Many people incorporate live plants into their home décor. Live plants are a wonderful way to spruce (pun intended) up a room. Japanese Bonsai trees are a lovely way to add the natural plant feel, while adding culture and beauty at the same time.

The art of Bonsai is translated to mean “tray planting”. This beautiful art originated in Asia many centuries ago. The key is to choose pots and trees which compliment each other and bring attention and beauty to wherever the tree is placed. A lovely, very strategically placed Bonsai tree could very well be the focal point of any room.
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When decorating a home or office, the number one item that’s either neglected or overworked are the walls. Most people put too many items on a wall to decorate it, giving it a cluttered look. Wall art is just that, an art, and should be placed strategically to give the room appeal.

Let’s take a look at how to use wall art when decorating, particularly Asian wall art. If you’ve ever wanted to redecorate a room, and give it an Eastern feel, you can start with a beautiful piece of wall art to get your decorating ball going, and then build from that to bring the room together.
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Japanese interiors use natural and neutral color schemes, and emphasize architecture with a simple background. This provides for a sense of geometric order. Natural and neutral colors help to minimize the feeling of clutter. Eastern art is characteristically strong and graphic in nature. Japanese textures and materials include cedar, rice paper, bamboo, stone, and woven wicker, among others. The key in Japanese culture is Yin and Yang, which simply means to balance opposites in all aspects of one’s life.

Adding the feel of a Japanese interior is neither hard, or extremely costly. For instance, you can add a screen to a bedroom, which not only serves a purpose, but also lends to the Eastern appeal of the room. Statuettes, wall hangings, and decorative fans will also provide the Japanese interior that you may be looking for. You might place a lacquered box on top of your dressing table or night stand to give an air of Japanese décor, or perhaps a polished wood floor with a heavily textured mat.

Among other ways of bringing a hint of Japanese culture to your home or office décor, is the garden aspect. Japanese gardens are becoming very popular. Their beauty and tranquility is highly coveted. Creating a Japanese garden, or even bringing the feel of a Japanese garden into your home is not a hard task.
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Chinese décor boasts beautiful and tranquil furnishings. Mostly thru the use of a method known as Feng Shui.

Feng Shui is the practice of using ancient Chinese methods of placement and arrangement of space to achieve vast harmony within the environment. The technique of decorating via Feng Shui is based on ancient Chinese philosophies and practices. The Feng Shui color schemes are interpreted differently for each individual based on their birth year, which also relates to that person’s basic elements of earth, water, wood, fire, and metal. For example, a person born in the year of wood would use green as their basic color scheme, and avoid red, which symbolizes fire, because fire destroys wood.

Feng Shui can be used both inside and outside the home. Gardens with lovely Buddha statuettes or Jade Pagoda’s are met with the Feng Shui philosophy. Placement of plants and ponds is an integral part of Chinese Decorating.
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