snowdude 44 Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 We have gone for fairly basic lights upstairs as cant see the point of wasting loads of money on fancy lights for the bedrooms. Downstairs however we have gone for a nice set of LED lights 2 for the living room and one for the adjacent room. They are a soft light type so although bright not overly powering and they have a warm feel to them. Kitchen wise built in lights above the sink and oven hood and a large flourescent light for the kitchen. Again we didnt see the need for a posh light for the kitchen rather something that is bright and neatly fixed to the ceiling with a cover not the open crap that this house has in the kitchen now. We gone with some nice little down lights for the hall ways. I dont know thoigh why Japanese people love open uncovered office style lights in their houses? Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted June 4, 2013 Author Share Posted June 4, 2013 We haven't gone overboard on the bedrooms actually. I suppose most of the stuff is in the kitchen LDK area. I think it'll be great though, really looking forward to seeing it real! Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 The "people were happy to have the lights on after them hard days after the war" one seems to be a stock answer. I got it when I asked why classrooms and a sports hall with massive windows still had the lights on on sunny days years ago when I worked in a school. In the post-war period, TB was the second biggest killer, so there is no doubt that people were poor at that time. Whether this has had some lasting influence on people's preferences regarding lighting is a much larger step in logic, I believe. I personally suspect, like wallpaper, laminated flooring, and joke levels of insulation, it comes from people wanting to do stuff on the cheap and being told anything else is the conversation stopper that is "takai". How much more "takai" is rarely, if ever, asked, nor are the demerits of the non-takai method material ever discussed. Sticking a big ring or strip flourescent in the middle of the room is going to be the cheapest way to put lighting in it. If Japanese people really did "love" blinding levels of lighting, almost every izakaya and cafe would soon go out of business. They are places where people pay much more than they need to drink beer or coffee, so people must like the atmosphere they're creating. Convenis do have blinding levels of lighting, but the only people in them more than two minutes are reading comics without buying them. If anyone is stuck in a room with a nasty center light, a rail spotlight thing from Ikea doesn't cost much and should clip in the same fitting. I think we did it in one of the places we rented. For our own place, we've got mainly recessed downlights in the ceiling, with a couple of rails in the kitchen, a triple bulb Asian looking thing above the dining table and a twisty Japanese paper shade by a designer called Isamu Noguchi hanging in the vaulted space above our living room. Some of our downlights are E17 because "smaller is better" was the trend five years ago, but it's all changed with LED. The mistake I made is that a couple of the brackets I bought had shades that were nice but too dark. Both were in storage spaces, so they're just bare bulbs now. Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted June 5, 2013 Author Share Posted June 5, 2013 Got you there, Mr Wiggles. I think it is one of those "lines" that people bring out way too easily and without much thought. Having said that, this dude I met was very interesting and knew his lighting (as you might expect if that was his job!) He was clearly enjoying talking about the ideas and best lighting for my house and in a subsequent mail he said again that it was fun because of the usual lack of this kind of thinking. Seems pretty bizarre to me. I did actually ask him what the lighting in his house was like and he said rather subdued compared to the norm, using light bouncing off walls, brackets and spotlight-style fixtures. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 In the post-war period, TB was the second biggest killer, I was never found guilty of those heinous allegations!! Link to post Share on other sites
pie-eater 207 Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 And surely not that old either! Link to post Share on other sites
peterson 0 Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 When you 'buy a new house' what gets included with stuff like this, lighting etc? Is it just basic stuff and basically if you want to change it you pay any extra? Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted June 5, 2013 Author Share Posted June 5, 2013 That's how it was for us. The "default" lighting if we didn't change anything was basically the usual boring one light in the middle kind of thing for each room. Not awful at all compared to lots I have seen, but very uninteresting. So I asked for a catalogue and chose what I wanted, and met with a professional lighting guy for the advice etc. 定価 catalogue prices for my complete plan came to over 650,000 yen. That ended up translating to an actual additional 280,000 yen or so to pay. For me though that is definitely worth it. It will transform the feel of the house, and just look great. Link to post Share on other sites
big-will 7 Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 Presumably that lower cost is coming through the building company, dumbstick? Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted June 6, 2013 Author Share Posted June 6, 2013 Yes, big-will. In our case, not always entirely clear and a bit slow getting reponses on costings - but the prices they have come up with have been nice and considerably discounted, and in line with what I hope for after researching - and so I haven't often felt the need to 'probe' further. Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted June 6, 2013 Author Share Posted June 6, 2013 How's your groundwork going snowdude? Our foundations finished soon Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 How's your groundwork going snowdude? Our foundations finished soon Ground work and foundations finished. Going over there this afternoon to have a look. Oh and will bring a pack of 24 cans of coffee for the workers. Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted June 7, 2013 Author Share Posted June 7, 2013 Sounds like we are about the same stage. Next up for us is the woodwork from I believe middle of next week. They seem to reckon the structure will be up by 20th. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 How's your groundwork going snowdude? Our foundations finished soon Ground work and foundations finished. Going over there this afternoon to have a look. Oh and will bring a pack of 24 cans of coffee for the workers. its pretty funny the difference in culture eh? Can you imagine the look on UK builders faces if you brought em 24 cans of anything but beer??!! Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 How's your groundwork going snowdude? Our foundations finished soon Ground work and foundations finished. Going over there this afternoon to have a look. Oh and will bring a pack of 24 cans of coffee for the workers. its pretty funny the difference in culture eh? Can you imagine the look on UK builders faces if you brought em 24 cans of anything but beer??!! But actually what do we bring builders in England as I have never built a house there would we really bring them beer? I think I like the Japanese custom better though. Imagine if the builders drink to much beer my house would end up as pissed as them. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 You wouldn't bring them anything......the money you're paying them to build the house would be considered enough!! Link to post Share on other sites
stemik 14 Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 They are usually partial to a cup of tea Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 oh yeah actually....thats right! Totally forgot about that Cup of tea brought by the owner were always well received.....that was exactly what I was doing when the World Trade Centre got hit!! Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 Just got back from Kobuchizawa to have a look at the foundations. All looks good. Weather permitting they will be the base that the house sits on this week. And then the frame once the concrete base has set hard. Followed by the first floor sides around 27tth 2nd floor around 3rd July and then the roof after that again all weather permitting. Link to post Share on other sites
BagOfCrisps 24 Posted June 10, 2013 Share Posted June 10, 2013 Cool. Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted June 17, 2013 Author Share Posted June 17, 2013 Nice snowdude. They must be soon continuing with work? End of the coming week for us. Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 Nice snowdude. They must be soon continuing with work? End of the coming week for us. 27th this month they start building the first floor frame and walls. 2nd floor from around 3rd July. Link to post Share on other sites
Thundercat 60 Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Something occured to me last night while chopping veggies. Can you control the counter top heights? The counters in my house are obviously built for soneone who is 10-15cms shorter than I am and I find it really annoying. Link to post Share on other sites
DumbStick 13 Posted June 19, 2013 Author Share Posted June 19, 2013 Our kitchen is, or should I say will be, Yamaha and yes we had a choice. I think it was 800cm, 850cm, 900cm (maybe more options, not sure). The lady made the choice. The big decision was 850cm. Link to post Share on other sites
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