms. I’ve chosen this painted white marble because of its rustic simplicity. Yet it illustrates the foundation for creating a variety of marble types, your imagination being your only limitation.

A neighborhood Shinto shrine at the end of an urban back alley. A monumental Buddhist temple alongside skyscrapers and neon-lit pachinko parlors. A Traditional post-and-beam farmhouse tucked behind a suburban neighborhood. Even in the hodgepodge industrial landscape that has sprung up in Japan in the past few decades, places of startling beauty -- both sacred and secular -- abound.

Traditional Japanese design, shaped by the animistic tradition of Shinto, prizes natural materials like stone, wood, and rice straw. From Buddhism, it takes a sense of worldly impermanence, expressing life’s ephemerality with ikebana flower arrangements and cryptic Zen rock and gravel gardens, raked in concentric circles to represent the ripples of time.

Japanese style can run the gamut from sophisticated to rustic, but it often creates a pleasing mix of both extremes, with an emphasis on minimalism and natural materials. Refined teak and bamboo chairs alongside a roughhewn timber post exemplify the blend of earthy and elegant that characterizes Japanese design at its best.

Even the most modern Japanese homes frequently incorporate Traditional rustic elements: wooden posts and beams, ceramic or copper roof shingles, bamboo, tatami, and delicate rice-paper shoji screens. Irregularities are prized -- a chip in a teacup becomes part of the object’s history, rather than a flaw -- and everyday objects like handmade brooms or an earthenware food jar are often works of art.

Lithos Venetian Plaster

Finishing Venetian Plaster with natural polished marble effect

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Lithos is the contemporary version of the famous ancient Stucco Veneziano. It is a beautiful and highly refined decorative finish for hotels, offices, shops, exhibition halls, living rooms, etc. Ideal for all types of interior surfaces such as cement renders, Gypsum plasters, prefabricated panels wood and its by-products, as long as sufficiently smooth. With the range of colours and the applicator’s capacity and inspiration, it is possible to attain a variety of designs and chromatic effects. The resulting coating, in addition to being highly attractive, is abrasion resistant and washable.

Spread rate: 35 to 45 sq. ft. per quart.

0.8 - 1.0 kg/m² (for a recommended dry film thickness of 1,0 mm)

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Nature is always kept in sight in Japanese design, whether with a formal bonsai garden or simply a loosely-constructed wood or bamboo fence enclosing cedars, Japanese maple or cherry trees. Indoors, bird, flower and tree motifs appear on painted scrolls and screens.

Sacred elements can create a special atmosphere even in the most mundane context. A simple Shinto temple washbasin can imbue an everyday space like the bathroom with a tranquil air.

A daruma or wish doll, which represents the Buddhist saint Bodhidharma, makes a colorful accent (to make a wish, you paint in one of the pupils in black ink; if the wish comes true you paint the other and discard the doll).

Stone temple lanterns, bells, and incense-holders are also wonderfully evocative. For the diehard Japanophile, a torii gate, which marks the beginning of sacred space in a Shinto shrine, can be a stunning garden element.

Japanese Style Inspirations

Traditional rustic timber homes and roof supports.

Contemporary materials, right, mimicking Traditional stone craft.

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Early American Style

Colonial Amercians drew inspriation from their European heritage. Curent design styles would filter across the ocean and become reinventedin early America. Proportion and scale took reign over ornementation, A neutral color palette of grey blue, greens and rose pinks is readily apparent.

Stucco Rustico - Aged Plaster

Stucco Rustico is a Traditional interior and exterior textured plaster that epitomizes the rustic old world charm commonly associated with Tuscan environments. I love this treatment for its ease of application and the natural, organic glazed appearance that results when using mineral based plasters and glazes. Whether a rough application or a smooth finish, this treatment holds true to the test of time and, in fact, feels as if time itself stopped to wash the walls personally.

The Rustic Color Palette

The Rustic Style color palette falls within a distinct range of color tones and is essential in creating a successful Rustic interior. By using the appropriate color tones you can create a variety of design styles ranging from Period and Historic, regional or thematic. Color helps define our experiences within an interior and exterior environment. It affects us on a physical, emotional, and spiritual level and can be calming and passive, expressive and vital.

Painted Floral Details

Floral patterns used as accents in fabrics and furniture are common place details in the English Country home. These graceful and organic patterns complement the cozy interior of this style and work particularly well with lace window treatments, an heirloom tea service set and the natural and rustic charm of wooden ceiling beams and slightly irregularly textured walls.