Some homes have a place that asks you to slow down, a spot where nothing is trying to get your attention and you can simply sit. It does not need a spare room. It needs a decision. This article looks at an old idea from Japanese homes, what research says about looking at nature, and how to make a quiet corner of your own with very little.
In short · 5 min read
- A quiet corner is a small, deliberate place, not a spare room.
- The Japanese tokonoma shows the idea: one alcove, one thing to look at, changed with the seasons.
- A 2008 study found that looking at nature, even in pictures, helped directed attention.
- All you need is a seat, a soft light and one piece of Wall Art, from €49.
The alcove · What looking at nature does · Making the corner · Choosing the piece
The alcove
In a traditional Japanese room there is a place called the tokonoma: a shallow alcove, slightly raised, where one thing is displayed. Usually a hanging scroll, sometimes with a flower arrangement beside it. It is chosen to suit the season or the occasion, and then it is changed. Guests look at it first, and the rest of the room is arranged so that it is not competing.
What is worth borrowing is not the style. It is the restraint. One place, one thing to look at, and a reason it is there.
A quiet corner does not need to be large. It needs to be on purpose.
What looking at nature does
In 2008 the researchers Marc Berman, John Jonides and Stephen Kaplan tested what a walk in a park does for attention. Participants who walked through an arboretum did better on a test of directed attention than those who walked down a busy street. In a second experiment, a smaller benefit appeared even when people only looked at photographs of nature.
It is a modest finding and it should be held lightly, but it points in a useful direction. You do not have to leave the house for your attention to rest. A picture of a quiet sky, kept where you will see it, may be a small help.
Making the corner
The practical part is short. Choose a spot away from the busiest path through the home, a corner of a bedroom, the end of a hallway, a window seat. Then keep it simple.
A quiet corner in one evening
- One seat you actually want to sit in, even if it is a plain chair.
- One soft light, a lamp rather than the ceiling light, at the height of your eyes when you sit.
- One piece of Wall Art, hung so the middle of it is at eye level from the seat.
- One word, the Word of Intention that comes with the piece, so the corner has a reason.
- Nothing else on the nearest surface. Leave the space around it empty on purpose.
For hanging height, How High to Hang a Picture, and Who Decided That explains why eye level from a seated position is a different number than from standing.
Choosing the piece
A quiet corner works with one piece rather than a wall of them. Something with space in it helps: a wide sky, a stretch of water, a plain horizon. Indigo Sky is a deep evening sky and comes with the Word Serenity, which makes it a natural fit. It starts at €49 and comes in four frame colours. If the corner is in a bedroom, Wall Art for a Calm Bedroom goes further, and for tight spaces there is Art for Small Spaces.
One thing to look at, changed when the season changes, is enough.
Like the tokonoma, the corner can change. Some people leave a piece up for years. Others swap what is nearby with the seasons, a branch in autumn, a candle in winter. There is no rule. If you later want to build outward, Planning a Gallery Wall shows how.
Sources
- Berman, M. G., Jonides, J. and Kaplan, S. (2008). The cognitive benefits of interacting with nature. Psychological Science, 19(12).
- JAANUS, Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System: tokonoma.
A quiet extension of this idea
Our pieces are built around this principle. A single word, placed so it naturally comes back into your attention during the day. Not something you have to focus on the whole day, just something that stays with you.
