Windows, exterior, interior and new sofas...

Hello all!

Exterior first! We've decided on the siding - this is what we chose for the bottom half of the house (sorry - it's a bit of a small sample, but you get the picture...)

Bottom half - large stone block siding.

The two together - dark wood and stone.

Since my last post we have gone out and bought a new sofa. We wanted one for the Japanese room, but have decided to put the one we have now in that room and this new one in the lounge room...AND it was one sale - almost 50% off! Score!

Long enough to have a good lounge around on...

The boys.

Ben's lounging demonstration. Very helpful.

So, unwittingly, we have solved the wallpaper dilemma of the last post. the majority of the house will have a woven wallpaper, like this:

The Japanese room will have the same textured paper, but a slightly different colour - a bit more blue/grey:

The Japanese (tatami) room will have the same weave/texture, but a slightly different colour, to go with the sofa in there. It will also have a blue washi wall behind the TV. The two together will look like this:

By the way, this blog has some amazing fusuma paintings. http://www.traveljournals.net/pictures/112977.html Worth checking out, just for fun! This one is my favourite: http://www.traveljournals.net/pictures/112972.html

So, anyway, back to reality! Here's a few pics of today's progress. I wanted to climb the ladder and take some of the balcony, which has been waterproofed and looks amazing, but the house was full to the brim with plumbers, electricians and carpenters. Next time!

The doors and windows now have their glass - double glazing all the way! This is - thankfully - the last time we have to get through a Japanese summer with single glazing and no insulation!

Plumber on the left, electrician on the right.

The plumber, running pipes to the second floor.

Head carpenter, Yamada san (aka Santa). I think he has a pretty nice office.

The back kitchen window - this will be in between the top and bottom cabinets that are being made by the carpenters on the back wall of the kitchen.

We added a lot of these windows on the back half of the house, because you can leave them open in the rain. Very important in Japan's rainy season, when everything goes mouldy in a lickety split! Air can circulate, but the rain can't get in.

Two of the 3 windows in my study.

One of the carpenters (he's also in the pictures above). It was amazing watching him work this afternoon. Such skill!

Where the front door will be.

View from the road.