In early July our dear friends over at AdventureBaby made us a crazy, wonderful, delightful, challenging and not-to-be-missed offer… (did I mention crazy?) ! Their family had this old house, no one living there any longer– did we want to move there and take it over? The rent would be a lot less than we were paying and the key thing was “We could do whatever we wanted to the house.”
MHTC (better known as #myhusbandthechef) and I had always wanted to do this kind of thing. Save an old house from the wrecking ball. Redo something to suit us perfectly and have the fun of old-meets-new design. So though we loved our place in Nakameguro, we headed over to give the place a look. Not sure if we were even interested because we loved our current place and we were not looking to move. After all, the new house was sort of in the *gasp* suburbs!
Now, truth be told, I expected to not like the house. I expected the rooms to be dark, small and of bad design. I had been told the house was from the 80’s, not a great period in Japanese home building. I went, if a wee bit reluctantly. I was worried MHTC would love it and I would be the negative one…
And then the strangest thing happened. I fell instantly in love. The house was actually built in 1958 NOT in the 80’s — which we were to find out later. The rooms are full of sunlight, charming old glass sliding doors, lots of space and even the closets seem to have closets. Our new home will need a lot of love but the house is a classic from the mid century modern era. A favorite design period of mine!
So we are all in! The place needs a good bit of TLC and work and we have about half a shoestring budget. So, the project is going to be a DIY labor of love.
By the way… in the dining room we have a window seat and out back, a little lovely garden. We are planning to put in a dog-elevator for Mr. Smoochers (more on that later).
This project is going to be quite an adventure. I’ll be blogging here. With details and all the ups and downs. We will share hints for those doing their own renovations and simply tell the tale of the journey.
Stay tuned.
August 16, 2016 at 7:01 am
I’ve been *wondering* what was going on! How exciting… I’m looking forward to watching your progress!
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August 15, 2016 at 8:33 pm
Look forward to following your progress on this adventure!
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August 16, 2016 at 6:58 am
Thanks Rae!
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August 15, 2016 at 6:56 pm
I have lived in Japan for 21 years and took a house built in the early 60’s and remodeled it. As I,have an extensive background in construction, especially carpentry it was a labor of love that took several years. I used Japanese licensed contractors for things like electric wiring , gas lines etc. As without that, no insurance. Drop me a line as I am a great enthusiast of remodeling and preserving old houses.
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August 16, 2016 at 6:58 am
Thanks! We would love your advice!
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September 4, 2016 at 3:26 am
Thanks for the offer- for sure we will need advice. the wiring part is half straight forward and half makes no damn sense… we found we cannot find a switch to turn off one fixture upstairs and one down!!!
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August 15, 2016 at 12:47 pm
I’m so impressed!! What a truly beautiful house and you two will make it into your beautiful home!! Love the openness, bit of green Earth (quite a change from the 26th floor), and your very own window seat!! I also am glad your blog will let me enjoy your journey with all your ideas coming to life!! Bravo Lauren and Chris!
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August 16, 2016 at 6:57 am
Thanks MOM! I am going to love working on your special room with your garden view!
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August 15, 2016 at 12:40 pm
I am so excited to see this house be finished! 🎉😋
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August 16, 2016 at 6:57 am
For sure you will get an invite! We need you for the Painting Party!
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August 15, 2016 at 11:00 am
Woohoo!! Finally I get it!! So exciting! Can’t wait to see what you do for the first Christmas there!
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August 15, 2016 at 11:55 am
Yup- just getting started. So much to do in every room! exciting stuff. You will certainly be invited to the xmas festivities.
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