A Place to Meditate

This is a typical layout of a 4 and a half tatami mat room used primarily for meditation in a downtown condominium apartment. In keeping with the multi-function use of a tatami mat room, a foldable zaisu is the only piece of furniture in use, small and light so it can be easily removed.

Notable Quotes for a Minimalist Life

The world has enough to satisfy everyone's needs, but not everybody's greed. - Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Only after the last tree
Has been cut down,
Only after the last river
Has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish
Has been caught,
Only then
Will you find
That money cannot be eaten.

Tatami Mats in the Basement !

Tatami mats should generally not be placed on concrete floors in moist basements, but in this finished basement, they look perfectly placed to turn the basement into a multi-functional space. Thanks to SE for the pics. Toronto, ON.

Japanese restaurant with tatami mats

A tatami room in Quebec

Traditional Japanese tatami mats will probably not fit most rooms in North America. However, a little creativity as in this example highlights the tatami mats as the centre-piece of the room. Unlike Japanese homes, most North American homes are centrally heated, and air vents are optimally placed on floors so that hot air may circulate upwards. The slight elevation also provides emphasis on the status of the tatami flooring, so that even strangers will hesistate before stepping on it, as if it required a different protocol.

A very cosy little Hanare in the Beaches, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

A Hanare is Japanese for an outbuilding.

The Tea Room at The Royal Ontario Musuem