「Before Renovation」カテゴリーアーカイブ

Shiro Before Renovation (3)

This time we want to give you a peak of Shiro’s second floor before the renovation.

An open ceiling also seen from the first floor delivers a soft, calming light, spotlighting the rustic old pillars supporting the building.

And this is where we plan to renovate into a visitor room. There is a sunny veranda too.

This is the view from the window side. The wall is painted in bright red. There may had been pictures hanged to match the color.

On a window in the deeper room remained a lovely flower patterned wall papaers and an old calender.

Time has stopped here since an autumn in 1980.

There was another picture pasted on a storage sliding door that reminds us of the old days.

This is another room facing the streets. We plan to renovate this room as a beautiful visitor’s bedroom as well!

Yes, it’s still far from completion, but the view from this room is just outstanding.

Opening the window you will see…

The Kanazawa’s proud black gate greenery, which is known for a fantastic view of cherry blossoms in the spring.

Thinking that we will be able to have a full view of fully blossomed sakura flowers from this room, our hearts pounce in excitement.

We can view the cherry blossoms from the first floor as well, so we hope to relax, sit back and enjoy a precious scenery from Shiro. If you have a chance, please join us.

There are also the Kanazawa castle, the Kenroku Garden and Oomi town fresh market nearby. We hope to find a perfect way to enjoy all seasons and bring up Shiro as sensing the flow of seasons together with our precious guests.

Shiro Before Renovation Part 2

Let us share some faces of Shiro before renovation a little more.

This is the deeper end of the long backbone of Shiro.

You will see there are three washing basins on the right and three toilets on the left.

Each old basin is separated by walls like separate rooms. Possibly the old trick to keep the cold away?

I feel goosebumps on my skin thinking for people who used to cook and wash faces in the cold snowing days.

This is the furthest room of Shiro facing the patio.

Left here was a vintage safe.

Despite hidden in the corner, you will notice its noble presence. It probably weights 200 kg or more.

Close up to a circular logo on the top left…

The words are written from right to left. (Japanese sentences were wrote and read from right to left in the old days as opposed to the linguistic system now).

This is the lock dial on the right.

The lock doesn’t feature numbers but the old Japanese counting ‘yi, ro, ha, ni, ho, he, to’ which was more common than numerics before.

Now opening the mysterious safe…

I found a small wooden box.

While this vintage safe is stunning the way it is, unfortunately we have to dismantle it.

Watch out for our next post on the second floor.

Shiro Before Renovation

This is Shiro, exposed, before renovation.

Opening the sliding entrance door, there is a long corridor of more than 20 meters that leads to the deep end of the house.

This is the first room you see on the right, facing the streets outside.

Shiro’s high ceiling gives a great spacious feel to the entrance.

There is a roof window spreading a warming sunlight into the house.

115 year old Shiro, born in Meiji, have witnessed the world through the Taisho, Showa, and Heisei periods. Rustic and well-aged walls and pillars are evident of Shiro’s long history.

After 115 years, Shiro will rebirth as a new guesthouse. We hope to renovate Shiro while treasuring the machiya’s traditional beauty.

Our Patio Garden Make-Over

We have a patio at Shiro.

But the patio and trees were left untouched for too long.

A little chaotic, we couldn’t tell if it was a garden or a forest.

Hence this time, we invited the prestigious Japanese gardening specialist, Uehiko of Kyoto. Mr. Uehiko is a popular gardener famous all over the island.

After a brief inspection, the trimming began.