The houses in our road were all built in the early sixties and had the same front doors. There's a brick arch with a porch behind it about 2ft deep. A good idea when you had milk and papers delivered.Then a small step-up to a glass and timber front door. By the end of the sixties many had an arched second wooden door frame added, to the front, thus effecting a shallow "airlock." The door had to open outwards, as the porch wasn't deep enough for it to open inwards. Over time these started to rot and were replaced with double-glazed units. When ours needed replacing about twenty-odd years ago, my wife said, "Why don't we get rid of the inner door at the same time?" This required me to build up the floor of the porch to the level of the hall. But it was worth it. It also meant the new front door could open inwards. It isn't much, but the extra room made a lot of difference. As the porch had bare brick walls. I had to get a guy in to plaster it to meet the interior walls and plaster the arch. The ceiling didn't plastering, as k#it had been done before the door frame had been built. We changed the carpet at the same time and twice since. If you weren't aware of the alteration, you wouldn't know that wasn't an original feature. I've not noticed any other house with this feature. The original inner door would have been where the two doors of our shoe cupboard meet. If it were still there, there wouldn't be enough room for this cupboard. There's still only this much space between the cupboard and the bottom stair. Because the door opens inwards, there's no visible unsightly hinges. This post was prompted by the fact that we've new neighbours moving in across the road shortly. Today, a double glazing company came and ripped out a perfectly good double-glazed outer door and replaced the wooden inner door with a double glazed unit. The people next door to them who moved in last year did exactly the same thing. As I often say, each to their own. But it seems strange no one has thought of adding this useful space.
I am trying to figure it out. They removed a perfectly good double glazed door (not sure what it is, but anyway) and put in another double glazed door? I would have liked to get the door that was replaced. I could use some new doors on my 100+ year old house. I hope they did not throw that door in the trash. Do you have something like Habitat for Humanity with a thrift store that resells building materials to raise money for their work? So, the stairs are just barely inside the front doors? My one aunt lived in an old house with a foyer inside her front door. There was an exterior door, and then a nice interior door both with glass windows. Her stairs were a bit further back from the inside foyer door. One could leave their shoes/boots in the foyer in bad weather. She is long gone now, but that is how her house was.
Ours is a very small house, the two reception rooms are 9ft x 12ft and 9ft x 20ft as we had a small extension over 40 years ago. The smallest of the three bedrooms is 8ft x 6ft, as is the bathroom. The plus points are that it's in an estate either side of a "U" shaped crescent, off a main road built in the early sixties. q We're on the inside of the upright part of the "U" so we have a 90ft garden, as has the house round the other side of the crescent where the garden backs onto ours. The whole of the inside of the "U" is a haven for wild life. There's no way a developer would build an estate this way now. The gardens would be considered a waste of space. They'd cram in more houses. These houses, especially those like ours, on the inside of the crescent, sell very quickly if they ever come up for sale.
We (my granddaughter and I) also have a very small house. It's nice for the two of us, though. They were built after the war. Ours was late 40s early 50s. I think these were built from 1948-about 1951. The houses here are so close together, though. I've never lived anywhere that has houses this close. But we were lucky, when my son bought it, he liked the fact that it was on a "double lot". My granddaughter was 5 years younger, at the time so we had room for badminton even with my one raised bed, we played 2 square on the slab that I now use for potatoes. The snow was deep enough one year we made a ramp to sled down from the slab into the back yard. I now have 2 raised beds but I can't imagine a second house fitting between our house and the one next door! My granddaughter and I just got back from the Irish shop. She talked me into going. (Yes she twisted my arm). We came home with a holiday drink. Sjoerd have you had (or heard of) Glogg (I don't know how to get the two dots above the "o")? I guess it's from around your neck of the woods. She didn't like it, but she wouldn't mix it with anything. I mixed it with ginger beer and next I'll try it with apple cider, heated up. Just adds a little spice.
Hi Willow— you are right that we know glögg, or glühwein as some folks call it. It is a typical drink around the kerst time. There are so many different recipes with and without alcohol.
