Less is more
Spaniard Borja Tena Prado has turned his Beijing apartment into the perfect bachelor pad.
The penthouse apartment on the Upper East Side of the Lido area is just 10 minutes from Sanlitun and has a spacious rooftop terrace that must be perfect for parties.
The 30-year-old man, who works for a car company in the capital, studied design and engineering in England and Germany.
"Although I don't work as a designer in Beijing, I practice what I've learnt in my apartment." Tena said.
"I have been very lucky finding this place.
"The area was newly built when I moved in and I have been able to stamp my mark. I hope I am able to make it even more beautiful in the coming years."
He rented the apartment two years ago, and the first thing that grabs the visitor's attention is the Ferrari red cloth on the pool table. It provides a strong contrast to the white wall on its left.
On the right, there's a red wall, near stairs that lead to the roof terrace. A side table next to the main door is adorned with small candles and ideally placed to throw the car keys.
The red color gives the living room a relaxing atmosphere, but the mood changes as light breaks in from the window on other side of the room.
In addition, Tena has chosen a leather sofa in different shades of brown, and a leather couch in ivory white. The furniture is bought in Beijing."You can find unique furniture pieces and mix them up," said Tena.
"I have tried to mix white and brown in the lounge with quality leather. This gives the room a luxurious feel."
Situated on the top floor of an 11-story building, the apartment feels like a boutique hotel. It has floor to ceiling windows that also make up part of the roof, and offer stunning views of Chaoyang Park and at night, of the stars.
"At night I can lie on the sofa and look at the stars," Tena said. "Having this view over the park calms me down. I can chill out and take time away from Beijing's concrete jungle."
Among other unique features is a large banana tree, purchased from Laitai flower and plant market, that consumes an entire corner of the lounge room. A piece of carved teca wood from Bali is placed on the floor next to the tree.
"I wanted to have an exotic piece, this was basically the tallest and coolest plant the market had. I can eat the bananas, they are very sweet," Tena said. "The teca wood not only makes the plant look good, but also protects the floor by catching the water and tree leaves," Tena said.
Among other personal touches is a plastic doll made by Tena's friend, Spanish artist Judas Arrieta, on the glass stairs leading to the terrace.
He said he purposely chose not to hang any pictures on the white walls, but will soon have a painting of the sunset arrive from Spain.
"I like the motto, 'less is more'. I like clear walls and clean floors. I have pictures but not on display," Tena said.
There is also minimal decoration in Tena's bedroom, which features only a bed, two Chinese traditional chairs and a red Chinese-style drawer, on top of which is placed a Swedish Ericsson telephone from the 1960s - a gift from Tena's grandmother.
How to decorate your apartment
METRO reporter Alexandra Leyton Espinoza asks Borja Tena Prado for tips on how to decorate a flat.
What are the rules about colors?
Try to make contrasts by mixing white or cream tones with darker tones. Use colors to define desired and diverse ambience. Shiny, metallic and golden insertions on furniture are a big no-no.
Should I mix styles or follow a pattern? Can you mix modern furniture with traditional ones?
Yes, fusion of contemporary furniture and traditional Chinese patterns and antiques is quite cool. This is the choice I made for designing and decorating my apartment.
How do I create more space and light in a small room?
Make sure you make the most out of the corners in your apartment, measure carefully the space to perfectly fit in your furniture and maximize space.
Spot lighting and indirect lighting as well as dimming functions can achieve a warmer atmosphere in living rooms.
How do I create an open environment?
Avoid walls, use glass to replace walls if there must be a partition, and use different colors in the walls to define different ambiances.
Just like I did it in my living room. That gives you the feeling of entering two rooms instead of one.
What is the golden rule in styling a flat?
Keeping it simple is my tip for avoiding a feeling of overload or an overall appearance of a room being tacky.
Other tips on how to make your home more environmentally friendly?
Yes, I have.
First, try to avoid artificial wood in your furniture. Avoid furniture with electronic mechanism, like sofas that need batteries or electricity.
Second, change habits and frequently clean dust-collecting items in your room, like the books that you don't read any more.
Third, try to avoid too many electronic products.
Last, use energy-saving yellow-light bulbs.
Refined lines for Chinese tastes
When the Swedish furniture giant Ikea first opened its shop in Beijing in 1999, it hoped Beijingers would embrace its Scandinavian style of minimalism. It achieved its goal.
Danish freelance furniture designer Thomas Winther-Rasmussen, 33, said it's the emphasis of light in the rooms that makes Scandinavian design and furniture different from others.
In Scandinavia, it gets dark many hours earlier in winter while in summer the night shortens.
Furniture in a typical Scandinavian home reflects this. The furniture would be made of blond woods, like beech, ash, pine and oak, instead of dark woods often used in southern European countries. And the fabrics are natural materials, like linen and cotton.
Winther said the expression "Scandinavian design" is just a marketing term.
It refers to a certain design movement in Scandinavia that started in the 1950s.
It is also a kind of democratization of furniture with the aim of making the well-designed furniture available to the masses, he said, adding "something that IKEA in Sweden and FDB furniture in Denmark have adopted".
The design of the furniture would generally be light-colored, airy and minimalist with sleek lines and little decoration.
"The designs are created out of a simple basic idea," Winther said.
"For example, a chair, the designer has an idea for the construction and way of sitting, and then he would work with the lines of the chair to achieve this lightness and simplicity."
Classic Scandinavian furniture designers are generally craftsmen who have a very good feeling for the structural capabilities and the quality of the wood.
"This approach is part of reason why the Scandinavian designs stay so timeless," he said.
Winther also believes that the ideas behind the Scandinavian design reflect the Scandinavian society.
"We are quite open, with democracy and relatively little corruption," he said.
"I believe the simplicity, honesty and lightness of our furniture reflects the designers' progressive thinking and liberation of the mind."
While some Chinese buy famous Danish designer Arne Jakobsen's egg chair at 100,000-120,000 yuan each, some Chinese people prefer Italian or French styles.
Winther believes that Chinese people tend to look for something that is more elaborate and with more decoration.
"There is still no real appreciation of the basic and natural among Chinese," he said.
"But maybe Ikea will change that."