Bed and Bakery: A Low-Key Cafe + Living Quarters in Japan - Remodelista
Photography by Shunichi Koyama, courtesy of No. Business up front domestic quarters in the back Yuko Kim Safu a floral design teacher and cafe owner in... ...Yokohama City Japan wanted to transform her modest Western style wooden house into a small cafe with living space included The front porch of the house was originally Yuko’s flower shop but in recent years had been used as storage. The Peace Flower Market Factory is open weekends and holidays only, and is an offshoot of Yuko’s main Peace Flower Market, a combination café and flower shop a mile away in bustling Motomachi. Takuya Tsuchida, the founder and principal architect of No. The cafe ceiling has exposed wooden joists and wood-fiber cement blocks, also known as wood wool and excelsior (and typically used as insulation). The architects were also enlisted to update the couple’s main living area, which they enlarged by removing nonessential walls and lining the perimeter with built-in steel-framed benches. The existing room had tall ceilings and skylights. The table is an extension of the kitchen island fitted with open cubbies. The veneered plywood cabinets and island are topped with a thin layer of stainless steel. The simple brass hardware was designed by No. Black ink illustrations by Toshiko Kimura, artist friend of Yuko’s, appear in her cafes and here on a birch plywood panel. There’s a small living area off the kitchen and another living room downstairs, both of which open to large wooden decks. The cafe has its own commercial kitchen, and the remodeled back quarters are the couple’s own kitchen and dining area.