June, July and August

Three months have past and the land is looking pretty much the same...
Well, actually the weeds have taken over quite a bit.

Also the pond has a nice coating of green algae.

But, we've been working steadily towards a beginning construction date at the end of the summer. We've also committed to a builder and hopefully will be reviewing the final estimate in detail and signing with the builder in a couple of weeks.

In order to get the estimate down to our budget, we had to postpone the deck construction (self build) and we have also agreed to do a large portion of the painting as well as all of the bathroom tiles ourselves...It should be a great way to bond with our house and save money. Hopefully.

Our original plan for the bathroom tiles (limestone) was changed to save money. So on our trip to The States we stopped by Heath Tiles and in just a few hours (we had a flight connection to catch) chose tiles for the bathroom and lavatory floor and walls.
We will be using a lot of green apple tiles for the wall, with a few similar colors for accent. The floor will all be grey tiles.

This was a significant investment even though we are using their second and overstock tiles. Now we have our fingers crossed that all of the tiles will make it to Japan in one piece!

We did a lot of shopping in The States in order to find special items that are expensive or not available in Japan.

Such as...

At IKEA, where we picked out a bed and a mattress.
We also found a great deal on a bathroom sink and cabinet.

We bought a cool black table from Muuto and a clear plexiglass ceiling fan.

All of our belongings, woodworking tools (we will also be building all the shelves and closets). Beloved sofa, and other possessions have been packed in a 20 foot container and will be sailing to Japan with an arrival date at the end of November.

So a lot has been going on, and now we're really looking forward to getting started on the construction.