London Open House - we took part!

Photo stolen from the architects Instagrams account

We've taken part in London Open House before as visitors, but this year we had our home open to the general public. It's mind blowing to think we have a house worthy of opening to the public. We're an incredibly lucky couple.

Ten days ago I didn't think we'd be ready for open house, but thanks from a huge push from everyone at Gurff and Silverpoint we were complete! We even managed to get the living room curtains hung on Friday and had time to unwrap the sofas. It was much harder than we expected to get the legs onto our new corner sofa late on Friday night and I have a couple of blisters to prove it.

Front of the living room

We had a queue lining up at the door ready for us to open at 10am and we were never without a queue until we shut the door at 16:45. (We turned away a few people who arrived after this time too.)

We had four of the Gruff team with us throughout the day and they were troopers at helping to control the crowds and keep an eye on everyone as the wondered round our house.

We had a lot of neighbours pop in during the day, some we knew but lots we didn't. It was lovely to start to get to know some of the people in the street and pick up a few facts that we didn't know before, including that an MP used to live in the 1950s house that stood before our house. He was called something O'Brien, but neither Rebecca or I could find out any more when we did a quick search online.

Wood burner

In addition to the neighbours and a few friends and colleagues that popped in, we also had a lot of strangers! Thankfully they were nearly all respectful of our house and there is no damage or missing items (that we have seen yet). Some people sat our our sofas before we've had a chance to use them and there was definitely a minority that wanted to open our cupboards / wardrobes. Some people also thought it appropriate to lock themselves in the bathroom and use it without asking. What is it with people?

We also had a lot of questions. By far the most common question was about the kitchen floor with people wanting to know what it was made from. The second most comment question was about the solar panels, why we had them sitting in the garden and whether they generated enough electricity for the whole house. Third were questions about the windows, both the wooden sashes and the Velfac units at the back. Some people asked for a demonstration of the big sliding doors and others just took it upon themselves to try them out.

I had someone who I'm pretty sure was angling to rent a room and another person offering their garden design services. There were less questions about money that I expected and the ones I did receive I refused to answer.

I didn't pick up on it, but apparently a lot of architects came through too.

Back of the lounge

Nearly everyone's comments were positive, and I'm pretty sure genuine, about how lovely the house was. We only had a couple of haters, one pair who seemed horrified at our choice of grout colour in the bathrooms and another who really didn't like the blue engineering bricks we've used at the back and side of the house.

It was a long and tiring day, with the practicalities of having lunch quite difficult as there were never less than five people in the kitchen watching you make a sandwich. Overall though it is was quite rewarding.