-
Green & more green
I have been neglecting my grass cutting, as Shimizu-san reminded me when he stopped by 555 on Friday. He isn’t wrong. It’s been a couple of weeks and the weeds grow wildly fast. The sugina (pictured above) has taken over a lot of the spaces. So today I made an effort to tidy things up,…
-
Closet doors
This week, I got the quotations for building the closet in the bedroom, which is also the main wall in the doma. The total was a bit over a million yen (about $7,500) and half of that was for the set of doors we’d need. It was a big quote for those doors. I didn’t…
-
Wood: raw or finished?
I am not sure why, but everyone on the project is telling me not to finish the raw wood. Not the floors, not the windowsills, and not the exterior. I didn’t listen to them about the exterior and it turned out quite gloriously with the kakishibu. I am definitely not touching the massive 2F ceiling.…
-
I see white plastic…
…and I want to paint it black. The exterior house light that I liked the best (or disliked the least, I suppose) only came in white. But with primer and paint, I fixed it. Now it looks better and I won’t cringe when I walk under it every day. I take on projects when visual…
-
Kitchen Installation Day
It’s finally here! The kitchen, which transformed in concept multiple times over the last two years has finally been installed. From the beginning of the process, the kitchen has been a challenge. First figuring out a layout – and even where in the house it would be. Ironically, it ended up in the place I…
-
Doma floor
Sooner than I thought, we’ll see a big change in the doma. Later this week, the finishing concrete will go in to cover the rough edges of raw concrete from the foundation. On top of that, I will do the tiling. In past conversations, I was told that the floor would be a bit higher…
-
Staircase
Sixteen months ago, I agonised over stairs. I once had a painful tumble down a steep Japanese staircase and I didn’t want that type of traditional stairs in my house. So I learned learned all about rise and run. Did the math. Built models in cardboard. Figured out how staircases fit into the volume of…
-
Busy Friday at 555
Two carpenters, two electricians and I spent a productive day on site yesterday. Mr. Sasaki framed out walls and ceilings and hung plasterboard in the hall. Team Araoka pulled the 200 V cables; set the wiring for the vanity lamps, and worked on the track rails. Sasaki-san hand carved channels for the stairs. I mostly…
-
OMG, not enough tiles
Today I was feeling healthy, strong, and motivated enough to sort the tile mines so I can start working on a tile pattern for the doma. I found all the tiles that are 13mm thick, moved them into fresh piles, and counted them. Here’s my inventory: This should cover somewhere between 9.8 and 12.8 square…
-
Wallpaper & materials
In Japan, paper is the wall covering of choice. Paint is less common because painted walls show minor earthquake damage more easily than wallpaper. Also, because paint is done less frequently, the tape and putty used on drywall isn’t as fine or tapered as it is in the US, for example. So wallpaper is the…
Archives