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The five things a Japanese eye checks before buying anything.
Most "Japandi" advice online was written by people who have never lived with it. I grew up inside this. Here is what I actually look for — on one page. — Sora
70% Scandinavian, 30% Japanese. Not 50/50.
Japandi is mostly Scandinavian, quietly corrected by Japan. Keep light wood around 70% and dark wood near 30%. Same for line: about 60% straight, 40% curved. When a room feels off, it is almost always too much of the 30%.
Read: The Japandi Ratio →Subtract the candy. Add the dusk.
Start from a Scandinavian base and remove powder blue, yellow, and pastels. Then add back sumi black, deep green, and the warm light of late afternoon. Japandi is not a color you add — it is two colors you take away.
Read: Strip the Pastels →Never buy an orange chair. Buy an orange glow.
The warmth people love in Japanese rooms is not a terracotta cushion — it is the color of light through paper. Bring orange in as a washi lamp, a candle, a low bulb at dusk. As an object it shouts; as light it settles.
Read: Say Goodbye to the Big Light →Pale + round leans Nordic. Dark + square leans Japanese.
You can mix light and dark wood — that is the whole point of Japandi. The trick is shape: keep pale woods soft and rounded, keep dark woods low and squared. Let one wood lead (the 70%) and the other answer (the 30%).
Read: Can You Mix Light and Dark Woods? →A gap is a thing you placed, not a thing you forgot.
Ma (間) is intentional space. An empty wall, a bare corner, a pause between two objects — these are part of the design, not a budget you have not spent yet. Before adding one more thing, ask if the silence is already doing the work.
Read: The Art of Ma →These are the colors I actually live with. Not a mood board — a working palette.
No powder blue. No mustard. No terracotta. No neon. If a color isn't here, ask whether the room actually needs it.