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. 

Up-cycling a hand-basin bench

Remember how we were lucky enough to receive some free timber and sliding doors from a neighbor who was demolishing her old kura-storehouse? Well take a look at what we used some of the timber for in our small toilet area.
Since we are into recycling and up-cycling whatever we can on our DIY projects, my husband suggested that he could use some of the timber to cut a small wooden bench that could fit alongside the hand basin.

The area is quite small, so he cut the timber at an angle for ease of movement. I sanded it and then gave the bench two coats of clear varnish. It's just enough to fit a hand soap bottle, which is good because we are going for the simplified look. 

The old tap has seen better days, so we searched and found this little brass beauty!

Once we fit the vertical panels to cover over the hole in the mud wall and paint the area, I'll share the results with you. This small toilet area is slowly, but surely coming together. 

A piece of history farewelled

Across the paddock from Obanchan chi's a neighbor had a very old, but beautiful Kura, which are traditional storehouses in Japan. They were/are used to house rice and household treasures. Despite being constructed of mud walls and bamboo sticks for bracing, they were defininatly made strong and to last. Our neighbor told us that her kura dated back to the Edo period.　　　　　　　　　
　　　　　　　　　　　　　

So on one particular day as we were working on our toilet area we noticed the roof tiles being removed. I thought they were just removing them to re-fit them, but sadly unbeknowns to us we noticed later in the day that they were pulling down this historical beauty! 
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

The neighbor told us that the storage shed behind the kura was leaning over too much and with the possibility of it falling on her house, she didn't want to take the risk. So sadly the storage shed and kura had to go. 

Not one to miss an opportunity we walked over to see if we could perhaps score some timber when we noticed some treasures just at the entrance.

If you look very, very closely on the right hand side of the entrance you will see a brown sliding door.

Ok, it's hard to see...but look, these are the beauties we heaved back to Obachan chi's.

          

Isn't the lock impressive!

                                   
The demo guy said we could have whatever we wanted but that we had to remove it ourselves. So armed with our safety boots and gloves we heaved these very heavy, but oh so beautiful doors back to Obachan's. We also picked up some planks of wood that can be re-used for the exterior of Obachan's, where the corrugated iron has rusted. 
We haven't completely decided where the doors will be fitted. Maybe one could be a storm shutter encasement and the other featured somewhere inside the house. 

One afternoon we took a stroll around Obachan's local town and we found a wonderful example for what we could possibly do with these beautiful doors. This is a newly opened restaurant (that was previously a kimono shop) that has used the kura door as their main entrance. I love how they have fitted an open glass window to the side. We also noticed that they may have re-sized the door, as they would be pretty heavy doors to slide open. Food for thought....

            

As we walked on further we discovered more of these doors, in their original state as doors to a kura that sits just behind what was once another larger kimono shop in the town. 

We feel very fortunate that we rescued a little part of history and wished we had of saved some more treasures that day, but these demo guys work fast. 

So after being in the heat and feeling sticky and hot, its time for a relaxing onsen....near the beach!  

P.S You may have noticed that I have started an Instragram account, so follow along as I capture moments in Izu.

No more rattles!

The entrance to Obachan's little humble abode consists of two sliding doors with glass panels....that rattle. Each time we slide the door open the sound of the glass rattling drives me crazy, so one afternoon I did something about it. 

You can see that Obachan used tape to possibly secure the glass to the frame and to keep the cold winter winds out. The tape has been there for decades I would say, so my initial task was to pull it off and then scrap off the residue glue. Not an enjoyable job, but  it wasn't so bad.

Once I had all the dried up tape off and gave the glass panels a wipe over, I used a sealant to lock each panel into place. Anyone who has used sealant will know that it is messy job, and that less is definitely more! I used a wet finger on each edge to wipe over the line of sealant for a smooth look and to press it into the timber.

And guess what? No more rattles! 

The weather has been pretty good in Izu, so we've been enjoying the nearby beaches. Time for an afternoon dip!