Chinese Interior Design – Creating a contemporary Chinese style home interior with Chinese black and white lacquer furniture

Posted by Roger van der Matten on 21st Sep 2011

4 Living sell a beautiful collection of black and white lacquer Chinese furniture that is perfect for the contemporary home. The smooth as glass, jet black finish of the black lacquered furniture and the creamy linen whiteness of the white lacquered furniture,

will compliment any contemporary interior design. For strong contrast in your home décor, place black lacquered Chinese furniture pieces in a room that has been decorated in a lighter colour like cream or a shade of white and for a contrast in the other direction, place our white lacquered Chinese furniture pieces in a room decorated in a darker colour.Both our black and white Chinese furniture collections are heavily influenced by pieces originally designed and manufactured in the orient, taking many of their design cues from pieces dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties. With brushed brass handles and stressed wooden edging, each piece is elegantly proportioned and built to compliment the other pieces within the range. Our Oriental furniture is available across a number of different sizes so that you can choose the size that is best suited the space you have available. Made from reclaimed pine or solid ash and lacquer coated at least seven times regardless of colour, each piece of lacquered furniture is created to exacting standards.Chinese Furniture- click here to browse our complete range.Black Lacquer Furniture– click here to browse our traditional Chinese black lacquered range.White Lacquer Furniture- click here to browse our traditional Chinese white lacquered range.

Contemporary Chinese Interiors – Colour schemes

Contemporary Chinese colour schemes centre on the five principal colours of Red, Black, Green, White and Yellow. Red is the colour of fire and is associated with wealth and power. It is also indicative of summer. Black is the colour of water and it represents winter. Green is the colour of the natural world and plant life. It represents spring. White is the colour of metal and it is representative of the autumn. Yellow is representative of the Earth. The Earth is the primary source of nutrition and supports all the other colours. This is not to say that other colours like blues and oranges are not used, they are. The above colours are just the more traditional ones that form the foundations of many a room theme. The beauty of our black lacquered furniture and our white lacquered furniture pieces is that whichever colour you opt to furnish your home in, you will easily find colours to match, either in fabrics of silk or satin, or in accent furniture pieces. Take for example, the traditional oriental butterfly and teal blue cabinets, these pieces have been designed in the traditional Chinese style and finished to an exacting standard. They make superb additions to both the black and white lacquered furniture ranges standing out in contrast and anchoring the other furniture pieces in the room. For the perfect finish to your oriental style décor we suggest pairing the butterfly cabinet with our black lacquered furniture range and the teal cabinet with our white lacquered furniture range.

Contemporary Chinese Interiors – Flooring

In most typically Chinese homes the flooring will be of a natural material like grasses, stone or wood. The colours will be neutral and will be those that are produced in nature. Natural stone colours, natural wood colours, the colours of grasses, these are the tones that the Chinese like to introduce into their homes. They are not great fans of wall to wall carpet but instead will use rugs made of natural fibres on the floors of their homes. It is only when these rugs are introduced that colour starts to play a part in the décor. Traditional Chinese rugs are vibrant and colourful. They can be made in a variety of colours and intricate patterns, sometimes with a theme, sometimes not, but invariably they will have one central colour. The rugs will be predominantly red or mostly blue or mainly yellow bur whatever the central colour, it will feature many other colours besides and form a centrepiece in its own right.

Contemporary Chinese Interiors – Accessories

Chinese interior design is all about elegance and simplicity. Chinese interiors, though accessorised and accessorised well, will not be cluttered. The art of accessorising Chinese style is to have just one or two, high value objects placed about the room. Do not over clutter with little trinkets or ornaments; in fact this style of decoration is the antithesis of all things Chinese. A room is accessorised enough as far as the Chinese are concerned, with one or two quality items out on display and an arrangement of bright flowers in a corner. The Chinese believe that the display of high value items will attract more wealth and prosperity and it might therefore stand to reason that the more high value items you display, the more wealth and prosperity you will attract. This is not the case as displaying lots of high value items will simply lead to a slowing down and stagnation of “chi” and land you straight back where you started, in the clutter mire. This simplistic or minimalist décor style enables the free flow of energy or “chi” around a room. There are very few tight corners in which this energy can get stuck and this is the key to decorating Chinese style. If something feels awkward to pick up and dust around, if an ornament is placed too close to a wall or if a piece of furniture feels like it’s in the way, then change it. It is interfering with the free flow of “energy and either needs to be de-cluttered or re-arranged to free up the stuck energies that surround it.