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The new bookcase installed during lockdown.
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1st March - 10th March 2021
Yowser, yes, been a while or what. The ryokan was technically finished quite a while ago but things happen I guess and a project like this, being stored in a room being used as a gaming and hobby area, is exposed to “dangers”. Apart from the time the bookcase fell and nearly destroyed the house, we have had workmen in the attic area where our hot water heater is installed. And the workmen, inevitably, bumped into the house causing little after shocks if you will. Ho hum. Stuff happens. Luckily no real damage but things fell off shelves and being a miniature, it’s not easy to just stick your hand in there and put things back in place. So, after a rather crappy 2020 (for all of us I’m sure) and many months looking at things that needed to be put back in place, I finally got round to taking care of it.
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The outside kitchen area after putting things back in place.
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The grass rooftop over the outside portico area was never really thought through. I just needed something to cover over the area so I stuck some grass and such over a wooden frame and used wax adhesive to fit it into place thinking I could just pop it off when I needed to see or set up objects inside the portico. But every time I picked up the frame, it came apart and the grass fronds would start coming away. So, given that all the stuff inside the portico had fallen and needed to be put back in place, I decided to make the roof a little more stable.
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View from the portico without the roof.
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I managed to carefully repack the storage area with the food stuff urns and even made them a little more bump resistant with the sticky wax. I then started to pull apart the portico roof. I did some quick research on Japanese garden area roofing (staying away from tile type roofing) and found that many had just simple wooden slats that held roofing material - either fabric or tatami type mats. So I went with that.
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Reinforcing the grass and placing the slats
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Finishing gluing everything in.
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I managed to find some long pieces from a bamboo calendar (which I had used in the past) and those were easy to cut to size and fairly strong. Since it is the underside, I decided to use hot glue to reinforce the back side area where the grass fronds are attached to the old frame. I then hot glued in place the calendar slats cut to size. Worked out fine. Yes, hot glue is yucky looking but I did find a type that dries almost transparent. Once that was done, I stained the slats with dark brown stain to match the house trim somewhat. Done.
Next I wanted to cover over some of the roof with sprouting moss like grass material - like roofing I have seen where over time and humidity, fallen tree leaves and pine needles would make a sort of soil base of their own. And even wild flowers and grass would grow there. So I took some of the flower material I had used previously in the back and side garden and made a new little “garden” on the grass roof.
I had found last fall (really!) a leaf from a tree on my street and finally got around to sealing it with some varnish. Once dried, I used my little leaf cutter (also bought by chance over the years) to cut out little oak leaf type shapes. I managed to find some green paper I had used on the bamboo plant (I don’t throw anything away!!) and cut out some green leaves as well. I glued them over the rooftop to simulate the idea of dead leaves accumulating on the roof. The leaves needed a little color, so I added a bit here and then to give them a more colorful “autumn” air.
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Leaf varnished.
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Little cut out maple leaves.
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Adding flowers and leaf bunches.
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Finishing up the roof area.
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I then reattached the roof with the sticky wax knowing that if I needed to take it off again in future due to some other calamity, there would be no problem.
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Roof back in place.
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Glad I got that done at least. Something accomplished after a 2020 to forget about. Wishing that 2021 will make up for a decidedly forgetful year. Hope you are all well and healthy - knowing that some are not, I prefer not to complain about my own experiences as they are without a doubt minimal compared to some. Keep safe.
