Japandi interior design in Batumi

Japandi style in an apartment by the sea

The name “Japandi” is recent and made of two words, Japan and Scandi: it describes interiors where the Japanese and Scandinavian approaches to the home meet. In an apartment this means few objects, warm wood, natural textures, low furniture and muted earth colours: clay, sand, olive, graphite. We make Japandi interiors in Batumi warmer and darker than Scandinavian style: wood in honey or walnut tones, and softer, lower lighting.

What sets Japandi apart from minimalism is that things are not hidden away completely. Ceramics on a shelf, a branch in a vase, a linen curtain, a woven basket stay on show, but there are few of them, and each has its own place. What sets it apart from wabi-sabi is order: the textures are calm, with no deliberately rough plaster or aged objects.

Wood: tone, species and sun by the window

The basis of the style is wood in a warm mid tone: oiled oak with a light tint, ash, walnut for accents. We assign wood to surfaces in advance: the floor, kitchen fronts, slats, worktop, frames. Two tones, one light and one dark, read calmly, while four random ones look like furniture collected from different apartments.

Dark wood by a panoramic window changes more noticeably than light wood: in the sun walnut lightens and loses its depth of colour. So we place walnut furniture at the back of the room and keep honey-toned oak by the window. It also darkens over time, but on warm wood this is hardly noticeable.

On walls and ceilings, wood works as slats: vertical ones at the bedhead, on the ceiling over the dining table, as a partition by the entrance. The spacing, fixings and lighting are covered on the page about slat wall panels. If you need solid wood rather than veneer, acclimatising it before installation and the gaps it needs are described on the page about wood in the interior.

Textured walls and natural materials

A smooth white wall is too cold for Japandi. We use a fine mineral texture or lime plaster in a warm tone, usually on one or two walls: at the bedhead, in a living room recess, in the hallway. The pattern is calm, almost without relief, so that the light from a floor lamp falls softly and doesn't pick out every groove. How a finish is chosen, and why the sample is made by the same plasterer who will do the wall, is covered on the page about decorative plaster.

The other materials are also natural or look natural: stone or stone-effect porcelain tiles in the bathroom, glazed ceramics, linen, cotton, paper in light fittings. Handmade Georgian ceramics fit in naturally, since their glaze and irregular shapes are close to Japanese tableware. In wet areas the textured wall is sealed with a protective lacquer, and tiles stay by the shower.

Low furniture in an apartment by the sea

A low sofa, a bed on a low base and a coffee table close to the floor change your eye level: the room seems taller, and from the sofa you see more sky and water through a floor-to-ceiling window. In new buildings by the sea, where the glazing often starts at the floor, this works especially well.

Here low furniture has two weak points: air and cleaning. Under the sofa, units and bed we leave a gap for air and a robot vacuum to pass through, usually at least 10 cm. Solid platforms and boxing down to the floor are only drawn with vents, otherwise damp sets in under them over the winter.

In the design, heights shift downwards. Sockets by a low sofa and bed are set lower than usual, the wall lights at the bedhead come down, and at the measured survey we measure the height of the balcony railing and the window transoms, so that a crossbar doesn't land on the horizon line for someone sitting down.

Partitions instead of walls: slats and sliding panels

Japanese shoji, paper in a wooden frame, behave badly in a damp apartment by the sea: the paper absorbs moisture, sags and darkens in patches, and an unprotected frame can warp. We keep the look and change the material to frosted toughened glass or translucent plastic in a wooden frame or a wood-effect aluminium profile, with the same grid of glazing bars.

We fit such panels on a track or in a pocket cassette and use them to separate off the bedroom in a studio, a wardrobe or a work corner. The pocket cassette goes in before the wall is finished, the track needs a solid fixing base above the opening, and all of this is decided on the drawing. The systems and their limits are described on the page about sliding doors and partitions. If a solid division is not needed, we fit a floor-to-ceiling slatted partition: light and air pass through, but the bed can't be seen from the entrance.

Japandi in a rental apartment

The style suits short-term rental: there are few things, cleaning is quick, and warm wood looks cosy in photos. What we simplify is anything that suffers from frequent guests. We choose a coffee table with rounded corners, because people trip over a low sharp corner in the dark. Guests need a bed of normal height; we keep the low platform for an apartment you live in yourself.

There is no time to renew oiled surfaces between stays. In a rental apartment we use lacquer, ceramics and wood-effect porcelain tiles, and keep oil for a couple of items that are easy to touch up.

Mistakes that spoil Japandi

• wood in four or five tones: a floor, doors, kitchen and furniture from different collections;
• a mattress straight on the floor or on a solid platform without vents;
• paper partitions and lampshades in the bathroom and over the hob, where there is steam and grease;
• too much “Japanese” decor: fans, hieroglyphs and bamboo in every room;
• cold white light, which makes warm wood look grey;
• open shelves crammed with ceramics and books down to the last centimetre.

How much a Japandi interior costs in Batumi

We price a Japandi design project by floor area, from 145 to 190 ₾ per m²: this covers the designer's work at every stage, from the measured survey to the materials list. Finishes, furniture and partitions are priced in the renovation estimate and the procurement.

Japandi rests on three finishes, and each one stands out in the estimate. Turnkey slat wall panels cost from 185 to 265 ₾ per m², decorative plaster from 75 to 96 ₾ per m², and engineered wood flooring as a material from 185 to 265 ₾ per m². That is why at the concept stage we show where slats and texture make the biggest difference. Usually it is the wall at the bedhead and one wall in the living room, and the rest is painted.

The project costs more when it includes a platform, made-to-measure low furniture and sliding panels: we draw details for each of them. 3D rendering alone, without drawings, costs from 57 to 72 ₾ per m², and designer supervision during the renovation from 48 to 66 ₾ per m². We fix the final project price after the measured survey, once its scope is agreed.