Asian Interior Design
Brought to you by Jeffrey Lim Associates
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Volume 2 Issue 2 Apr-Aug 2003 (Updated May 2004)
As you may know my biggest interior and exterior design project that fused both Asian and Western styles is complete. But a work in progress is never complete especially when you aim for a certain aesthetic. As time progresses new elements, even changes take place to enhance the project.
In this update I add more pictures and points of interest that may inspire you. The front courtyard has been a focus of attention. The bamboo is doing very well...see the earlier images of the courtyard then scroll down to the latest images.
In the courtyard I placed three large clay vessels. I converted two into water features. A bamboo spout drops water into each cavernous vessel that is only fractionally filled so the sound resonates hypnotically. Very Japaneseque. Very soothing just hearing the sound of water slowly falling and echoing.
Landscaping is not complete without statuary. Here there are two. A huge four-foot high bronze Sukhotai style Buddha sits under a Japanese maple tree. (No bodhi tree). As you walk past the front gates you see Dewa Ganga, Goddess of the Ganges river, pouring water into a jar. Then closer to the front door sits another Thai Buddha, carefully placed over a huge rice bowl shaped clay jar.
Another forgotten element in landscaping...night lighting. Following convention most of us install electric lights or solar lights. I use just six low wattage halogens against the bamboo. Then I have several lanterns, some hung on bamboo poles, that use candles. Believe me...there is no substitute for the soft glow of dancing candles in the nightscape. This takes me back to my childhood days when Malays made oil lamps (called pelita) during Aidil Fitri to light up their outdoors.
I've always like Moongates. Their roundness provide a great off-set to right angles. But there isn't one per se. What I did was paint a round circle on a wall as a backdrop for this huge Mandarin black lacquer cabinet. The doors of the cabinet open as if to let you pass through the Moongate.
What I have created is not just living space or a habitat. Instead I try to transcend living space and approach art in my creation. I hope it inspires you. Now let's return to the genesis of the project.
The house was three years in planning and almost one year in construction. You dont want to hear my war stories with the city's planning department. And I've been told it's no different in any other city at least in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The site is in the Oakland hills. The alignment is north-south with the front facing south. It is a downslope lot with a steep gradient of about thirty six degrees on a lot size of about 4,500 sq ft. So the house is built down the slope in three levels. All big picture windows face north with unobstructed views of hillside homes.
The architecture is minimalist. But the interior furnishings are very oriental and decorative. The interior space was designed to display most of my collection of Asian furniture, ceramics, rugs and art pieces.
My goal was also to bring the outdoors in. Hence there are decks or covered porches (loggia, courtyards, balconies) in each of the three levels all facing north.
There are many eye-catching elements. The first is when you approach the front of the house. You enter a pair of Chinese gates, step down on granite slabs and looking right you see a courtyard with teak flooring surrounded on two sides by billowing bamboo and Japanese maples. The red maple is striking against the rich green of the bamboo. The courtyard has two terraces with moss rock randomly but carefully placed.
As you approach the front door you see two Chinese carved wood panel doors that are set in the entry wall. These carved panels are elmwood. They are carved on both sides with auspicous Chinese symbols, among them bats ("foo") which is good luck.
The interior and exterior colors are coordinated. Inside there is a palette of nine colors spread among all the different rooms and hallways. The primary yellow, cinnamon rust and celadon green are repeated inside and outside. Other colors are stronger shades of yellow and a rich army green.
The floors throughout are all teak. Granite is used in bathroom walls. Also granite tiles are used to underscore the edge of the teak floors of the living dining and media rooms. The granite tiles are special sized at about 8" x 16". Most tiles are square.
The right picture of the living room above shows four of the niches that display the 32" tall Martaban jars. There is also a four panel carved (on two sides) Chinese screen that break the living space. The screen is mainly open lattice that still allows transparency and flow from one room to another.
There is a Media room. I'm not certain yet if I want to have floor seating here. Which is what you see now. On the wall hangs a Chinese calligraphy scroll recently gifted to me by a renown Master. Next to it is a Ming Dynasty brown jar with dragon motifs. A pair of temple pillar rugs adorn the left and right of this low six drawer (one side false drawer fronts) rosewood coffee table (from the '60s).
The upstairs has my home office with a Chinese rosewood desk. The two chairs are elmwood. The picture window to the right looks down to the teak courtyard, bamboo, rocks and the gate. The book cabinet is one of a pair, recently made of elmwood. The rug on the floor is Chinese with a central medallion of two phoenixes on a brown field. The border on each end of the rug has a kimono-like design with flowers and wave pattern.
Two interesting art pieces are displayed in niches. By the front door you see a polished suiseki. Coincidentally the colors of the suiseki, especially the green of the serpentine stone, matches the colors of the surrounding walls.
As you walk down the hallway and look up, your eyes are directed to an abstract birdlike carving. This is an old chofah.
It is a Thai temple finial, jeweled with glass mosaic tiles most of which have fallen off over time. I had a choice of placing a new chofah or an old one. I chose the latter. The chofah stands about six feet tall.The hallway or what I call the central 'spine' of the interior is built at six degrees off ninety. There is a Caucasian runner with repeated dragon motifs accompanying an altar table with a Buddha sculpture in the U-tong Thai style, gilded.
On one side of the wall along the hallway are a pair of ancestral potraits to welcome visitors. The portraits flank the entry to the kitchen. The potrait to the left is an official wearing a six civil rank badge.
As a designer I am never satisfied and there is no end to quenching my thirst for refining accents or adding good art indoors or outdoors. Below you will see changes I have made to various rooms.
