Japandi bedroom ideas: how to make a calm, simple bedroom

A Japandi bedroom puts the bed at the centre and keeps almost everything else out of sight. Choose a low bed in wood or upholstered in a plain fabric, dress it in washed linen in muted colours, light it with warm lamps close to the bed rather than a bright ceiling light, and give clothes and clutter a proper home behind doors or in neat, open order. The ideas below show how to get there in an ordinary UK bedroom, without a renovation.

Make the bed the focus

The Japanese tradition of sleeping close to the floor is behind the low beds you see in Japandi rooms. A low frame lowers the eye line, makes the ceiling feel higher and gives the room a quieter, more grounded look. A simple wooden platform or a frame on short legs works well, with a plain headboard in wood, cane or upholstered linen.

You do not need a new bed to get the look. Take off a frilled valance, clear the space under the bed so the floor shows, and keep the headboard wall free of shelves and clutter. If you do need storage under the bed, our guide Ottoman bed or divan compares what actually fits underneath each.

Dress it in washed linen

Linen is the natural choice for a Japandi bed. It breathes, so it sleeps cool on warm nights and stays comfortable in winter, and washed linen has a soft, relaxed crumple that looks right left unironed. The Kiryu pure linen sheet set includes a flat sheet, a 35 cm deep fitted sheet and pillowcases, so the whole bed is dressed in the same linen. It comes in olive, caramel and white, which between them cover most Japandi schemes.

Build the bed in a few layers rather than many: sheets, a duvet, and one throw folded across the foot. The Hanno cotton linen throw is washed to a soft crinkle and comes in caramel, light grey, sage, deep green and charcoal. On warm nights it can replace the duvet as a light coverlet.

Keep cushions to a minimum. Two pillows each, and perhaps one cushion in a contrasting texture, looks calmer than a pile you have to move every night. When it comes to washing, our guide on how to wash and care for linen explains temperatures, drying and why fabric softener is best avoided.

Use colours that recede

A bedroom is a place to wind down, so keep the colours quiet. Warm white, clay, soft greige or a muted sage on the walls; natural, oat or white for the bedding; and one darker accent such as olive, charcoal or walnut to stop it looking washed out. Pick colours from the same warm family and the room will hold together even with different woods and fabrics in it.

Pattern is used sparingly in Japandi rooms. Let the weave of the linen, the grain of the wood and the texture of a rug or basket provide the interest instead.

Light the bedside, not the whole room

The light you use in the last hour of the day matters most. Bedside lights should be warm white, around 2700K, and placed low enough that they light a book without shining into your eyes.

A table lamp with a fabric shade gives a soft, contained pool of light. The Usuki marble table lamp has a solid veined marble base and a wide, shallow off white shade that throws light down onto the table and softly up the wall, so it feels calm rather than bright. The small version, with a shade 30 cm across, suits most bedside tables.

If your bedside tables are small, wall lights free up the surface entirely. The Sasebo woven rattan wall light is a half round cane shade, 20 cm wide and 25 cm tall, that glows through the weave and throws a soft pattern up and down the wall. It is wired to a wall lighting point, so it should be installed by a qualified electrician. Our guide to bedside wall light height gives the measurements to work to.

Keep the bedside table almost empty

A lamp, the book you are reading and a glass of water is enough. Anything else gathers into clutter quickly, so give the small things a tray. The Hiraizumi travertine tray is cut from natural stone with a low raised rim; the small round size holds rings and earrings, and a rectangle suits a chest of drawers for perfume and a candle. Charging your phone somewhere other than the bedside also helps keep that surface, and the last half hour of the evening, clear.

Storage: closed, or open and orderly

Closed storage is the easiest way to keep a bedroom calm, so a fitted or freestanding wardrobe with plain doors is ideal. Handleless doors or simple wooden knobs keep the fronts quiet.

In a small room, a guest room or a loft, a full wardrobe can feel heavy. An open wardrobe works if you keep it edited. The Hamada bamboo open wardrobe pairs a full height hanging rail, which has about 137 cm of clearance, with a column of four slatted shelves, plus shelves across the top and base. At about 90 cm wide and 30 cm deep it fits where a wardrobe would not. To keep it looking calm, use matching wooden hangers, hang only the current season and fold knits onto the shelves rather than stuffing them in.

Under the bed, lidded boxes or baskets keep spare bedding and out of season clothes dust free and out of view.

Windows and floors

Plain linen curtains filter daylight beautifully, but on their own they will not make a room dark. If you need darkness to sleep, especially through a UK summer when it can be light before five, add a blackout blind fitted inside the window recess and hang the linen curtains in front.

Bare floorboards look right in a Japandi bedroom, but a rug beside or at the foot of the bed gives you something soft to step onto in the morning. Choose wool or a natural fibre in a plain colour, sized so it extends well beyond the sides of the bed.

Something living, and then stop

One plant, or a single branch in a handmade vase, brings the room to life. After that, resist adding more. The empty space on the walls, the floor and the surfaces is as much a part of the look as anything you buy.

If you are starting from scratch, change the bedding first, then the bedside lighting, then the storage. You will find everything in this guide in our bedroom collection, and the full range of sheets, duvet covers and throws in linen bedding and throws.