We moved to Miyama from Barcelona in 2019. We were full of dreams, full of energy and with a very challenging project to accomplish. We had just bought a 115 year old Japanese traditional house in the mountains of Kyoto. Our goal? To reform it completely to transform it into a country house to rent, for people to come to Miyama, enjoy nature and forget about their everyday life even if it was only for a day!
I will tell you all about Casa Miyama in another post, but today I want to talk about our second lodge project in Miyama. Why did we open a second house to rent? Well, Casa Miyama turned out to be a great house, perfect for groups or families from 4 to 8 people. However, if you rent it only for two people it can be a bit expensive and maybe too big, specially if you stay only one night. So after 5 years in the business, we decided it was time to offer a different kind of house, for 2 people only. A much smaller place, but equally beautiful. This is how Koya Miyama was born.
We spent more than half a year drawing possible layouts, changing ideas constantly to use the small space in the best way, only to end up increasing square meters bit by bit. After all the brainstorming, what was intended to be a 30 m2 little apartment, ended up being a 50m2 charming house where you can spend as many days as you want, being much more afforadable than Casa Miyama and more suitable for couples or friends.
The house, how it was designed
Because the house is located a bit high from the road, it has a magnificent view of the village and the valley, so one thing we were positive about was that we wanted two huge windows to be able to enjoy the view from the sofa. Another must for a country house located in a remote mountain area was for sure a firewood stove. Spending ours listening to your favorite records by the fire with a nice cup of tea is an unbeatable winter moment.
Even though some of our guests might just order our dinner box and our wood oven baked bread and Spanish ham and cheese set breakfast, we knew that those guests staying more than one night they would like to cook their own food. This is the reason why we wanted to offer a nice comfortable and big enough kitchen in the same space as the dinning area. Why a tile kitchen? One thing we knew for sure was that we wanted to use real materials, not plastic, not fake wood (whenever possible). So tiles, wood, iron, wool, paper, linen, all these natural materials direct from the earth are very present in our house. I believe that hotels should offer experiences that you might not be able to have in your own apartment. And a tile kitchen is one of those things. They are lovely but hard to clean for an everyday life, but perfect for a short stay in a beautiful place. Also because we decided to use beautiful green hexagonal tiles, the kitchen doesn’t feel so much as a kitchen.
The other big issue was the bath. Baths in Japan are almost sacred places. When Japanese people travel all over Japan, choosing a place with a nice bath is a crucial issue. So we knew it was important to design a nice space where guests could relax. In that sense, hinoki was a must. Japanese cypress wood has an amazing smell, humidity is not a problem and its give the warm touch we were looking for. So hinoki walls and hinoki frame, and a beautiful black stone tile to create some contrast. And of course a garden view from the bath! Again big square window, to enjoy evening light up!
And of course, two semi double beds with gaze linen sheets made in Kyoto to have the best and most cozy sleep!
The outdoors
A cottage in the middle of nature without a porch or a bbq space is just not a proper cottage. Also because Miyama is surrounded by little hills all over, rainy days are no exception. So we designed a porch big enough to have the bbq under roof but still outside. And for those sunny summer days we thought having a little cold plunge with mountain water would make your day. Again we chose blueish tiles and chestnut wood. Having a bath under plum trees on a sunny August afternoon is a great pleasure!
Finally, for evening nights with a glass of wine … we couldn’t miss a bonfire!
If you are looking for a place to take a break from your intense trip all over Japan, Koya Miyama might be your perfect rural escape. Feel like a local, surrounded by rice fields, hawks flying around, the sound of the river and the wind. Enjoy Japanese countryside life, let time slow down a bit and relax! Japan is more than temples, crowds and sushi!
All pictures by ©Tina Bagué & ©Toru Morimoto. Not allowed to use them anywhere without contacting us.
