Shoji Doors to Asian Spa Bathroom

In 1992 when we bought the house that is now our bed and breakfast it was much smaller with a small old whirlpool tub in the same room as the laundry. Now how relaxing is that! So in 1998 we decided that an addition was in order and so evolved the Asian Spa and the sunken Great Room. Where the Asian Spa is now located used to be outside with a landscape of weeds and an old door with several steps as the entrance. We made the space into a sunken bathroom. and where the outside stone steps were we put in oak steps up to the landing on which the sauna now sits

Outside area where Asian Spa now located

Construction of Asian Spa

Inside opening to Asian Spa – Before

Construction on spa bathroom

All of the construction came together as planned and in no time we had our dream ‘spa’ with Jacuzzi whirlpool tub, sauna, and a home for our Asian artifacts. But we also wanted to make the indoor entrance to the room private by using Shoji screens on either side of a Shoji door.The challenge was the size of the space and the fact that heights and widths of the three openings were not uniform. No way would we be able to buy ready made screens and doors and custom made were not in the budget!

So thinking outside the box I decided to make my own version of Shoji screens and doors. For the privacy of the bathroom the doors needed to be sturdy and thicker than just the traditional rice paper. So I used thin plywood for the base, strips of molding painted black for the cross sections, but what to use in place of the rice paper. Then remembering my sewing days I came up with the idea to use interfacing as the rice paper. It worked great! Measuring was a challenge with the uneven spaces but somehow, as I look back today, it went great and now 20 years later the doors still work and the still look great!

Shoji Door Entrance From Inside Asian Spa

Shoji Doors for Entrance to Asian Spa Bathroom