Keisoudo

I have spent three days learning how to "plaster".  I guess it is called plastering...  My rooms are being stripped of wallpaper and Mr. U is instructing me on how to apply "KEISOUDO" which according to Wikipedia is "diatomaceous earth".  Doesn't that sound exciting?  All I know is that it is a 'breathing' substance that cuts household humidity and odors, of which both abound in my house.  Mr. U is an amateur keisoudo plasterer which doesn't really matter because he is instructing ME which makes for a lot of margin for error.

Mr. U arrived at 8:30 on Thursday and together we removed the VERY STUBBORN wallpaper in the dining room.  Irritation was prevalent though mainly by Mr. U.

"It is supposed to strip away...  What did the wallpaperers USE to put on this wallpaper?!"

As I didn't know any better I happily picked away at the wallpaper taking a sort of pleasure in ripping things apart.  It took us all morning to remove the paper from the dining room...

In the afternoon I got my first lesson in "plastering".  Mr. U handed me a trowel and whatever else those tools are called and kept assuring me that if I didn't think I could do it then he would take over...

"Go slow, take small amounts of keisoudo and use your knees and wrist."

Sure...  My first dab of keisoudo plopped onto the floor drip sheet...  Should I give up now?

BUT, within an hour or two I was getting the hang of it and really feeling like a plasterer!

But that was only the first layer...  Keisoudo requires two applications...  Friday Mr. U spent all day putting on the second layer of keisoudo as this required more skill than the first layer...  BUT I was given a bamboo brush and told to "enhance" my new wall as an expression of my inner creativity.  (To be honest I enjoyed the plastering the day before more than I did 'enhancing'.)  Sorry, I was so busy on Friday I didn't get any pictures.

Yesterday, Saturday, Mr. U and I had Tetsu to help us and while Mr. U plastered, Tetsu and I removed wallpaper in the living room and the kitchen.

Here I am removing wallpaper from BEHIND the refrigerator and cupboard.

And then plastering...  I do better on my knees than I do on the ladder. 

And I'm not really much help in the overall scope of things.  I can get my little corner done in the time that Mr. U can do the other three quarters of the wall.  Mr. U praises my efforts a bit condesendingly.

"I don't know any other ladies who would try this type of work.  You do real well for a female."

Tetsu mumbled out of Mr. U's earshot that I would give HIM a bit of my mind if he ever said I did well "for a female".  But I pointed out that I'm not married to Mr. U and as I am at the mercy of his instruction and expertise I guess I can live with his nominal praise.

And here is proof that even Tetsu did his part.  He preferred removing wallpaper though and soon went back to the living room.

For lunch, Mr. U had brought home made buckwheat noodles (he'd made them by hand earlier that morning.  A man of all trades!) and he worked around all the moved furniture in the kitchen to boil us up a noodle lunch. 

Two sets of noodles made with different types of buckwheat flour.  Mr. U is a real connoisseur.

Lunch was delicious.  (Mr. U even brought the bamboo trays!) 

And then back to plastering.  Well, as of this morning the living room is minus its wallpaper.  The entryway and kitchen has its first layer of keisoudo. 

But the dining room is DONE!!  A slight yellow tint to the room now and though it doesn't seem to photograph, bamboo brush enhanced by yours truly.

Although the rest of the downstairs looks like it was already hit by the fast approaching typhoon, we can now sit peacefully in the dining room...  Nowhere else.