- Open House in Gifu city -

Our new house in Gifu city will be opened for public as scheduled.

It reminds you something like that in medieval times in Europe, which is well suited for pink-gray brick cladding that Canadian bricklayers installed.

And we installed the real drywall in interior like North American homes.

Please visit our new house in Gifu at 10:30 ~ 17:00 on Nov. 3^rd Sat and 4^th Sun.

If you have any question, do not hesitate to contact us.

House address: 2-1, Nagarakomatsu-cho, Gifu-shi, Gifu Pref., Japan

Check the Location map.

Website (Japanese): Open House information

These are Also Red Bricks. -Vermont-

The exterior brick has a Waterstruck texture.

Is it named this because there are signs that look like the brick has absorbed water, or that jets of water has made this texture?
 

Either way, even a flat surface type of brick can bring out this antique impression.
 

This brick (Modular) is a little smaller than the MAX size we usually use. It's 7-5/8'' long and 2-1/4'' high.

There are as many as 10 small holes to put a rebar through it, but this may make it difficult for a thick rebar we use to get entangled with the mortar tightly.

In that respect, this Hanson brick doesn't seem to be suited for Japan.

 

But this colour which looks like having some dark brown has a more sophisticated atmosphere than a usual red brick, wouldn't you say?

A picture of the brick's building looks bright as it gets sunlight, and the change of colour also gives a very good effect.
 

They are indeed genuine Canadian laid bricks, aren't they?
 

Because Brick is Simple, the House is So Beautiful. -Madere-

These are orthodox red bricks. These bricks seem to be everywhere, but how will they look when they are piled up into a large wall?

 

As I wrote before, Hanson Brick conspicuously has a real presence that no other companies' bricks can have regarding size and texture.

Bricks from Toronto, which has a brick-cladding history, is manufactured bearing in mind how they'll look when laid together.
 

 

How do you feel about the house whose exterior is decorated with this brick?

The contrast is exquisite: white with shades of ivory in the garage, window and the eaves of the roof, dark brown in the garage door, black roof and red wall.

Also, because there's a difference of altitude on the floor between a residence area and a garage area, the house shows a rhythmical exterior, too.

The rhythms of regularly laid bricks to this rhythm are harmonious.

The design of Canadian bricklaid houses are wonderful, but we at HOME MADE alone import this brick into Japan.

That's exactly why this design can be realized by HOME MADE even in Japan.

High-grade Hanson Brick having both low moisture absorption efficiency and firmness because the bricks are baked hard.

Something can be built of only costly brick.

 

An Asian Vanity Room In the City

The vanity room is on an upper floor and affords a fine view.

On this side, the design of a bathtub matching the vanity is in view.

The vanity at the back by the window gives an Asian atmosphere by using a cabinet made of slabs of an Oregon pine and a thick beige counter.

Don't you think it has become a peaceful and sophisticated design you can find in a cool room in the corner of New York?

Bringing a straight figure into Asian simplicity has adopted an urban element well.

Its use of colour, using only 3 colours such as beige, brown and dark brown has also brought about the stylishness.

It's the work that you only get from a professional coordinator.

This Hotel is also in Niagara-on-the-lake...

On July 10th through 15th, I took a client’s family of an imported house in Gifu city to Toronto in Canada.

I have just gone on a tour of inspecting imported materials, but it’s been quite a long time since I went and chose customer’s furniture and interior.

This time there was a sudden request to go there that I couldn’t reserve any B&Bs we always stay at.
Because of that and for a change, they allowed me to make plans to stay at a vintage hotel in Niagara-on-the-lake, a beautiful town near Niagara, for a night.

Apart from slightly larger rooms, it would seem the hotel’s atmosphere isn’t so different from a general urban hotel’s, but the exterior and lobby’s design are luxury in itself.

It fully deserves to be called vintage, doesn’t it? Of course, the outer wall is brickwork!

Client's children were delighted because there were many squirrels around the hotel and in the town.
These sights can't be seen in Japan, but there is similar scenery in a large city, Toronto too. What a mysterious country Canada is!


 

I Wish Japan Were Made Like this Landscape

Yesterday I talked about a Canadian classic hotel, today I’ll show you a picture of a townscape.

Niagara-on-the-lake is a small country town quite near Niagara Falls. On a journey from Niagara Falls to here, wine vineyards are spread out and scenery that is beautiful and full of green continue.

It is Niagara-on-the-lake, the town that is surrounded by that greenery.

To make you feel the old history, large roadside trees grow, and colorful buildings stand crowdedly in a line on both sides of the main street.

The red brick building you can see far away is another classic hotel, Prince of Wales Hotel.

This hotel fascinates you with the design that reminds you of medieval Britain.

We should love history, treat nature with care and be proud of beautiful scenery.

In Japan of recent years, such landscape preservation has been called for,

but if values toward old things aren’t reviewed, we may lose it someday.

I think it is important to find highly added value in such things like old things or beautiful things.

We should also make such houses, shouldn’t we?

A Daring Position

The shower is positioned right in the center of the room.

This is the Bathroom an American plumbing equipment maker proposed (In Japan, Bathroom only means the shower area; but in America the washbasin and shower area are in the same room).

First, the large space surprises us.

The picture makes me feel the size of this room must be around 13-16 ㎡.

Ordinary Japanese designers certainly plan that the shower is pushed against the wall in the corner of the room, but this shower is being installed massively like a main object.

In fact many Americans, particularly men, tend to think the shower has more priority over the bathtub.
Unlike the Japanese, who don't feel they've bathed unless they soak in the tub, a shower which Americans can wash off their sweat over and over again, is a must for them.

This lifestyle is the reason for this daring room arrangement, I think.

Also by doing this, the back of the shower room becomes screened, so I feel there is careful attention to the fact as well that if  the room's door is on the back side and someone opens the door, they can't see the person in the shower.
This will make it possible for others to use the vanity while a person is taking a shower.

I think both the size of its windows and its arrangement are conceptual designs that Japanese people won't easily think of.
It might be possible to build it even in Japan if a building has about 330㎡ of floor space. But it would be difficult because there's no designer who's got this idea (laughing).

A Memory of Venice

This illuminator is a full 80cm high and a big product.

So one might say that it's suitable exterior lighting for a decoration at the profound
                                                                                           extranceway.

Its design is a raindrop's pattern which represents rain of Venice in Italy.

The gently curved glass is designed to look covered with waterdrops.

4 lights in the chandelier can be fit that is the maximum 40-watt light bulb.

The body is given an antique bronze-coloured finish, but material is itself aluminium so durability is taken into account, too.

Also the other variation in a black colour is available and you can choose a colour of your choice to suit your location. 

Isn't it indescribably beautiful--the light coming through the glass makes the appearance of the wall look different?
This piece is a real beauty that we can be steeped in memory of  Europe each time we see this.

The jet bath in the shape of a waterdrop

This is a Canadian-made corner bathtub with the idea of enjoying a leisurely atmosphere alone.

The color in this picture is white, but it is available in all 12 colors.

It's a lot of fun being able to choose a jet stream from a whirlpool, massage air, active air, or the like according to your preference.

Of course you can combine these jet streams, too.

If you want to produce the atmosphere, what about setting up an illumination inside the bathtub adopting chromotherapy?

Certainly, you'll be freed, both mentally and physically by the beautiful form and function of relaxation.

The Bedside Lamp in Art Deco Design

Art Deco movement had happened since Paris International Exhibition in 1925.

It had developed using a free concept that wasn't before, for example a geometric pattern, a streamline shape, a pattern that deformed lightning or the sun and so on.

Also, we can't miss having made stuff that was suited to practical use.

 

Here's the bedside lamp made in Art Deco design.

 

It expresses how a fairy in the form of a girl opens her arms and goes toward the light of illumination designed of the sky.

The fabric shade that is elegantly draped feels the antiqueness of the times.

And isn't the shiny black bronze color looking good?

Antique design contrasts more with the brilliance of fairy wings.

How about the bedside lamp in this design by your bedside or a sofa?

Princess? Or Queen?

As our customers wished, I went and saw many kinds of furniture in design.

Though sold by a furniture store in Toronto, prices and quantities are complete

because of wholesale. It is about three times as large an area as a big Japanese

furniture store because the showroom is in a place that used to be a big bricklaying

factory.

This time I’ll introduce this bed. It doesn’t have a foot board, the headboard is

enlivened by crystal buttonhook and the golden rim is a classical design.
The size is queen-size, so a married couple can lie comfortably on the bed even

with a child in between them.

This bed’s design suits that brief moment when morning’s refreshing wind blows

a lace curtain during that enjoyable lingering moment after your sleep.

If you choose this bed, I’d like to recommend that the interior and door are in

white and that the interior is in an elegant atmosphere.

Of course it’s also interesting to have the bed in dark brown and make it outstanding...

Excluding the mattress and fabric, do you think it is cheap to be able to buy it for

300,000 yen in Japan?

It’s Just like a Castle, Isn’t It?

 

We have finished Mr. N’s bricklaying construction, imported house in Gifu city.

It took about 1 month for 2 Canadian bricklayers to build it.

Because this was a street used by children going to and from the local elementary school, they greeted children every morning and evening.
As there are not many chances in Japan to experience native English, isn’t this interaction a superb experience for children, too?

How do you feel about this – a general view of brickwork in whitish gray?

2 penthouses rising on the southern side. Substantial impression enough to mistake it for stone-built. And distinguished technique of only the bricklayers’.
Picking any part, I believe the building is unfinished unless all of our efforts come together.
We still need much time to complete all the construction, but please watch the changes of it from now on.

Now, next bricklaying will be in Handa city in Aichi Prefecture. Please look forward to seeing this place.

Light Shops in Toronto you’d want to go to at least once

 

A Japanese showroom for lighting apparatus is generally normalized by the same maker, if it isn’t a DIY store or electric appliance store.

Canadian lighting apparatus stores prepare for many makers, and many kinds of design, just because they deal with customers who care a lot about it.
For example, crystal chandeliers in the picture hurt my eyes and was bright because it hung down in a narrow space.
This time in the picture, there are only classical things, but there are also modern, Japanesque and styles for kids.

For imported houses, a light is an important factor that composes the interior. Of course it’s not only that, but it is sure to decide a room’s atmosphere to some extent.

Although you need a large budget to buy these imported lights in Japan, it is fascinating to get them at a relatively reasonable price in the Canadian trade.
You just have to see if the house’s grade, each room’s balance and design concept fit the lighting.
There are seldom builders or interior coordinators who can coordinate that.

I’d like a Front Door like This One at Least Once

 

Today is part two of introducing what I saw on a tour of building materials’ inspection in Canada.

Not only Japanese-made doors but also imported house’s doors have recently become standard. Much of the reason is that product’s variations become less available because the imported house boom was over and the sales from imported building materials stores decreased.

Also, as the quality drops a little and amateur eyes don’t find differences, it’s cheaper and more profitable to have it made in China than in North America.

That is why nowadays imported houses are the same anywhere and not fun.

We also use a cost-effective strategy, but it’s against our policy to put that first.

First of all, quality, and next design. I feel this trip has made us rediscover that.

Our clients don’t ask for cheapness. They ask for emotion and satisfaction, and the process of building a house isn’t fun if it doesn’t entertain us, that’s my policy.

How about this front door? The full-size double door arranged with a sidelight on

both sides. Transom door drawing beautiful curves. Isn’t it wonderful!

The outside door has an even surface and is given a mirror coating like furniture

and is finished in purple-gray. Wow, stylish!

And on the inside there’s a sudden change and is wood-grain oak like a man on every

side, finished to match classical and luxurious interiors. Of course it’s not printed

plywood in Japan, but it’s truly wooden, isn’t it?

This door’s made in Canada – that’s exactly why we can make design performance

and rich materials such as this.

Come now, it’s a pretty expensive door, but I’ll bet it’s an excellent item worthy of

your money.

It’s only us who can introduce this door and materials to you.

I’m pictured right in the center of the article!

 
I returned from an imported materials’ inspection tour which I am honored to have been invited to by the Canadian Embassy and consulate and have been working since yesterday.

I’m swamped with daily work everyday, so the materials I was given on the tour and pictures are still unarranged.

While I was working, the person from the Embassy who showed us thoughtfulness in handling this tour and who came with us, sent us a picture from the local newspaper.

The picture was taken on the first day of the tour when we went to an interior materials store on Prince Edward Island in Canada.

Because it’s the beginning of the tour, everyone looks energetic.

There are not so many cases where many material buyers came from Japan, are there?

What a peaceful island it is! I made some good memories.

The brickwork's house in Canada

I got acquainted on facebook with a Canadian bricklayer friend who came in before. He sent me this photograph today.

It seems his house, and he says it's a brickwork's house.

Brickwork houses we're building are basically constructed with wooden two-by-fours and we lay bricks around as exterior finishing material, while it's great that this house is made by brick even in construction itself, isn't it?

Of course, if we build this in Japan, we have to get a certificate of an earthquake-proof structure, and I think we can't do a business if we don't surely set quakeproof metal fittings in case of quake.

But, this is exactly the brick house in 'The Three Little Pigs' of a fairy tale.

This house was completed surprisingly in 1885, which is stood on beautiful nature in Ontario.

It has already been as many as 125 years, but the beauty doesn't look old at all.

Our imported house should also become loved for such a long time if you keep up even maintenance.

Now, looking at this house, do you think the latest model of house made by Japanese major homebuilders is as highly durable as this one?

To be beloved long, we know from this house that materials and design are important.