shou sugi ban

Shou Sugi Ban
Definition:
Shou Sugi Ban (or Yakisugi) is an ancient Japanese exterior siding technique that preserves wood by charring it. Traditionally, Sugi (Japanese Cyprus) was used. The process involves charring the wood, cooling it, cleaning it, and finishing it with a natural oil. 

Shou Sugi Ban is what we did on our front room fireplace.  Mat has been dying to try this ancient Japanese Secret.  I was a little unsure, mostly because we would have to change every ounce of brick in our house, but it actually is very friendly and not as dark and dank as I pictured.  The wood ends up being a chocolate color, which I can handle ALL THE TIME.  I love chocolate and chocolate loves me. Here are some pictures of the process.

Brush off the charred wood and then vacuum (my job). My orange toenails were highlighted florescent by the time I was done, covered in the fine, soot powder.



Nail wood to fireplace

Use a nice sturdy glue on adhering it to the brick. Otherwise you'll find that it has fallen down in the morning. Wah! It was a nice topple effect on my head while I was touching up the paint on the fireplace.

Keep this guy fed and the music turned up. He was making some serious cuts and probably needed a serious shower.

Oil the wood and then wipe it off

Kon'nichiwa. 
Smothered chocolate wood goodness complete! Beautiful.

Before--if you were wondering (Kelli)

Cabinet update: My motto: You can freak out, cry, (which is all perfectly okay) but in the end, everything always works out.  We may have to wait another week, but it will be what we want and it will be what we will have to live with for the rest of our child raising lives. Our cabinet guy was good, he said, "Anything you want. We'll fix it, I just want you to be happy." Doesn't that make you feel good? He's even working this Saturday to finish them up on time.  I'm getting a lot of lemonade out of this mess up.  I raised my counter up an inch, I am getting everything to line up, different drawer pulls that don't compensate the depth of my drawers and I'm getting a bigger island sink.