Rock on: Using natural stones for a warm interior

Maria Endah Hulupi, Contributor, Jakarta

Hard, cold and rough looking: That is how we usually consider the humble stone, which we choose to keep outside the home for rock gardens or patios.

But stones can also be used to create a warm living atmosphere, regardless of the interior style of a room.

Inspired by the ancient Japanese art of suiseki, in which naturally formed stones are admired for their beauty and are used as accents in the home, interior designer Iwan Sastrawiguna chose various kinds of natural stones radiating a harmonious relationship between man and nature for a home interior in a Central Jakarta housing complex.

The results are pleasing. Natural stones -- used for flooring, walls and interior accents -- give off natural charm in almost every part of the three-story house, while their coarse looking surfaces provide eye pleasing textures.

In the living room, the designer uses dark gray candi (temple) stone for flooring and a section of the walls, batu sikat (gravel) in the living room and pale beige limestone for the staircase area.

Most rooms in the house are covered with marble floor -- only a small section on the third floor is lined with onyx flooring. The candi stones and other materials are also intermittently used to define different zones of the house and sections in the bedrooms.

Natural stones are also used for accents in the family room, like the stone wall relief -- the designer's interpretation of a Zen garden -- and a big chunk of stone in the master bedroom and the television cabinet on the second floor.

Another natural element is timber, which the designer used to add interesting details of various wooden grains. The material was treated in order to display its natural woodgrains and is found on the railing top, television cabinet, divider top and an interesting collage, made of small, irregular pieces of different timber, for the headboard in the master bedroom.

For the house's interior design, Iwan subtly combined furniture and interior elements of different styles, like art deco, retro and Zen, bringing out the mood of different eras, such the 1920s, 1960s and 1970s, without sacrificing functions or each of the rooms' artistic looks.

"I tried to free myself from modern, minimalist design and wanted to bring out a warm, inviting and colorful interior with maximum display of different styles, details and textures," Iwan said.

The examples can be seen in the family room on the first floor, and the sitting room on the second floor showing a conspicuous Japanese influence. These rooms are equipped with Cubist-style furniture that includes a low wooden table and a wooden television cabinet.

The latter has an eye-catching accent on one end -- a big piece of stone on which stands a dried tree with branches cascading over the television set.

The walls in the sitting room are covered with Japanese vintage wallpaper, except the one behind the TV set which is neatly covered with slabs of andesite to expose its uneven, coarse surface.

Since the room is in the center of the building and receives no outside view and sunlight, the designer added a wavy ceiling to give a little movement and hidden down lights to exude gentle artificial illumination.

"Without the wavy ceiling, the room would look dull because it is surrounded by walls," Iwan said.

The master and children's bedrooms are each equipped with a sitting area, a wardrobe and a bathroom. Here, the stone materials are used sparingly to avoid a heavy impression, although the details and textures are still strongly radiated by objects like a bench with leather woven accent, rattan furniture and a specially designed wall, embellished with small pieces of glass that sparkles when the lights are on.

While most windows in the house are dressed with vertical or wooden blinds, a few are adorned with classic and flamboyant drapes in soft colors.

"The classic style is derived from the building's external expression so it is also reflected in the interior," he explained.

In order to make sure the chosen styles are pleasantly presented and nicely blended together, Iwan carefully chose the colors for the interior from predominantly earthy tones, repeating the use of certain main colors for other fabrics and upholstery as well.

Color, he explained, when used well, can be a "uniting power" that visually glues the interior elements, "... and it does so delicately".

He added that putting too much effort into harmonizing the styles would likely ruin the whole interior design.