Flat hunting deal breakers

Last weekend TLOML and I went to the countryside, aka West Hartford, Connecticut. West Hartford is my image of a quintessential New England town. All sweet wooden houses, pretty Episcopalian church spires, and people leaving their cars unlocked.

We were there to visit the best family in Connecticut, old friends of TLOML and new ones of mine. They are my image of a quintessential New England family: four adorable, smart kids, a hot mum, a dad who knows how to wrestle, and a Portugese Water Dog.

They live in, of course, a quintessentially New England house. Red brick and white clapboard and with a pond at the bottom of the garden.

Kinda like this but with better chimneys

It looks like its been there for about two hundred years, but is a 1940s build. A fact given away by one brilliantly modern feature: the laundry chute. I actually thought they were kidding, when they said the strange little door outside the guest room was a laundry chute. They were not.

Upstairs, laundry goes in

...makes its merry way down the chute...

...to arrive in the laundry room downstairs

Isn't that genius? I've never heard of such a thing but I now consider it essential in any home with stairs. Imagine, saving all that hard labour lugging the laundry basket contents downstairs. Phew!

It's one more thing to add to the 'deal breaker' requirements of our London residence. In addition to two bathrooms (TLOML's request), a garden (mine), and stairs (we hanker after stairs), we now need a laundry chute too.

I can't wait to start hunting!