Inside and outside!

I'm trying NOT to go up to the house every day so I can notice something new, but I admit I find myself drawn up there after 2 days. I can't help myself! It's great, though, because I can see so much progress just in two days. Last time, the floors were only halfway completed in my study - now the study is all done and the open living/dining/kitchen is half way done.

They have brought in this guy to help out with the floors - he is a very nice chap, as are they all.

I'm wondering if I should buy them all a set of knee pads or, by now, if they have calloused knees?!

The electrical outlets for the kitchen, up through the floor. These will power the exhaust fan and stove.

Ah, floor. I can't wait to walk barefoot on you!

There was quite a cool ship docked at the harbour today too.

But I digress...

The interior walls are being put in over the insulation. I was quite surprised how thick the board is - very nice!

And the outside has also come along very nicely too.

The front of the house. This goes right up to the gable, but you can't see it here because of the scaffolding. Once all of the siding is completed, the scaffolding will be dismantled, and we'll be able to see it all.

Look up!

Hey! Who's that monkey?!

Siding, take 2!

Today they started putting the siding of the upper part of the house up, and they have also done a lot more work on the floors. Here's some pics.

Stone and wood (eh?)

The siding dude.

The front of the house, from the third level of scaffolding.

Second floor window.

Part of the back of the house.

Also part of the back of the house.

The bathroom/laundry hallway. Sinks will be on the left, stairs on the right, with washing machine cupboard underneath.

Yamada San, laying floor boards in my study.

My study so far!

Ben LOVES the scaffolding. He said, "don't worry, Mum, I'm half monkey!"

The monkey, running on the scaffolding. Can't imagine that being allowed on an Australian building site, but, eh!

Ben Ben.

Flooring

Hello all! Come at you at a rate of knots, these house updates! It's because there are so many things going on - these builders are so fast, I can't blink or I'll miss something.

They have started laying the flooring (and what I mean by that is they are laying it on the floor...oh, forget it...). the floor, as I've mentioned before, is Nara, or Japanese oak (see the previous post on wood types for more info).

The downstairs toilet is the little room off to the right, with the pipe sticking out, and the small hallway.

Close up of the wood.

Also, they look just about done with the bottom half of the siding, which means that they will start on the top half soon, which is a dark wood type of siding. Here's what it looks like at the moment:

The side of the house (bathroom windows).

Top half of one of the front windows (my study) - these open out flat.

the front deck area - the deck will be where from the side sliding door to where the concrete finishes.

The front.

The beautiful carpentry work - there are no nails in this - just perfect cutting, then they are just hammered into place. I have nicknamed the carpenter who is in charge of the traditional Japanese carpentry "Mr Perfect". Santa and Mr Perfect. Who could ask for more?

This is where the 'shoji' of Japanese sliding wooden doors, will go.

This tool is a plumb and a marker - the charcoal on the inside there on the left marks the lines.

Looking into the house from the ocean-side sliding doors (front to back). The kitchen will be up the back, and the space closest will be for lounging about, which I intend to do plenty of...er hem...once the garden is part-way established, of course (notice I didn't say 'done!).

The lounge/dining/kitchen with door out to deck on the left.

The ceiling beams, which I love.

The siding begins...

Well, today we have good news and bad news. The bad news is that our lighting is over budget. BUMMER! We probably can fix it by using cheaper down lights and less of them. There are some parts of our lighting plan I'm not willing to compromise on, so over the next few days, it will be a matter of going through it all again, and all of the catalogues and working out where some corners can be cut. Ugh...

On a good note, though, two of the four sides of the lower part of the house have siding already, and the good news is that we are completely happy with it. Phew! You can't really tell until it gets on the wall, but we're happy to report all that work looking and all the time deciding was worth it.

The back of the house.

The kitchen window, at the back of the house.

The back door, form the kitchen.

The side of the house.

The side of the house. Study and bathroom windows.

Also, the wood work around the inside of the door frames has also been done, and looks beautiful.

The kitchen window, from the inside.

Here's a few more pics of random things...

Figuring out where the antique cabinet and sinks will go - the cabinet will be level with the windows, not marked out as it is here. The sinks will also be a bit higher.

The bottom of the stairs.

This oak cabinet, above what will be the sink upstairs, was given to us as a present by Wantanabe san, the salesman from Santanaka. We love it!

This leads up the the storage area in the roof, which will have a pull down ladder (but not this one!).

That's it for today! W

Builders and organic food

What's the best thing about our builders? It is their carpentry skills? They're flexibility? The fact that they can put up with me? Well, yes, all of those things, but most importantly, they hand deliver organic veggies!

Steaming on the stove as we speak, this corn was grown by the company president (the Shacho), who is an avid organic gardener and star gazer. Can't say fairer than that!

A note on kitchens, balconies and the river between heaven and earth

Well, it's Obon here this weekend - a time when the dead travel back over the river between heaven and earth to visit their relatives. It also marks the first day of being locked out of the house! Noooo!!! I remember once being locked out of the house I was sharing with my Mum, her husband and my sister Jussie in Rose Bay in Sydney - yet again, I had lost my key. It was about 5am and neither my mum, her husband, or my sister could hear me knock. So I crawled up into a little ball on the front door mat and went to sleep. Every now and then, I would give to door a bit of a kick. Nothing. At about 9 am, I stood up, gave to door one more try with a very quiet knock, and all three of them woke up and came to the door. I haven't lost my keys since (touch wood!), so today was the first time I had experienced a lock out in quite some time!

The builders are also taking the next 3 days off for Obon, so I guess that's why they have locked all the doors and boarded up the front (because there's no front door there yet). Gutted!

Well, so anyway, I did get some shots of the balcony, and I even climbed up to the top part of the scaffolding. I thought I might regret it if I don't take a look at the view from the roof at least once. It was a bit wobbly up there, and I might have regretted going up instead, but all is well!

The balcony upstairs - waterproofed. The white and blue paper is what goes under the exterior siding, which will be added soon.

The balcony, looking up to the mountains. Nice place for a morning coffee, what?!

Yama!

The four front windows, with glass. These open out on side hinges and look very nice when open.

The view from the roof. Kinda scary actually!

Locked out, I am reduced to peeping through the window. I am a peeping Willie.

I also thought, as we can't get in to show you other things that are progressing, that I should at least show you the kitchen. We went to almost every major kitchen manufacturer, from the very bottom of the range to the exceedingly expensive and ridiculous (and there was more web surfing and cataloging done that was merely pretend. There is no way we could even afford them, so we just dreamed).  At any rate, we drove all the way to Fukuoka (2 hours away) to check out the Toyo kitchen showroom, because I liked them best from the start. My friend has one, and having spent many an hour eating, cooking and drinking in her kitchen, I believe it was not only strong, easy to use and keep clean, but that it was also the most beautiful. Toyo used to be a stainless steel manufacturer, so it was obvious, after going to almost every other kitchen showroom in Oita City, that Toyo had it all over the competition. The steel gauge was thicker, making them stronger and quieter than any of the others - and they are just stylie!

Also, one thing really bothered me about every other kitchen we looked at: where the FLUB do you put your dishes? As dishwashers in Japan are pokey little silly things, you really need somewhere to put large pots, etc to dry. It's all very well to have a beautiful looking kitchen in a showroom, but once you're at home, with pots, pans and the whole shebang, you really don't want them all over your precious little amount of bench space. Toyo kitchens were the only one to have thought of that - they have a 3D sink, and a thick plate of stainless steel that goes over it, so not only are your dishes hidden, but you also get extra bench space. Genius!

OK, enough of my rave - someone will start to think I'm being paid. But seriously, if you do live in Japan and are thinking of building, I recommend you take a look at Toyo. There's one more reason why I like them - they support designers. They have an amazing line up of furniture as well that perhaps one day I'll be able to get my hands on!

This is the Bay model. We are getting a 270cm-long island version, a little like this one:

Toyo Kitchens - Bay Island

 We are getting the dark wood version, which looks like this, but with the long handles above:

Click here to watch a video on the 3D sink. It's only in Japanese, but is still interesting if you can't understand Japanese.

We are only buying the island. The back wall of the kitchen will be cupboards made by the builder's carpenters.

Well, happy holidays everyone. We're off down the coast on Monday to a place that's reportedly just like Okinawa. Can't wait! Must get back to my dissertation so I deserve it!

W; )