The Kitchen is working

To use one of the stove outlets (sorry, trying to find a global word for a cook top element), all you do is make sure the unit is turned on, button top right, then just press the cooker element button, it pops out and then lights. You can turn it down from there! Whats even cooler is that you pop out another panel on the right hand side and can tell it how long you want the burner to work for. I tried it today and told it I wanted 3 more minutes of cooking and then it shuts itself down. For reference this is all in Japanese! But I managed to figure it out.

The joy of working in this Kitchen is that is just so light! The picture doesn't due it justice, but it has light pouring in all day, and at night we install spots above all the work surfaces so there are no shadows at all. Overall its turned out amazing. I'll post directly the before and afters shortly.

The shower room is a total success!!! Wow, it was such much effort and the changes in the glass wall and dimensions were enough to drive you crazy, but its done, and it wonderful.

Yes the shower set cost $1000 dollars and I'm not sure yet the cost of the glass sheet wall (probably the same price), but its just wonderful. Di obviously had the first go with it and loved it, and then me. Well its one of the nicest showers I've ever had. The water is hot, the pressure of the shower fantastic, the surrounds sublime!

It was commented on the the colour choices of the shower were 'cold' compared to the norm here (basically white and grey), but when its fully finished there will be lovely warm touches as well. Di thinks the basin may have been too big at the cost of the shower, I think actually its balanced out nicely. The basin unit is big, and with an 80cm basin bigger than usual, but it didn't compromise on the shower space. Even thou they kept creeping into that space.

I know Di wanted a really big shower and we still have a really big shower space. There is no feeling of being cramped into a small space, and because we got rid of the bath and turned it into just a vanity area and shower it works really well. The vanity light imported from America looks great and overall I think the area has a sense of balance to it. The best part about the whole shower/vanity area is that its just not expected.

Due to the design of the 150 year of house the bathroom had to stay in the same area. The old bathroom was behind two sliding door off the 'dining room' that you stepped up to for the vanity, and then up again to the actual bath/shower area. That has all been ripped out except for the sliding doors. One is now totally fixed and it forms part of the new bathroom wall, which you step down to now. The carpenter wanted to remove this second door as it was not needed. Di didn't and I totally agree with her now. (I didn't quite see it to start with).

Now I am so glad she stuck to her guns on this. Now what you see are the two original sliding doors, slide the door back and behind it is a wonderfully modern bathroom!!! Its just wonderful and I will post you all the pictures. If you walked into the old section of the house you would never know!

Now that all the dust has cleared and we have cleaned up alot you can really start to see the design idea's coming to life, and I think we did it, actually i really think we did it. The integrity of the 150 old house is preserved! The modern really does sit or float along aside of it and doesn't detract from it.

After watching Grand Designs alot (BBC TV) we so consious of making sure that we didn't ruin the old house for the sake of being modern or western. Its not all finished yet, but some of the local feedback is very positive. We both know the direction to go and its so great to see the actuallity of the planning come to life and from what I can understand respect the old building. We have no qualms that the kitchen and bathroom are modern, but hopefully when you see the final pictures you will see that we always gave great respect to the old building and integrated where we could.

The rules we used were.

1.  Select a style statement and stick with it.  We were lucky that we spent so much time  thinking about this project, and select simple things like a colour pallete, which was for us a photo and selection of stones, seaweed and leaves!  And a design statement which I asked Di to write down.  I cant' recall it at the moment but, its proven a cornerstone of the process.  "this colour is nice', 'does it fit with the design statement'.  Thats been the best thing about the design statement and colours, everything comes down to does it work it or not!

2. Don't mix the old and new up.  We knew the bathroom and Kitchen would be very moden with modern applicances and fittings.  The design of the house helped us here as its on two levels, the raised traditional house and the lower annex which includes the foyer, hallway, toilet, kitchen and shower area (bathroom).  So far we have just done the 'lower parts' and they are modern, with a blend back to the old.  We never tried to make the bathroom or kitchen be old style, they sit along side the old, and when we do the rest of the old house, it will not be modern (well lighting and subtle bits).

3. Stick to the style statement and stay with it all the time.  Hard as it can be.

Overall I think we have done really well.  The first view of the house is down the view we designed, and you start with a mix of traditional and old and then lead onto the kitchen.  Its simplicity makes it sit well with the old.  Then you get the old, and behind a door is the bathroom. 

Okay, best to see the pics, but we did it!  Our builders fault of not getting the toilet space quite right has turned into a feature, and that I think its the best thing about this place, we are turning all the odd bits into something brillant.