Things that make you go 'Wow' when visiting other peoples' houses

[expatinscotland]

Cool books, music, DVDs

Musical instruments

Period features - I'm jealous

Water features

Leather furniture

Antiques

Have the first 3.......

Interesting or eclectic stuff on the walls - some of it may not be 'art' to me, but it does make for interested conversations.

A friend of mine in high school, his folks had a lovely Renoir AND a Picasso. First thing I noticed - won my way into his mum's heart ever since.

Just books in general... houses without books scare me.

And a feeling of love... nothing you can really see, it just envelops you

A tea chest. Couldn't figure out what the hell that was for a while . . .

VERY cool.

space and light. and a warm welcome.
a feeling that everyone gets on with each other
a clean place, not tidy, but actually clllean and yet messy lived in at the same time

tea towels. you can tell a lot about a person from their tea towels.

Interesting books.
Wooden toys.
Eco-friendly cleaning products.
Anything organic.
Beautiful colours.
My kind of music.
Violins or bassoons.
Tofu.
Big genuine smiles.

it's books for me.

expat, what do tea towels tell you about a person? I confess to using stained ones, but they are always clean.

Really original artwork, even if it's not necessarily my taste.

en-suite bathrooms
nicely maintained gardens
space
tidiness

re things on walls - my friend has such a good eye she can pin a torn-off magazine cover up and it looks like art

comfy chairs

good coffee

pile of toys to interest the dds

if it's evening - good lamps

wine

books

oh, ticky, i make almost all my cleansers. but they're in ordinary garden spray bottles w/duct tape labels on them or in a variety of containers w/duct tape labels.

in the hall cupboard, i have my chest (locking plastic storage bin from poundland) of 'potions' as DH calls them, brewing. my oil mixes - just did one the other day that smells AWFUL , but maybe it'll 'mature' - lol, my lotions, my body sprays, etc.

Conservatory
Orchard
Utility room
Quince tree
Iron Maiden

really nice artwork on the walls
any kind of musical instrument withthe possible exception of a kazoo
a really good wine cellar

a summer house
a hermitage
a ha-ha

Tidiness. How do they do it?

expat - a tea chest?? - that was a large wooden packing crate when I was a girl

seem to be cardboard these days

ooh yes, a ha-ha how could I forget.

it's the type of tea towel, ticky.

there are ones you just know are cath kidston or laura ashley. that says a lot about a person's inner nature - femmy, take their tea seriously or that you were important enough to take the good stuff out.

then there are the ones from places - these can say a lot about where a person's travelled.

then there's the assorted ones - maybe they were the only ones clean, or a gift, or maybe they feel comfortable having you around and like you're one of the gang.

And a boot room.

A turret

When a butler answers the door...

nah, iota, this person had a foldy-out thing on a stand that had a central area for blending, which little glass bottles standing in wells for that purpose, and a bunch of pigeon hole like thingies on the side.

it was cool.

i saw one like it recently: whilst touring Duke Atholl's castle .