Mini Kotatsu!

As the weather gets colder I always start to obsess about ways to keep warm, as I get cold easily (although last year I thankfully found some nutrition supplements like magnesium and kelp helps me a lot). Sweaters and fingerless gloves are favorite items for me to browse the internet for.

Recently I was looking at some really cute kotatsu and covers at romapri.com (RomaPri, aka Romantic Princess, is a Japanese website with really cute stuff, but I don't think they ship internationally I just go there to drool over what they sell).

I guess I should explain what this lovely invention from Japan is. It is a short table with a heating element on the underside of the table that you put a blanket (or a special "futon" made for these tables) over the top of it, and there is usually a top that you put over that so that you have a smooth, flat surface to do things like eat and do homework on. You pull the blanket over your legs so it keeps you nice and warm, even if the rest of the room is cool.

That inspired me to go look at Amazon.com at the few (and usually expensive) that they usually have there so I could wistfully look at them. They had a (slightly) larger selection than I've seen in the past. And I also saw something I had never seen before. A mini kotatsu! A cute, chibi sized kotatsu for one. Actually I think you could have two people around it, there just isn't enough tabletop room for two meals or such though. It would look so cute with a pretty little quilt too. It's a bit different than a regular one. The heating element is not attached to the underside, but is rather on the floor of a little "cage" or "crate" like table, the bars of which prevent you from getting too close to the element to get burnt.

There were a couple others listed under the words "kotatsu for 1 person." The prices varied, but I think they were made by the same company...just sold by different people on Amazon. (Be sure to include shipping into the total cost.)

In these pictures you see it being used by someone laying down next to it and another having a cup of tea at it. You can see that the table is all but hidden except for the top board put over the blanket. It looks so cozy! Something like this would have been great for this tiny, studio apartment I once lived in that was in this really old building and so was really cold most of the time in winter (but I really liked it anyway).

I have to confess, since I have seen DIY tuorials online for making your own kotatsu, seeing this mini one does make me wonder about making my own with something like a crate, a flat board and a mini personal heater like this one (it might be too hot though as it is 200 watts and the table shown here is only 100 watts).


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