Case 03 / 06 Residential Space · Space

The Home

A Shōwa tearoom and a sunlit home for a cat

Using colour value to make one home a tearoom, a darkroom and a resting place all at once.

The Home living room: low-value deep-green walls, an arched floor lamp with a warm-white shade, a vintage radio and audio on the rattan TV cabinet, fine light through wooden louvres, a beanbag and a giraffe plush, pour-over coffee on a low wooden table — a deliberately dim Shōwa-tearoom mood

Type: Residential Space
Role: Spatial Visual Planning · Art Direction
Location: Yuanlin, Changhua
Year: 2006
Client: Private ResidencePending permission to publish

Atmosphere

A home doesn't have to be one uniform brightness everywhere. The owner wanted to break out of the conventional layout — a public area that can work and also lounge with the cat, with the feel of a Japanese tearoom. So we used colour value and soft furnishings to let each zone carry a different mood.

Space A

Public Area — Deep-Green Tearoom

Instead of bright white walls, a low-value retro deep green anchors the living and work area, with tatami, wooden louvres and a rattan TV cabinet bringing the brightness down, then retro furnishings layering in a personal scent.

The Home living room, full view: deep-green walls and tatami flooring, a rattan TV cabinet with vintage radio and audio, wooden louvres, a paper lantern and a beanbag, the light kept low and warm — like a private tearoom

The Home work area: a wooden desk against a deep-green wall, a silver task lamp and a green glass lamp, a String shelf with tea tins and a model plane, slender light through wooden louvres — even working feels like being in a tearoom

The Home desk corner: a laptop and colour swatches on a wooden desk, warm light from a green lamp, deep-green wall and wooden louvres — the work area folded into a deliberately low-value, immersive mood

Challenge

The owner wanted a home that breaks the conventional layout — a public area that can “work” and also share a “lounging tatami” with the cat, calm and easy on the eye like a Japanese tearoom. One home holding three very different moods at once: focus, relaxation and sleep.

Art Direction

Using colour value and soft-furnishing layout to create layers and contrast, letting each of the three zones stand on its own:

Tearoom immersion in the public area — instead of bright white walls, a low-value retro deep green leads, with tatami, wooden louvres and a rattan TV cabinet bringing brightness down, then retro furnishings layering in a personal scent.
A warm Shōwa-style kitchen — the kitchen-dining deliberately avoids brightness, emphasising natural light and shadow: deep-green cabinets with patterned glass, soft light hiding the clutter of daily life, making cooking and dining more relaxed.
A pared-down little Japanese bedroom — against the intensity of the public area, the bedroom is the final stop for shedding fatigue: a subtraction in light milk-tea tones, a solid-wood headboard and a rattan screen, keeping only the calmest atmosphere for sleep.

Space B

Kitchen — Shōwa Warm Light

The kitchen-dining deliberately avoids brightness, emphasising natural light and shadow — deep-green cabinets with patterned-glass sliding doors, soft light tucking away the noise of daily life, making cooking and dining more relaxed.

The Home kitchen pour-over corner: deep-green lower cabinets and a beige countertop, pour-over coffee and a ceramic cup rack, a row of knives on a magnetic strip, warm light through wooden louvres — a dim European-style cooking scene

The Home kitchen-dining corner: dark brick-red walls and a patterned-glass sliding door, microwave and oven on a metal rack, kettle and grinder, dim warm light softening the details of daily life

The Home kitchen, full view: deep-green cabinets and patterned glass, a pour-over set and hanging ceramic cups, a magnetic knife strip and wooden board, warm light through louvres — a Shōwa-style, naturally lit kitchen-dining

Space C

Bedroom — Japanese Subtraction

Against the intensity of the public area, the bedroom is the final stop for shedding fatigue — a subtraction in light milk-tea tones, a solid-wood headboard and a rattan screen, keeping only the calmest atmosphere for sleep.

The Home bedroom: milk-tea walls and a solid-wood headboard, a black cat lounging on a patterned rug, a rattan screen and wooden coat stand, warm embedded bedside light — a quiet, restful sleeping scene

The Home bedroom corner: a rattan screen and full-length mirror, soft daylight through a sheer curtain, a straw hat and tote on the wooden coat stand, milk-tea tones and solid wood forming a calm, pared-down mood

Outcome

Colour and light carve out different spatial moods — every room you step into is a different state of mind. One home, now with layers and room to breathe.