The interior of a Japanese tea house. Multiple layers of sliding wooden doors and rice paper and wood Shoji screens are open, showing a room with a low tea table through the first set of doors, and a Japanese maple in a garden through the second set. Tatami mats cover the wood floors. A large blue glazed ceramic pot in the foreground is topped by a metal tea kettle on a stand.
What's Your Style?

Japanese Interior Design

by Laura Grey No Comments Share this  

Traditional Japanese interior design is widely popular and much admired. This uncluttered and minimalist style emphasizes tranquil and airy spaces filled with light. Japanese design tends to be understated and calm, which lends it a serene elegance. Rooms are simply but carefully decorated. Proportion and harmony guide the placement and number of design elements. Subtlety—a […]

Detail from a Chinese armorial screen of the Qing Dynasty, Peabody Essex Museum. Intricate black and gold scene of people and animals in a Chinese walled palace, circa 1725.
What's Your Style?

Chinese Interior Design

by Laura Grey No Comments Share this  

A Long Tradition of Formal Elegance What westerners tend to think of as traditional Chinese interior design has primarily been the style of Chinese aristocrats and successful merchants. It emphasizes wealth and status, and tends toward formality. Symbolism is deeply embedded in many elements of Chinese culture, and this is true of not only the […]

A little girl with dark hair and a purple dress holds an orange bottle of bubble solution and holds a bubble blowing wand up to her face. She blows into the wand, creating a cloud of bubbles. Behind her is an out-of-focus grassy lawn.
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Is Your Home’s Air Dangerous?

by Laura Grey No Comments Share this  

When we discuss indoor air quality, we usually mean annoyances like pollen, dust, and household chemicals that can irritate our throats or cause runny or stuffy noses. For millions of people with asthma or other respiratory diseases, even minor irritants can lead to significant discomfort or even distress. Pollutants can make breathing more difficult, so […]