We had a pretty good stay at Chikako's place and enjoyed our time in Kyoto. Chikako let us check in early, which was very helpful, and greatly appreciated, as our flight had arrived at 6.30AM, and we were pretty tired. She was always prompt to respond to our questions, and helped us with working out how to use the airconditioning, which had instructions (reasonably enough) in Japanese.
The house is run as a business, and isn't 'lived in'. It has been renovated in a traditional Japanese style, although with a good deal of vinyl and plastic, and is relatively spacious by Japanese standards, consisting of a downstairs living area, with a very basic kitchen, (toaster and hotplate), and a bathroom/laundry, with two good size bedrooms upstairs. Both the living room, and the spa tub in the bathroom, overlook a lovely Japanese rock garden, which is a very nice feature. nb re; bathroom; only a single very small face towel is supplied, so we bought ourselves a couple of bath towels to use during our stay.
The twin single beds were comfortable, and, as the area is very quiet, we had no trouble sleeping. We didn't use the second bedroom, which was completely empty, with futons in the wardrobe for use if needed. There is a note in the house book stating that if you use any extra bedding, there is a $50 fee applicable, so we didn't :)
As in most most Japanese houses you are living at floor level, and sitting on cushions, and there are no western-style chairs or tables on the property, except for a very large massage chair (which actually gives a pretty good massage).
The stairs leading to the bedrooms are very steep, so if you are unsteady on your feet, or, heaven forbid, prone to sleepwalking, bear this in mind, especially as you're likely to be walking around in flip flops, or slippery socks.
There is reverse-cycle air conditioning in each room, so heating and cooling is taken care of, and in general the property is comfortable (with the above caveats), but certainly not luxurious, as described. It would suit a maximum of five guests, as any more than that would be far too crowded, and you would be tripping over each other.
There were a few things that made for a less than ideal stay.
The house is situated in an out of the way part of Kyoto, with nothing much to see in the immediate vicinity, and the places you would wish to visit are all about a twenty minute walk away.
Tourist rentals seemed to be a bit contentious in the area, and there was some hostility from the local residents, one or two of whom would ostentatiously u-turn in the street whenever they saw us, and return to their houses to glare at us, and double lock their front doors.
Probably related to this, every vertical surface in the house was festooned with motel-type signage, admonishing guests to do and not to do various things (such talking loudly, or asking locals for assistance, etc.). There were 10 of these signs on the ground floor alone.
Next time we visit Kyoto, we would probably look to stay in Gion (the old area of town), where the local people are more accepting, and we would recommend that other visitors consider doing the same.