Guides & tips

Japandi wall art: fewer, bigger and beautifully calm

Japandi wall art is where Japanese calm meets Scandinavian warmth: muted earth tones, simple lines, natural textures and plenty of empty wall around every piece. Think a Hokusai wave in an oak frame, an ink brushstroke above a linen sofa, or one big misty landscape instead of five small prints. Here’s how to pick motifs and colours, how big to go, which frames to choose and how to hang it all so the room can breathe.

Cranes from Momoyogusa by Kamisaka Sekka, three cranes among pine branches, in an oak frame above a rattan-fronted oak sideboard with a sculptural white vase, a cup and a stack of books — Pine, cranes and rattan. Japan and Scandinavia on one sideboard.

Iris Kaempferi by Ogawa Kazumasa, pale purple irises on a brown ground, in a black frame leaning against the wall beside a low lounge chair, a sheepskin rug and a wooden stool — No nail, no spirit level. Just lean it and sit down.

Pink Sky by Watanabe Seitei, soft clouds and pine tops with small birds, in an oak frame on a pale wall above a lounge chair with a tan cushion and a few ceramic vases on the floor — One print, one chair and a lot of very relaxed wall.

What makes wall art Japandi

Japandi borrows the stillness of a Japanese room and the cosiness of a Scandinavian one. On the wall, it comes down to four things.

Earthy colours. Sand, clay, moss, stone and a touch of ink black – colours that look borrowed from nature rather than from a paint chart. One accent, like an indigo wave or a small red sun, is plenty.

Line and brushstroke. A folded paper crane, an ink circle, a few pine needles. Simple shapes drawn with a steady (or happily unsteady) hand.

Texture. The grain of a woodblock print, the softness of mist over water, layers of sandy colour. Art that rewards a closer look.

Space. The empty wall around a picture is part of the picture. Leave it bare on purpose.

Geometric Rhythms, a muted collage of sand, grey and green blocks, in an oak frame on a large pale wall above a curved cream bouclé sofa, next to a green side table with poppies

Torii Gate, a black-and-white photo of a torii standing in still, misty water, in an oak frame above a cream bouclé armchair beside a black floor lamp

Fewer, bigger – and a little lower

A Japandi wall rarely holds more than one or two pieces. Rather than a busy gallery wall, choose one print you really love and give it room to breathe: a 50x70 above a sideboard, a large print above the sofa or two prints side by side with a generous gap. Each motif counts for more, and the whole room feels quieter.

How big? The classic rule says art should cover about two thirds of the furniture’s width. Above a 200 cm sofa, a 100x140 on its side does exactly that; a single 70x100 covers less and feels even airier – very Japandi. How high? Leave 20–25 cm between the furniture and the bottom of the frame. Japandi furniture is often low, so your art may end up lower than you’re used to. That’s the point: it keeps everything at sitting height, close to the ground. Enter the width of your sofa and see what fits.

Size calculator

What size fits your wall?

Choose the furniture, enter its width and see what fits – with the size, the gap and the height to hang it.

StatementSubtleA pairSquarePicture ledge

100x140 cm · landscape

140 cmwide in total
20 cmabove the sofa
155 cmfloor to centre

One large print that sets the tone – the wall does the talking. Covers about 70% of the sofa’s width.

Shop 100x140 posters Five gallery wall layouts →

Based on our hanging guide: 20–25 cm above the furniture, 6 cm between frames and the top edge no higher than 210 cm. Standard furniture heights and a 240 cm ceiling.

Japanese prints: the “Ja” in Japandi

Nothing says Japandi faster than a Japanese print, and many classics already come in the right palette: faded indigo, rice-paper beige, soft green and a single dot of red.

Katsushika Hokusai made The Great Wave around 1831 for his series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji; Fine Wind, Clear Morning – the famous red Fuji – is from the same series. Kamisaka Sekka published Momoyogusa, a woodblock-printed book of cranes, waves, hills and flowers, in 1909–1910, and the designs still look startlingly modern. Ohara Koson is a master of small birds on blossoming branches, and Ogawa Kazumasa photographed flowers more than a century ago and had the pictures coloured by hand.

Choosing one: pale backgrounds sit best on light walls, while a dark print turns a beige wall into a gallery. A landscape-format print, like the cranes at the top of this page, is made for a long, low sideboard. Browse all our Japandi posters.

The Great Wave by Katsushika Hokusai, with a white border, in an oak frame above a dark wood desk with a steel desk lamp, a cup and a bent-plywood chair

Peacocks by Ohara Koson, two peacocks on a branch against a peach sky, in an oak frame above a low bed with blue linen bedding, beside a dark hourglass side table and a vase of branches

Japanese Robe by Watanabe Seitei, a patterned kimono on an orange ground, in an oak frame on a grey wall above a walnut desk by a window, with a white arch lamp and an orange book

Frames, leaning and a little asymmetry

Let the wood do the talking. Oak is the natural Japandi frame: light, warm and the same family as the furniture. Black suits ink drawings and darker woodblock prints, and dark oak adds depth to a room with walnut or smoked wood. Many of our Japanese prints have a pale border printed around the motif, so they look mounted even without a mat board – but if you want one, here’s everything you need to know about mat boards.

Lean it. Low furniture practically asks for it. A frame resting on the floor beside a lounge chair, on a bench or on a deep windowsill looks unforced, and it’s easy to swap when the season changes.

Go off-centre. Japanese design loves balance without symmetry. Hang a print to one side of the sideboard and let a lamp or a tall vase hold the other side, or pair a big frame with a small one and line up their bottom edges. Four layouts, drawn to scale above a 160 cm sideboard:

One big print

A single 70x100 in the middle, with plenty of bare wall on both sides and nothing competing for attention.

Off-centre

One 50x70 hung right of centre. Put a lamp or a tall vase on the empty side to balance it.

Big and small

A 50x70 and a 30x40 with their bottom edges in line and 6 cm between them. Relaxed, but not random.

A staggered pair

Two 30x40 at different heights, like stepping stones. Or hang one and lean the other below it.

Motifs for a Japandi wall

Japanese classics, flowers and birds, ink and line, or earthy abstracts: four directions with the same quiet mood. Mixing two of them is very Japandi – a woodblock print next to a textured abstract, for instance – as long as the colours stay in the same family.

Japanese classics

Hokusai’s red Fuji, a parade of cranes and Sekka’s soft green hills. Old masters with the calm already built in.

Fine Wind, Clear Morning by Katsushika Hokusai

Japanese Red Crown Cranes by Ogata Korin

Green Mountains from Momoyogusa by Kamisaka Sekka

Flowers and birds

Lotus, cherry blossom and irises: nature brought indoors one branch at a time.

Lotus Flowers by Ogawa Kazumasa

Tits on Cherry Branch by Ohara Koson

Irises by Kogyo Tsukioka

Ink, line and zen

A paper crane, a raked sand garden and a stamped crest. Simple shapes that do a lot with very little.

The Orizuru

Zen Circles

Woodblock Print Grey by Taguchi Tomoki

Earthy abstracts

Sand, clay and stone in soft layers – the Scandinavian side of Japandi, and lovely next to a Japanese print.

Textured Harmony

Abstract Movement

Gradient

Ready-made Japandi walls

Rather have the pairing done for you? These walls from our inspiration pages were made for this look – one to hang and lean, a group of four above a sofa and a soft pink trio – with every print and size in one place.

Woodblock Print Black by Taguchi Tomoki in an oak frame on a pale wall, with White Iris Kaempferi by Ogawa Kazumasa leaning on a light wooden bench below it

Four prints in oak frames above a curved cream bouclé sofa: sparrows on a snowy berry bush by Ohara Koson in the middle, with Woodblock Print Tigers, Snow from Momoyogusa and Dried Tulip around it

Three Japanese prints in oak frames above a beige sofa: Pink Sky and Japanese Cranes stacked on the left, Lotus Flowers by Ogawa Kazumasa on the right

Japandi practicalities

Paper and sunlight: a calm Japandi room is often the brightest one too. Our posters are printed on archival-quality paper that won’t yellow over time; keep them out of hours of direct sun and the colours stay fresh for longer.
Reflections: our frames have light, shatter-free polystyrene glazing, which reflects light like any glazing does. With a window opposite, hold the frame up before you drill and check the view from the sofa.
Mixing wood tones: an oak frame on a walnut sideboard looks deliberate when each tone appears at least twice in the room – a bowl, a stool, a lamp base.
No drilling: lean frames, or use adhesive strips – see our step-by-step guide to Tesa Powerstrips. A picture ledge needs screws only once; ours are 70 cm long in oak, black and white.

What is Japandi wall art?

Wall art that combines Japanese calm with Scandinavian warmth: muted earth tones, simple lines, natural textures and nature motifs. Japanese woodblock prints, ink-style abstracts and quiet landscape photos are typical, usually as one or two larger pieces with plenty of empty wall around them, in oak or black frames.

What colours work for Japandi wall art?

Muted, earthy colours: sand, beige, clay, moss green, stone grey and ink black, with at most one stronger accent such as indigo or a small red sun. Take your cue from the wood, linen and ceramics already in the room and the art will look as if it belongs there.

Which frames suit a Japandi interior?

Oak is the classic choice because it matches light wood furniture. Black works for ink drawings and darker prints, and dark oak suits rooms with walnut or smoked wood. Keep the frames slim and stick to one or two frame colours per room.

How many pictures should go on a Japandi wall?

Fewer than you think. One large print or a pair is usually enough above a sofa or sideboard. If you want more, lean a smaller frame on a bench or shelf rather than filling the wall.

Can I mix Japanese prints with Scandinavian art?

Yes – that’s the whole idea of Japandi. Pair a woodblock print with an earthy abstract or a black-and-white photo, and keep the colours in the same family so the two pieces feel related.

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