Mar 27, 20202 min read

The House (before pictures)

We hope to transform our countryside house into a beautiful space to enjoy the simple life.

I thought before we completely transform the place, I would show photos of how the place looks currently. We have a long ways to go before we can live here comfortably but we are determined to make it beautiful once again! The above photo is of the back of the house and sheds. As you can see, one shed in getting attacked by ivy.

This shed is filled with junk and is falling apart. We plan to let the ivy do its work and clean up later.

Here is the Naiya shed (located right next to the main living space) which was originally used as housing for the employees back when the family ran the timber business. It has kept surprisingly very dry but is filled with junk. We hope that once the main house is finished we can convert this space as well.

Moving on from the Naiya, there is a passage separating it from the main house. Here, there is a very old water heater that does not work and will need to get replaced. There are also toilets that give me the creeps and I'm not even sure they still work...

More junk...

Here is what I would call a mud room. Not too bad but there are some water stains on the walls.

This is the front room or Omote. This space is where we spend most of our time and enjoying the view. The tatami is very old and we would like to replace it soon. Notice the craftsmanship above the fusuma doors. This space is still very nice but eventually we will replace the doors and tatami!

There is one bedroom on the first floor. We will have to redo the walls and replace furniture...

The bathroom works perfect but needs some help with aesthetics....

This common space is nice. Kanae put new wood floors in :)

Onto the kitchen space: This kitchen was modified for my great grandmother so everything is very low. My dream is to create a big kitchen space where many people can enjoy cooking together! Maybe a more industrial look will look nice...

I'm not really sure what this space is... It's got a broken washing machine, a sink, and my cousins drums ahaha. I want to expand the kitchen into this room.

The door leads to the bathroom but I forgot to take pictures. The bath doesn't work right now but we will fix it and make it look nice!

Now let's move upstairs!

Below are the rooms of the second floor. We need to fix up the walls, get new fusuma doors, and make the floors nice again. There are also huge pieces of furniture that need to be taken care of as well. Eventually, I'd like to get new windows to help with temperature, the bugs, and rain.