The "FAN"

Our living room ceiling is in! Rick assembled the unit and helped the electrician mount the fan. We chose this classic style fan in Boston. 52 inch fans are simply not available in Japan, but it is needed since our ceiling is 7.2 meters (over 23 feet) high. When this is spinning at 80% of max, it will blow sawdust on the 1st floor...it is very powerful. Fortunately it is on a dimmer so we can adjust the speed to achieve the air circulation we need and the most efficient speed. This is going to help us refrain from using air conditioning in the summer. It will also make our wood stove heating plan even more efficient in the winter.

Living Room Light Combo...

Our living room lights combo is finally complete. We have started with energy efficient 25watt bulbs in all sockets for now and will adjust, if needed, after the house is furnished and decorated. We are trying to ensure we are as energy efficient as possible in every aspect of this home and cutting down on overall electric usage is a huge issue for us.

Assorted Projects Update:

Master Bedroom Reading Lights: The electrician could not get them to work, and told us to buy a new light, so... Rick had to "turn the switch on"...literally! Amazing!
The master bedroom walk-in closet is done (for now). We will be building in the clothes storage systems after we move in.


Wall sconces along the second floor interior balcony and stairwell. Soft light but just bright enough!

Pendants!!!

We assembled the pendant light units we bought in Boston and the electrician connected them. After numerous adjustments to the chain lengths, they are finally complete! We think they match perfectly with the wall sconces They give us numerous lighting combinations for the living room.

Wall Sockets, the drama continues!

After all the hoopla from our electrician (he was trying to coerce us into using "Standard" white or off-white switches and outlets) we finally prevailed! The first batch of electric sockets has arrived and have been installed. Can you believe they were a special order and took over 4 weeks!

Valentina's fan...

We found this great ceiling fan for Chi-Chan's room while in the states. It is a good balance of "kids-style" and has just enough "girly" features. This should keep her room cool all summer!

"Under the Stairs"

The stairs are 100% done! The hand rails were made from scratch by our carpenters and we are very please with their craftsmanship. We also added our PC Counter under the stairs. This will be the home of our PC so we can keep updating our blogs! This will also house all the A/V equipment and serve as our space efficient home office.