Our Dining Room: Traditional Japanese Washitsu for Modern BTO Living

295

Japandi
HDB (BTO)
~700 sqft
2 br
Couple Living

よ！ Welcome to our dining room. Hitotema.home is a Modern Japanese (not japandi) cozy 3 room BTO, designed to bring traditional elements of Japanese houses into the modern era. Wait, where's the dining table? Gimme a sec to find the remote.
There we go! Welcome to our dining room. New flats are pretty small these days, so it's important for us to maximise each space to the best of our lifestyles. I'm a Japanese Chef and Sake Sommelier, the missus does the 9-5. I entertain a lot in terms of dining and sake, while the missus enjoys a warm and open space. Being a Japanese home, the space to host guests is called the washitsu (和室) or zashiki (座敷). The washitsu is a room with many uses, from private family functions, to dining, drinking, hosting entertainment and even as a guest room. When entertaining, the table sits flush with the floor, allowing for a variety of activities. However, where dinner is concerned, the table can be electronically lifted up to dine 6 comfortably. We'll share more about this in another post.
Have a seat. You can choose between a zabuton (cushion) or a zaisu (seat with backrest). If you sit at the foot of the table, your view of our washitsu is the best. On your left, the tokonoma (床の間). In our home, the tokonoma is broken up into 2 parts rather than side-by-side. The actual tokonoma itself is at the entrance. In the living room, a modernised chigaidana (違い棚) is there to display our serving-ware and decorations.
On the right, a view of the shoji allowing natural light to enter softly during the daytime, as well as providing privacy and intimacy to the space. Our shoji is constructed with wood and frosted acrylic rather than washi paper for durability.
Let's eat! Or pretend, rather. Was too busy taking photos rather than cooking this time. Choosing plateware is important. Especially when entertaining guests, it's essential to have a variety of plateware, glassware and cutlery. Yet, it doesn't have to be expensive! My tips on plateware are: 1. Measure your table to ensure your plates and plateware sets can sit comfortably on the table with even spacing. 2. For communal plateware, buy 1 piece of various designs, and don't feel intimidated by large plates. 3. For individual plateware, calculate the maximum number of guests your table can accomodate, then buy 2 extra. For instance, our table sits 6, so we have 8 rice bowls, saucers, soup bowls, etc. This is to account for larger than expected gatherings, and, breakage. 4. Theme your plateware to your interior design. Don't buy plates on a whim - plan your platewares before purchasing them all. 5. Taobao is your best friend. You'll be surprised to find a wide variety of Japanese (maybe even authentic) servingware on that website. See you guys in the next post!