It was exciting to see paint buckets in front of our house last week-end. Maybe we'd get a peak preview of our color choices!
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Although the Pale Lilac our daughter had selected for her bedroom seemed like it was too pale, the result was actually quite pleasing.
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We took the advice of our resourceful head painter Suzuki-san (yes, yet another Suzuki-san!) who recommended that we tone down the accent mauve that we had selected for one wall. He seems to know a lot about colors and we are very appreciative of his advice.
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As we entered, we noticed the house was full of sand. We learned that to prepare the plasterboard for paint, just applying putty won't cut it. The walls need to be carefully sanded to hide imperfections. No power tools used here; just your old sandpaper holder and a lot of attention to detail.
The 2F had already been prepped for painting, and we did get a preview of our painted ceilings. This was just the base coat though.
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The cabinets in the Master Bedroom had already been given one coat of paint. We are happy to have chosen that shade of light blue-grey!
The cabinets in the Master Bedroom had already been given one coat of paint. We are happy to have chosen that shade of light blue-grey!
Although the Pale Lilac our daughter had selected for her bedroom seemed like it was too pale, the result was actually quite pleasing.
We took the advice of our resourceful head painter Suzuki-san (yes, yet another Suzuki-san!) who recommended that we tone down the accent mauve that we had selected for one wall. He seems to know a lot about colors and we are very appreciative of his advice.
He also found that the accent blue our son had selected for his bedroom was a bit wishy-washy, so he tried mixing blues to get the right tone. Unhappy with the results, he mentioned he would order another shade of blue and try to get just the right contrast. Thanks!
This week also, the tiles in the powder room and toilet were installed. Pale grey tiles with light-colored grout and pale blue-green walls: seems like we made a good choice there too.
The good thing about paint is that it's easy to redo in case you feel like a change. Imagine changing wallpaper...
The exterior work which had been slightly delayed is set to resume today, so things are likely to move real fast from now on.
2 comments:
Luckily, I stumbled across your blog searching for something else entirely.
I sold imported building materials in Japan back in the mid to late 90s. I'm curious as to what percentage of materials are Japanese and what percentage have come from NA or elsewhere? You mentioned a Grohe kitchen faucet (always a good choice), but what about doors, windows and such?
Best of luck in the waning days.
Hi Jeffrey,
Thanks for your comment! Most of the materials we used are Japanese, including the wood, the plasterboard, the moldings, the flooring, etc. The main door is from YKKap and so are all the windows and patio doors. The interior doors are from a company called BLC. The bath unit and toilet are from Inax, bathroom and toilet sinks and faucets are from Kakudai.
We never even considered importing, except for our kitchen, but we decided against it in the end. Too little time to plan, I guess. I'm sure that if we had to do it all over again, we would take a look at a broader range of options, including imports, especially for some of the interior details. Second time around I would not chose melamine anywhere, and I would be more careful in selecting our handrails (already planning to change ours!)
The problem for foreigners here is to find alternatives comparable in quality and price to the options we are given. The other problem is the time it takes to get an estimate of the cost and delivery.
Many lessons learned in this journey...
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