It's very tall! (and has a bathroom!)

Hi everyone. A quick midweek update as Yuko and I went to the house on Sunday and there have been a few developments. I had my annual health check at work today and so have a stomach full of delicious barium. Yummy.

Anyway, mid-morning on Sunday we decided to head over to the house in the car and see what was new. This time, before going inside, we decided to wander around the outside of the house since the blue sheet has been taken away and there is more space to walk. The first thing we were struck by is how tall the house is! On paper we knew it was 8 meters high, give-or-take, but standing at the base and looking up from the outside was really impressive! "たけ！！！", Yuko said. "It's tall!!".

On the side of the house each window now also has a kind of protruding "mini roof"  at the top to protect it from the rain. It's these little details that we didn't really think about at any stage or didn't pick up in the plans that just appear on the house and give us a kind of nice surprise. I nearly stabbed myself in the eye on the corner of the one at the back of the house next to the bathroom so that will be something to bear in mind should I decide to start running around the house in future (unlikely).

It was also nice to see the deck space properly from the outside, the dark-stained roof of which we particularly love. Whereas the inside of the house looks modern with lots of light-toned natural wood, the roof over the deck looks like it could have been there for hundreds of years. I think it will be a cosy place to shelter when it's raining outside but we want some fresh air and I can imagine sitting and reading a book here with a cup of coffee while the rain falls over the garden.

Inside there has been more insulation going in everywhere and a few more of the vertical studs that will eventually be walls have gone in too. Downstairs, the biggest change is that the bathroom has been installed. Since the window and door glass panes are protected with cardboard, we couldn't see inside the bathroom without opening the door. I'll be honest, it was pretty exciting to see inside it for the first time.

Unfortunately, that excitement was quickly tempered as we were greeted with one of the most horrendous smells I have ever had the misfortune to experience. The various glues and pastes used to fix the shower and bath unit together appear to have been trapped inside the bathroom and opening the door unleashed hell on the both of us. I hope it can be ventilated before we move in!

Holding our noses, we were at least able to see the blue wall that we had both liked and the position of the LED downlights and rainfall shower (which looks brilliant). Although the bathroom is small, we've ended up with something that looks pretty decent I think. The colour scheme is good and it has everything we need. Perhaps we should have gone for a slightly bigger window? Maybe we could have made another room a bit smaller and had a slightly bigger space here? I'm not convinced it would have been worth it, to be honest. I think overall we're pretty happy.

Upstairs there has also been some progress in that the floors have been overboarded with a thicker, smoother layer. Surprisingly, this change (even though the floors will eventually have wooden boards on top) has made quite a visual difference. Because it is smooth and uniform, you get a better flow from area to area and it feels more solid underfoot. I have said before that the whole place is starting to feel like a house but upstairs feels like it's a sofa and two chairs away from being ready! Of course this is ridiculous as there is no kitchen and not even all the walls are finished but we couldn't help but have the feeling that we are onto the final stretch.

Anyway. that's all for this entry as it has already ended up being longer than I had expected. Oops. We will probably head over to the house on Sunday and see what has changed this week. Speak soon!

From the base to the roof 1 

From the base to the roof 2

From the base to the roof 3

Window compete with mini-roof

Deck, still complete with pile of wood and sheet

Roof over deck with dark stain

Insulation everywhere!

Insulation around pipes in the laundry room

Kids room really taking shape

Living room upstairs, now complete with smooth floor

Living room from the other direction. Love the open space

Outside of the bathroom

Rain shower!

Blue wall of the bathroom. Sorry it was too smelly to stay in and take better pictures

Which Washi?

Greetings from a very rainy Osaka. It's been a busy week and a half since I last managed to get a post up. Sadly, Japan are no longer in the Rugby World Cup after losing to South Africa last Sunday. I hope that the rugby fever that has been everywhere in Japan over the last few weeks will continue long after the tournament finishes, especially given that Osaka and, in particular, East Osaka is the home of rugby in Japan. In fact, our new house is only about a 40-minute walk from the national stadium.

We had a house meeting last Saturday, mainly to inform the builders of our final sizings for the bar, the kitchen and the shokkidana. We ended up moving the bar counter height from 85cm to 75cm in order to make the three upper shelves a bit further apart. Having re-measured some of our bottles, we figured this would give us a bit more flexibility and that, on balance, this was more important than the counter height.

We also ended up reducing the height above the more open part of the shokkidana and bringing the top cabinets down a bit. This will help Yuko, who is the height of a small child, reach things at the top whilst still giving us enough space above the microwave for ventilation. We specified a few changes to the kitchen including a kind of floating drawer in the tallest cabinet so we can make best use of its height.

We also chose the handles for the kitchen which will be 9mm wrought iron and should match really well with the dark grey granite counter we have chosen. (They are made by a local Osaka company and you can see pictures here.) Judging by the reaction, I think our architect was very impressed with the choice!

The final choice that we had to make was for the washi wallpaper for the Japanese room. Although it is traditional to use sand or mud mixes in a kind of wattle and daub technique, in recent years wallpaper made of Japanese washi paper has become much more popular due to its ease of installation and cheaper cost. Using this paper does not, however, absolve us of a big decision to make - colour.

At the previous meeting we were given two large folders containing washi samples. When we got home, we had excitedly looked at the various options and then put the folders away, not opening them again until the night before (pretty standard procedure). We actually resumed discussions at 11pm the night before the meeting which was less than ideal in terms of timing.

The first big decision was whether to contrast with the living room or not. Doing so would create a more separate space, whereas not doing so would potentially make the living room seem bigger. However, since the walls in the living room are going to be pure white, we would have to have the same in the the Japanese room, which neither of us were keen on. We both agreed that the space would be better if it were a little separate and cosier so we decided to choose a colour. 

Initially I had suggested moss green but Yuko was less keen and preferred some of the light beige options. I liked the light beige options but was a bit concerned that they were too light and would look too similar to the white walls of the living room. We ended up settling on some darker yellow-ish brown options as we felt they would match well with the light wood around the room and the inside window frames (which in this room only are light wood coloured rather than white). We agreed this subject to asking for some advice at the meeting the next day.

At the meeting, we joked about the fact that we have weeks to make these decisions but always end up turning up to the meetings without a definitive choice. We were kindly assured that this is, in fact, not uncommon. The architect thought we had chosen pretty well, before adding that moss green would also look nice. My eyes lit up, of course, that having been my initial choice. Yuko took another look at the green and said, "ok, let's do that!" so we are having light green walls after all. 

Hopefully, the different coloured walls should give the room a peaceful, cosy atmosphere, especially since most Japanese guests will be sleeping in there. Equally, the room won't always be a stark contrast to the living room as we can use the fusuma doors to close off the space. We decided to use white paper for these to match the living room so that the 'wall of doors' blends in as much as possible.

After the brief meeting, we had a quick trip up to the house to look around. Progress is still pretty steady but unfortunately we are not going to be in for Christmas. Disappointing but can't be helped I guess. At any rate, December should fly by with Mum's visit (now involving some travel round Japan) and then New Year down in Hiroshima and then a move-in date of sometime towards the end of January.

Finally, we were able to clear up the mystery wooden triangles from the photos last time. They were not in fact parts of staircase but rather the frame for the roof deck, the outsides of which are now bolted onto the roof. We were surprised to be able to head out there, this time via the loft space above the Japanese room and some temporary steps out through the top windows (to which the staircase will lead). Heading up and out there was an awesome experience and the views were spectacular. I can't wait until this is all finished!

That's it for this week. I'm hoping to get over to the house this Sunday and see how things have progressed. There's been so much rain this week so I'm not sure if they've managed to get a full 6 days of work in. Nevertheless, I'll get the pictures up as soon as possible when I have them. 

The paper for the Japanese room. LHS is for fusuma doors. RHS for the walls

Dark staining under the roof overhand above the wood deck. The uprights will be stained the same colour

Insulation above doors in the master bedroom. 

The mysterious wooden structures, revealed to be roof balcony frame

Looking back from the roof balcony through the access doors/windows. Getting in and out was really easy, even without a staircase yet

Chimney from the wood stove next to the edge of the roof balcony. Servicing this should be pretty easy 

View up the mountain from the roof balcony

View from the top of the staircase out onto what will be the roof balcony

Living room viewed from the loft space above the Japanese room (this was how we accessed the roof balcony)

Loft area above the Japanese room. Even Yuko can't stand up in here!

View of the living room from the loft area above the Japanese room

Starting to mark out where the walls will be. We have a kind of skirting that goes around the top of the room, bringing the walls in about 65cm. The living room will be quite different when it is in. Smaller too :-(

The second floor balcony. Looks a bit like a bathtub!

Stripping Down for the Typhoon

Good morning! That was....errr...quite the weekend. Last night we had the jubilation of watching Japan power past Scotland to make it through the the knockout stages of the Rugby World Cup when, not 24 hours earlier, the whole country was gripped by one of the biggest typhoons in recent memory.

Typhoon Hagibis smashed through Japan through most of Saturday causing widespread devastation and forcing millions to evacuate their homes. To date, 31 people have died and that number is very likely to rise as we start to pick up the pieces. Thoughts are with all friends and family in the affected regions and we wish you all a speedy recovery.

Down in Osaka, we were spared the worst of it although it rained hard all day and there were some serious gusts. Yuko and I spent all day sitting in our apartment binge-watching Grey's Anatomy (I don't know why we started this series - there are 12 seasons and the second appears to have 27 episodes). We also worried about the house a lot. We trusted that the builders had secured it as well as possible but we planned to visit on Sunday morning to go and inspect the damage and see whether any progress had been made (our last visit was 2 weeks ago).

Luckily, when we arrived, the house was still standing and everything else appeared to be ok. The builders had basically removed the sheeting from the outside and tied back the scaffolding covers in order to mitigate the huge gusts of wind. This did however mean that we could actually see the real shape of our house for the first time. Pretty neat!

Sheets pealed back. Our house!

With the steps. You can see the front door at the top (covered in white cardboard for protection)

The big wooden front door is now in place and the site is secured so we got a chance to use the construction key for the first time. It's amazing how such a simple act of climbing the steps and opening your front door can take on so much more significance when you are doing it for the first time and in a house you are building from scratch.

Downstairs, there has been steady progress all over. Still no unit bath and there are still a few walls missing but the floor is now entirely boarded, which makes walking around a million times easier. There is also insulation going in all over the place with construction of a few walls being finished entirely.

Upstairs, there has evidently been a lot of work preparing the walls for insulation, the fitting of which has also begun. In the middle of the room, there were two very hefty sloped wooden things being produced (picture below) which we believe will be the base of some of the staircase, probably to the roof balcony given how steep they appear to be. We're not 100% sure yet what they are so we'll ask when we meet the builders on Saturday.

Stripping away the sheets from the house not only allowed us to see the shape of the house better but also revealed the views that we will get from each window and how much light we will have. I think the house will be very light and airy upstairs and a little darker and cosier downstairs. Given the living arrangements, I think this is a pretty good outcome. We could have built one of those ultra-modern glass boxes you see on Grand Designs but I'm not sure how they would be to live in. 

One thing that both Yuko and I noted is that we seem to have a lot of privacy. None of our windows really look onto anyone else's, despite their proximity to us (this is Japan, after all). This was something we hadn't really thought about but the builders evidently had and it makes a really big difference! They've managed to capture some of the fabulous views we have of the city whilst, at the same time, avoiding Mrs Tanaka's ever-watchful glare.

That's about it for this entry. Will try and get some more pictures this Saturday when we go for the meeting. We'll be finalising furniture sizings and various other bits and pieces. Let's hope the typhoons stay well away from now on.

The infamous black windows, covered by the builders' sign (coincidence?!)

Insulation! I'm not sure what type this is but it looks fluffy.

A completed (I think) wall

Vapor barrier in the ceiling.

Preparation for the Unit Bath to be installed.

Kids room. If divided at some stage, divide will be roughly where the ladder is.

View through the doors of the Master Bedroom across the deck.

View through the study doors across the deck.

View of the kitchen from the living room 

Dining area from the kitchen. Blue sheet still over balcony.

Pantry. Doorway is still wider than it will be eventually.

Japanese tatami room. Window is in (although the mechanism may be broken - need to check this)

A toilet without a toilet

The wall at the north end of the living room. Tatami room begins around the RH edge of the window.

I think this is a staircase?! There are two of these, one on top of the other. Any ideas?

Japanese room on the left. Stairwell on the right with (now much less wobbly) ladder.

Ceiling upstairs. Won't be quite this open in practice but still pretty awesome.