Notting Hill

One of the great things about staying in a house belonging to friends is not only the joy of having your own kitchen rather than extortionately priced room service, but that you can check out new ideas for your next residence. And if you're going to do this, it's particularly helpful if you can stay in a rather gorgeous 4-bedroomed house in Notting Hill whose owner is a professional interior designer. It's a bit like staying in your very own boutique hotel, only cheaper and less intimidating (mostly). This is what I've come up with so far:

I like:
Wooden floors but with carpet inserts around the bed. Much toastier under the toes, but also very clean and simple.
Spotlights at ankle level in the hallway to the kitchen.
A conservatory-style kitchen.
Gas fires -- these are especially fabulous when you can't figure out how to put the central heating on and the cashmere blanket just isn't enough to keep you warm when you're reading The River Cafe cookbook.
Giant showerheads.
Libraries with properly designed shelves and ladders.

I don't like:
Metal countertops in the kitchen. I keep worrying about leaving fingerprints all over them, and dulling kitchen knives on the surface. Or scratching the surface. (Marble isn't much better: It's incredibly porous and soaks up stains pretty quickly. My friend Julia cut up some oranges on the marble worktop of her Italian host family, leaving orange marks all over and resulting in them having to have the top ground down. Expensive business, marble.)
Wooden basins in the bathroom. They look wonderful, but it's disconcerting seeing all your teeth-brushing rinsing water complete with toothpaste-y backwash highlighted against the dark grain.
Not being able to figure out the central heating or how to switch the lights on in the kitchen. The latter makes creating evening meals something of a perilous affair.
Lots of windows: After five years in a flat in Amsterdam with windows only at two points in the house and nobody overlooking those, I find it strange to be in a house with many windows -- most of which look directly into other houses. So if I can see them, presumably they can see me. Including when I'm on the toilet or dressing after a shower. It feels odd to have to shut doors (and even lock them, depending on how paranoid I'm feeling) when I'm in a house on my own. I also keep catching glimpses of people walking past the house out of the corner of my eye -- which is particularly disconcerting when you're cooking a meal in a darkened kitchen on your own.
Kettles designed for a gas hob. Electric ones are quicker, switch off automatically, and don't lead to you inadvertently setting fire to yourself while sleepily making a cup of coffee in the morning.
Cleaners/builders. I tried making myself a cup of tea this morning, only to discover the cleaner (or possibly the builders) had finished up the PG Tips. I had to have coffee, which is not the same thing at all.

All of these things I will need to avoid in the next iteration of Dumpling Mansions.