Find a new hangout!

The toilet area in all honesty was an area that I initially avoided. It was the place where the spiders hung out. It was also painted a shade of blue, that made it all the more sad and in need of a facelift. 

BEFORE

So the first job was to remove the urainal which then created a big hole on the wall, because it was attached to a mud wall. 

We covered it over with some vertical boards, by up-cycling the old toilet door. Before you start thinking....but don't you need the door? It had two doors with one leading off the engawa (short hallway) and then one separating the basin area from the toilet, which we felt we could do without.

Now for the fun part...painting! I firstly had to vacuum all the dirt, dust, cobwebs and old hornets nests away and then I wiped the walls over with warm soapy water. To begin, I simply then started cutting in with my small paint brush and used the same roller brush to paint the walls. As I was painting I thought it wouldn't take too long considering it is a small area, but the ceiling was a bit fiddly and I really didn't want to miss painting any blue parts, so I took my time. 

My enthusiastic assistant was more than willing to give the roller brush a try! 

                                      

Then I sanded the floorboards and prepared it for painting. I know the sanding looks a bit rough, but the sander that was loaned to us wasn't the easiest to work with on a pine floor. 

The local area is very famous for Namakokabe. I shared this with you here. So in reference to the areas traditional architectural colours I wanted to use black and white in the toilet area. When I initially started painting the floor I was a little concerned that it felt drab, but once my assistant and I were finished painting we were happy with the results. 

I've only done one coat here, but so far so good!

I think a new lick of paint to freshen up this area makes all the difference. I was hoping that the paint smell and colour would communicate to the huge spiders that they need to find a new hang out, but just as I said that one was found on the toilet floor! Oh well, I'm told this variety of spider makes your cockroach problem non-existent, and so far we actually haven't seen any around. But boy are the spiders big around here!

 So again, this is what we started with in the toilet.....  

BEFORE

AFTER

So what do you think? Looks better, right?! It's been an enjoyable process refreshening this small area and I think we gave it some love. I painted out the grey drain pipe white, added a fun hand towel and re-purposed an old tea cup into a vase that I had found in Obachan's old kitchen.

                                      

                                                               

 But I definitely think it's time for that onsen, I can hear it calling my name right about now.