All the small details...and COMPLETE!

I felt that the mizuya neede some shelving to make it look like a place to prepare the tea, so I used bits an pieces of foamcore (they were everywhere anyway) and put together some shelving. Also, it would be hard to identify which door is the entrance for the host if I did not place steps, so I have done so as well. Another part I added is the balcony that leads to the nijiriguchi. 

Host's entrance.

Completion!

This project was such a great learning experience for me, I didn't not expect I would be able to finish a model in such a short period of time. Despite the fact that I have ruined my living room (as my mother reminded me everyday I have worked on it), I am proud of the progress I made, and the things that I have learned from it.

Looks good to me.

The explosion can wait, have to hand this
project in first. 

Hearth! I forgot the Hearth!

 After laying down the tatami mats, I had realized I forgot to carve out a space for the hearth! Its alright, an easy fix with the use of an X acto knife. After carving it out, I inserted some black coloured paper. Next up are the rest of the details, such as shelving, steps and the balcony!

Inserted top framing for the Tokonoma, it
happens to be an essential part. 

Commence the Tatami Laying!

Now that I've actually got a space to work with, its time to lay down the flooring. At first I was going to place another piece of foamcore at the bottom, but it had too much height to it that it didn't look good forming against the walls, thus I decided to go with cardstock.

Taped some coloured pieces of paper for the tatami mats,
trial run on laying them down for now, make sure them all
fall into place. Also added the extra foamcore at the
Tokonoma, it is elevated in all the iamges I have seen. 

Laid down a piece of cardstock as flooring,
everything looks good so far.

Setting up all the walls!

 After I dwelling on my feelings of accomplishment, I proceeded to set up all the walls. Thank goodness for my trusty sidekick, Wellbond glue - what would I do without you?

Some of the doors/windows need to form against
the groove so that it slides smoothly - keep sliding them!

Setting up the walls in the middle of foamcore land.

All the walls are up!

Do they slide?

Who new making miniature Japanese sliding doors would be so hard? The most difficulty part was cutting out the individual squares in the foamcore and placing a piece of tracing paper in between. All for the sake of a look of authenticity! I came to realize how chubby my fingers were after this.

Two of the sliding doors completed, lain outside while I make
 the grooves on the inside of the foamcore. 

Squares so small....can barely cut straight..!

Do they slide? Yes they do!

The nijiriguchi barely slides, I had such a hard
time!

Sliding Foamcore Doors (and Windows)

 One thing that I was really determined to accomplish in the model was to make sure my doors and windows were actually operational. I wanted my sliding doors to actually slide, so I had done some research beforehand on how they may work. Some of them mechanisms were more difficult to implement in my model because it is smaller to work with, however I found out that using grooves in the foamcore may work. 

My research on grooves of sliding doors consists of  the
use of Google images

Trial run with tape, do these walls work?
(Apparently not, had to cut down on some
measurements)

Walls Everywhere!

 Craning my neck to look at reference images of walls in the book and what I am working on gets quite tiring, but I keep telling myself they're only walls. This book makes it much easier with the details of the walls all laid out, all I need to do is follow the measurements, drawing the lines over the foamcore with pencil before cutting them with an X acto knife.

Pictures of the interiors of several
teahouses so I don't have to play the
guesing game. 

Lineing the walls before cutting them to make sure the right
angles are maintained. 

The framing of the walls are made with two pieces of foamcore strips glued together while the inner wall piece is only one piece of foamcore insertedd in the middle. This defines the difference in structure.

Laid out the walls against the base framing to
make sure of the measurements.