Chapter 41 - The Tatami and Finishings for the Right Hand First Floor Room

April 26 - May 3rd 2012

The hated tatamis.  But we need 6 of them to lay down flooring in the bedroom.  I discovered that the tatami tends to pull away from the wood (bi-adhesive tape isn’t enough) so now I’ve turned to super glue for attaching the tatami and the black fabric trim.  To give you an idea of time, I started the dreaded tatamis on the 26th, and finished them on 2nd May !! Mostly also because I came down with a super nasty cold and was sick for almost a week (and still am coughing as I write).  The dreaded tatamis did not help either.  I found also that gluing altho better wasn’t easier.  I had to leave things to dry before folding and finishing the black fabric sections.  Also, the kit gave smaller pieces this time around so not all folded perfectly around the tatami mat to the underside.  But seeing as this part is virtually invisible, it really didn’t matter much.

Tatami number 6 still in the vice.  What a pain!

The rest of the pieces were the usual sanding and fitting wooden slated embellishments.  They all fit in pretty well as did the dias piece which evens out the floor once the tatamis are in.

I still have a few more parts to add to this room before I permanently attach it to the rest of the floor.  I think the bamboo wallpaper is quite successful.  More bamboo to come! (But hopefully no tatamis for a while.)

Bottom floor kitchen and extension, top floor bedroom nearing completion.

Chapter 29 - The Ceiling to the Spa, The Inside Walls of the First Floor Room

March 3 - 5th 2012

The internal decorations for the room were pretty straight forward except that most needed sanding to fit.  Especially piece n.13 which was off by a good 3mm.  So I had to sand it down and then create another indent where the decorative slat would slide in.  But it seems pretty well fitted.  The final placement of the tatami was a challenge.  The pieces fit very tightly and consequently the front section (piece n. 14) had to be glued in again and clamped down for the nite.  The other problem seems to be that the fabric trimming on the tatami won’t stay down.  I tried the bi-adhesive tape, then regular glue and finally super UHU glue.  That seemed to do the trick.

Finished Spa room, with buckets and stools.

Ceiling detail.

The ceiling to the spa was pretty easy except as usual to fit everything perfectly seems to be impossible.  The ceiling detail was very nice actually but I feel it’ll be lost in the installation.  I decided to glue the small wall to the house as I can’t see taking it in and out during normal display so it’s been glued in.  I think the spa is quite successful. 

I purchased some small vases from a shop in Florence.  She doesn’t have much in the right scale but these vases were so pretty and so delicate! I just had to have them in my vestibule entrance area. 

You can see the tiny red glass vase.  So special!!