Chapter 61b - Right Side Wall to Second Floor Right Side Room

April 8th - 10th 2013

This was just the second part of the previous chapter.  I split it because I figured the tatamis would take so much time but they didn’t really.  But between documenting everything to make a tutorial, I just didn’t feel like tackling the room construction right away.  So I waited till the next day.

The wall had to be painted as per the usual procedure (buttermilk outside and white inside) but instead of making the interior wall all white, I decided to use a sort of rice paper I had found in Florence as the wallpaper.  I had been debating whether or not to make the room “sexy” either by black walls or red walls...in the end, I opted for this one section of wall to be red and the others white.  I will eventually add some black in the guise of the tokonoma platform but for now, there will be mostly white for this room.

I had to measure out from previous rooms and looking ahead at the instructions and the pieces to work out somewhat where the trim would end up.  Hopefully it will all match up in the end.  I do have enough of this lovely rice paper to correct the wallpaper if need be.  I think it’s very unique.  I preferred not to paint on top of the paper because it would reduce the fuzzy papery quality which is what makes the paper so interesting.  Now the wall has texture !

Working out the position for painting.

Taping off the areas for the white....

...then doing the same to apply the red.

External view of the wall with wooden trim glued in place.

Wooden trim applied and tape removed.  Glue applied to the red area only.

Application of the rice paper with a water/glue 1:1 ratio. I preferred not to paint on top of the paper.