And That's How the Brits Do It.

During my short but memorable excursion to England I discovered some very nice features in their building practice. I was at a new development, the Marconi House on the Strand, which transformed an old theatre from 1868 into flats and a hotel.  Basically the facade is from the 19th century but with all the modern amenities. Need I say more, modern plumbing, which I still find abominable even in the nice hotel. Somehow water pressure hasn't been translated correctly across the pond. So hopefully the Marconi House did it right. Seems like they are targeting young expats with housing allowances and most likely would never bother to cook at home. The kitchen is unbelievably small. What's behind the cabinet doors are not real storage, it's taken up by the fridge, a dish washer and a washer/dryer combo. Basically there are only 2 shelves that are real storage:

Look at the bathroom, they even put a TV in the shower, yes, shower not bath tub. So one can watch TV during the 5 minutes in the shower?

The wall hung toilet and fixtures are quite similar to mine. I sure do hope mine will turn out just as nice. As for the shower area, it's just so much more pleasant without the "curb." Too bad I can't go curbless ;-(

So what are the features that caught my attention the most? The light switches and plugs and the baseboard. Compare to our switch plates, theirs are way more streamlined and attractive. Also look back at the other pictures and look at the plugs. Beautiful.

Nice switch plates and iPod connector.

The base board is flushed with the wall instead of awkwardly sticking out and giving problem to furniture placement. Have you been frustrated with trying to place a chest of drawers against the wall and ended up with a gap just big enough to have things fall off and disappear into the yonder? At least until you are smart enough to move the chest of drawers and try to dig out your missing items. Anyway, great idea.

Lovely Baseboard.

Goodbye Marconi House.

More examples of switch plates ;-)