Oriental Bedroom Furniture

The Oriental furniture traditions are very different from ours in the West. Today there is a great interest in all things connected with Asia and many people are buying Oriental style furniture as part of a bedroom theme. I can't possibly detail the entire bedding traditions of a continent, however I'll mention a couple of ideas that might interest you.

Chinese Canopy beds

The traditional Chinese canopy bed can be thought of as like our Western four poster bed - but more so. It is often based on a platform bed and can include intricate carvings.

Chinese canopy beds are often surrounded by drapes, however they also take this further. It is not unusual for the bed to have wooden panels instead of / as well as drapes. These panels can be opened during the day then closed during the night for privacy and warmth. As such they create a sort of "room within a room".

Futons

Japanese furniture tends to be simple and elegant with a preference for plain, natural materials. The traditional Japanese futon has little in common with what is sold as a Western futon.

The original Japanese futon was heavily influenced by the need to make the most of limited space. They were basically thin mattresses that could be rolled or folded up and put away to store during the day. The futon was designed to be laid out on the tatami floor matting.

Shoji Screens

Traditional Japanese bedroom screens - shoji - are made from wood with opaque rice paper. If you don't want to buy these then a similar effect can be achieved with less authentic materials. They usually consist of a number of rectangular panels joined with hinges.

Screens can serve a number of purposes, both decorative and functional. Traditional plain screens can bring a sense of pease and tranquility, or they can be used as direct decoration to enhance the oriental feel of the design. They can also be used to divide off areas of the bedroom according to where they are placed. Even if privacy is not an issue this can be a useful way of blocking off the view of those areas of the bedroom that are less harmonious on the eye. They can also be used simply to delineate different functional spaces.

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