The Last of the Summer Updates

It's almost the end of September and still well over 30 degrees down here in Osaka. I'm looking forward to enjoying the three of four days of pleasant autumn weather we get here before the weather turns icy cold and unpleasant once more. As every Japanese person will tell you, Japan has four distinct seasons - what they won't tell you is that the two nice ones only last for about a week!

We've actually been over to the house twice since the last entry, the first time on a Sunday with a friend and then again last Saturday with the builders. The first time I took some pictures but there was no light inside the house so they were a bit difficult to make out. On Saturday I took some slightly better ones so I'll include those below.

Ostensibly, the main purpose of the Saturday meeting was to finally choose the mortar colour for the top part of the house. You may recall that we had asked for it to be brighter, with more of a warm glow. In preparation for the meeting, the head builder had produced another couple of options for us to choose from, each on a 25x25cm wooden board.

Choosing the mortar colour. Our final choice.

I initially erred towards the one on the left hand side, whereas Yuko liked the slightly more muted version on the right. Since the wood with which we are wrapping the bottom part of the house is quite bright itself, I was pretty happy to compromise. Our chief architect nodded approvingly. You will recall that he and I have not always seen eye to eye over design choices so I considered this particular decision process to be a great success!

Inside, a lot of progress had been made, even since our first unofficial visit a week previously. All of the windows are now completely installed and the water piping is all laid ready for delivery of the bathroom and the toilets, both of which should arrive soon. Walls have started going up to the extent that the individual spaces are mostly separate now. There are a few more walls to go in on the downstairs floor but, other than that, it's starting to look like the house we will ultimately live in.

There has been considerable progress upstairs as well. The chimney for the wood stove has been installed and the rooms are also all boxed off and ready to insulate. The biggest change upstairs, however, is that the balcony has now been built and we were able to step outside onto it for the first time. It has a very different atmosphere from the roof terrace above and feels more connected to the inside space. It's less exposed, which makes it seem cosier, although it lacks the panorama views you get from the very top of the house. We really like the space and how it blends with the living room. A good choice.

We were also given the final plans for the bar and the kitchen sideboard that we are having built and given some samples of wallpaper and door siding to choose from. Speaking of doors, the front door will be installed this week which means we will no longer be able to visit the house without a key. Japanese locks are interesting in that they have two 'modes'. The first construction mode requires one shape of key and is used whilst the house is being built. On completion, the lock is then switched over into its living mode and the construction key no longer works. From that point, only the new owners will be able to get in or out.

That's all for this entry. Enjoy the photos. More soon :)

Master Bedroom French doors. We will see the mountains in the distance across the wood deck when the sheets come down.

The master bedroom. Bed will be on the wall on the LHS.

The study. Deck will wrap around to the left from the french doors. Should hopefully give a nice inside/outside feel.

Windows in the study. Note the darker internal frames. All frames in the rest of the house are white internally.

North-South view down the corridor. The walls on one side are not in yet.

View from the balcony on the second floor. You can just see over the house in front.

French doors on the balcony (shine grey colour), The open up wide to create a linked inside/outside space.

No railing yet but this gives a good idea of the size of the balcony upstairs. There is a window behind the blue sheet too.

First bit of chimney for the wood stove. Love the mix of wood and black.

French doors out to the balcony. Gives a lovely view from the living room.

Pantry. The doorway won't be this size as only the RHS part of it has been installed so far.

Kitchen area. The island will be around where the pile of wood is on the RHS.

The living room. Just past the green foam to the right will be the Japanese style room.

Choosing Counter-tops

Hi all. Just a short update as I won't get a chance to see the house itself until Sunday. Sunday is the first Rugby World Cup game in Osaka (Italy v Namibia) and we have tickets for it, so the current plan is to head over to the house in the morning to take a look around before the match. The stadium is only about a 40-minute walk from the house so we'll probably go on foot if the weather is nice.

I did want to put up a quick post to keep the momentum going and also to show one of the changes we made this week, the counter-tops in the laundry room. Actually, we hadn't really thought much about them and had to ask in a recent meeting what they were made of. It turned out they had defaulted to melamine board. We didn't really mind in terms of looks and cost but we were a little worried about how it would fare over time, given the fact that it will probably get water on it pretty often. The room in general is likely to be quite humid as we will use it for drying clothes when it's raining outside.

We asked about other options and tile was suggested, which we thought would be good with water and also a nice textural contrast (the walls are all wooden in this room). I was a little concerned about not having too deep a grout between the tiles in order that the surface could be as smooth and flat as possible. In retrospect, I'm not sure this is such a big deal.

We were given a couple of choices. Larger plain white tiles (either 20cm x 20cm or 30cm x 30cm) or a smaller matte mosaic tile (2.5cm x 2.5cm). We initially chose the larger tiles as we had seen a physical sample, but we decided to look at the mosaics too. We were sent a couple of sample pictures which were quite interesting and also showed the physical structure of the mosaic tiles.

The mosaic tiles. They are clear but matte so you can't really see through them.

The tiles would link to form quite a flat surface due to their shape.

The builders helpfully also gave us some aerial mock-ups of how the counter would look in the room with each type of tile.

The top is the 20cm tile, the bottom is the larger 30cm tile.

The mosaic tile option

It was quite hard to decide so we decided to visit the Osaka showroom of the mosaic tile company and see them in person. The mosaics were really nice to look at, filling with light when exposed to the sunlight outside which created some attractive shadow effects inside the tiles. We realised as well that their small size would make them much stronger and less prone to cracking so we thought they would hold up better potentially than the larger tiles.

In the end, we both agreed that the mosaics were the right choice for us. Let us know what you think!

Lots of Progress

September already! The summer has really flown by and it's been a couple of weeks since the last post. Yuko and I have been in Vietnam for the last week, drinking and eating far too much and having a great time. We got back on Saturday, both rather tired but excited about the next meeting with the builders on site, which was set for the following day. Thankfully the big typhoon that hit Tokyo yesterday avoided the Kansai area so everything was still intact when we arrived.

I have made a few references to the building schedule in this blog but our most recent update had the house being finished just in time for Christmas and my Mum's visit to Japan. We are desperately keen to have Christmas in the new house this year and be out of our tiny apartment once and for all. Unfortunately, the builders let us know recently that, due to a combination of factors, mostly unavoidable ones like weather, this was looking unlikely and they were nearly a month behind schedule. We pushed back on this, indicating that we were understanding but pressing them as far as we possibly could to try and get back on track. Though unable to make any concrete (please god, no more concrete) promises, they are evidently doing all they can.

With that in mind, it was really wonderful to see how much things have progressed in just two weeks. There are new additions all over the place, both upstairs and downstairs. It is really starting to feel more like a house and less like a building site. The exterior boarding for the walls is up and ready for the installation to be installed. The windows are onsite, ready to be fitted. The downstairs plumbing is all in and ready for the bathroom and toilet installation. I'm not sure if this was to be expected or is a responsive increase in pace but we are grateful nonetheless.

Having the boarding on the walls up gives a much clearer idea of the layout of the house and the size of the rooms. One does have to be a little cautious however, as having just boarding to demarcate rooms ignores the fact that real walls are thick and insulated and will the open spaces will reduce in size when walls are completed. The same is true for floors and ceilings which will come up and down respectively when layers and finishes are added.

We also had a couple of decisions to make on Sunday, one of which was the colour of the mortar to coat the exterior of the house. Yuko and I realised about 12 hours before the meeting that we hadn't really discussed this properly and it was already too dark to walk around near our apartment for some inspiration. Oops. 

Though we had previously made a preliminary indication of preference, we couldn't really remember what it was and weren't exactly sure what sort of a choice we were going to be presented with at the meeting either. When the meeting rolled around, we were shown three 30x30cm boards, each with different shades of greyish, yellowish mortar and asked which one we liked the best. 

The good news was that we liked the same one. However, I felt that it needed to be a bit more yellow-hued. This was hard to explain so I used words like 'sunny' and 'warm' which didn't really help. Then I had a brainwave. I excitedly referenced another house that our builders had built in the area that, from memory, was exactly what I had in mind. When we checked on our phones, it transpired that this house was in fact bright yellow and not covered in mortar at all. Another shining example of how a less-than-stellar memory and unbridled confidence gets you nowhere. Bemused, they agreed to knock up a slightly more yellow mortar sample for us. To be continued I guess.. 

The other decision was what to do with the shelving in the Japanese room. It was originally planned to be the same height as the low window (about 55cm) but we had changed the room design to feature a tokonoma (See here) in the corner and the architects felt that the shelving as originally planned might no longer fit and that a lower shelf might be appropriate. We couldn't really decide what to do so opted to remove the shelving completely and figure it out once we have moved in - flexibility and a cost reduction in one fell swoop! Marvellous.

That was about it for the meeting. It was hot so the builders supplied cold drinks and offered apologies for the construction delay, stating that (again, no promises) they were doing everything they could to catch up. We were grateful for this and I suppose should count ourselves lucky that 18 months since starting this project, we still have a really strong working relationship with them. We still look forward to meetings, discussing progress and changes with them. The house they are building is shaping up so, so nicely. Only a few more months to wait!

And finally, what I'm sure you all came here for - some pictures!

Hallway leading to kids bedroom (LHS) and master bedroom (RHS)

Piles of wood (I believe for under the flooring) and insulation

Laundry room (viewed through what will be the downstairs toilet). Window and back door ready to go in

Master bedroom with large French doors opening, frame for which is on RHS

Outside wall sheeting is now all in, ready for insulation

The infamous pair of black windows

View through the French doors of the study

The north-south corridor running the length of the house

The bathroom. Plumbed, and ready to be installed. Love the long window!

Laundry room plumbing. Red for hot and Blue for cold. Will house a small window. Back door is on the LHS in the corridor

Piles and piles of insulation. Ours is made by Styro Ace.

Moisture barrier boarding on the outside of the house.

The SW corner of the building. Will house the wine cellar (like a big fridge)

The Japanese room. Not sure why there is still a big hole in the wall on the LHS. There's going to be a window towards the top but it's not that big!

North wall of the house upstairs. Wood burner will go on LHS in the corner. TV somewhere in the middle. Balcony is on the far LHS (still covered in blue sheet)

What will be the staircase. Ladder is now considerably more stable!

Upstairs toilet

View along the kitchen through to the pantry. Pantry doorway will be narrower when the LHS is added.