Originally built more than 70 years ago, this lovely little house had been empty for years. Less than 15 minutes from the Iida interchange on the Chuo Expressway, 5 minutes from the Apple Road bypass with all its shops and restaurants, and a short walk to Kiriishi station on the Iida Line, it’s very conveniently located, but in a lovely quiet neighborhood near the Matsukawa river.
As with many properties empty so long, our first concern was structural integrity, and, apart from a little floor levelling needed, we were pleased it was in solid shape.
We replaced the flooring, but we were able to keep most of the original interior doors, adding only some new shoji in the front entrance room.
The main work was changing the location of the kitchen, so it was more convenient for eating either in the house or out on the deck.
And yes, the deck! The house had a large garden, of course extremely overgrown, and a rickety small staircase leading out from the house. We replaced this with a solid, three stage deck and a new Japanese style decorative garden.
Southern Nagano is famous for its views of the starry night skies – the back deck is a wonderful place to enjoy the cool evening and night time views.
