6 Things About British Houses That Make No Sense, And 5 That Americans Should Steal ASAP
Interview
We get so used to our homes that we can scarcely imagine living any other way. It’s only when we visit someone else or stay abroad for a spell that we realize how even small architectural changes can make us feel like Alice who’s just tumbled down into Wonderland. It’s a bit of a culture shock!
Popular DIY, home decor, and renovation TikTok content creator Brittany (@thebrickhousechronicles), who is an American living in the United Kingdom, had two of her videos go viral looking at just that. In one of her clips, she touches on what Americans find utterly bizarre in British homes. Meanwhile, in another video, she shares what she thinks makes total sense about the ways homes in the UK function. Scroll down for her insights.
Bored Panda got in touch with Brittany, the founder of ‘The Brick House Chronicles’ project, and she was kind enough to tell us why she moved to the UK, what the biggest culture shocks were for her, and how she got started with filming content for TikTok. You’ll find our full interview with her below!
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British houses can be slightly weird. TikTok content creator Brittany shared what design decisions make little sense to people used to American homes
Image credits: thebrickhousechronicles
“These are things in British houses that are strange to an American. First is this double tap situation where one is scalding hot water, and the other is ice cold, and there’s no in between. You just have to wave your hands around like an idiot and hope you can mix the two to get a decent temperature. Thankfully, these have become a lot less common recently.”
Image credits: thebrickhousechronicles
“Next is washing machines in the kitchen. I don’t know why this seems like such an odd place to put it. Maybe it’s because in the US they’ve got their own room, or they’re in the bathroom or a closet. But the kitchen? Just no.”
Image credits: thebrickhousechronicles
“Another thing is that there are no outlets in the bathroom. You might get one that only works for shavers, which like, sexist. But I wanna do my hair in the bathroom and be as happy as the stock footage lady. And all you people who are gonna say, ‘Oh, it’s health and safety!’ I looked up stats on people that have been electrocuted in the bathroom, and most of them wanted to be electrocuted, if you know what I mean.”
Image credits: thebrickhousechronicles
“But also it wouldn’t be such a risk if the shower doors actually kept the water in. Make these glasses longer, England! I beg you.”
Image credits: thebrickhousechronicles
“Lastly, this country needs to accept that it can be a fiery hell here and that you need AC in your buildings that were built to keep in heat. Now I can’t fault too much for this because it didn’t used to be this way. But I spent one summer here before buying a portable unit, and our first year in our house we got an AC installed. A necessary evil, but by god was it necessary.”
Image credits: thebrickhousechronicles
You can watch Brittany’s viral video in full right over here
@thebrickhousechronicles Any guesses as to how many people will tell me to go back home just for pointing out differences? 😂 if its anything like my last one of these, it will be A LOT #birminghamuk #ukhomes #americanintheuk #usvsuk #home #homedecor #britishhomes ♬ original sound – TheBrickHouseChronicles
She also filmed another clip where she shared the upsides of British homes that Americans should consider copying
Image credits: thebrickhousechronicles
“So these are things in British houses that I think we need in the US. First is an electric kettle. Now I know some Americans who are obsessed with tea will have a kettle, but they are definitely not the standard. If we wanna heat up water, we do it on the stove or in the microwave. Which honestly feels insane now that I’ve had a kettle for years.”
Image credits: thebrickhousechronicles
“Next is conservatories, which are just little glass walled rooms on the back of people’s houses. And look how happy these people are to have one. These things are little boxes of warm magic. I love taking a nap in my fiance’s parents’ conservatory when it’s all nice and toasty. Though I’m pretty sure if we had these in Florida, where I’m from, they would get so hot, you’d combust if you went in there.”
Image credits: thebrickhousechronicles
“This next one is one I never thought I’d be into, but British houses seem to have doors for every room rather than an open plan style which is popular in the US. And I have to say, I like the separation, particularly of the kitchen because it means the food smells stay in there. Does anyone else have traumatic memories of their mom roasting peppers and you basically needed a gas mask to avoid the burn? This would have helped with that.”
Image credits: thebrickhousechronicles
“I’m also a big fan of letterboxes on the doors here. We definitely have these in the US, but it’s also really common to have a group mailbox for your neighborhood. These things are so ugly, and I remember ours being so far away when I was a kid and hating having to trek to get the mail. So this is my official request for the US to only use letterboxes in the door. And I know mail delivery people are probably yelling at the screen right now.”
Image credits: thebrickhousechronicles
“Lastly, big flush, little flush. This is genius. You pee, do a little flush. You poo, do a big flush. In the US everything is big, so we do big flush. And we waste water with a big flush. Please give us a little flush.”
Image credits: thebrickhousechronicles
You’ll find the full follow-up video over here
@thebrickhousechronicles Big flush, little flush, cardboard box 🤷 #homedecor #britishhouses #birminghamuk #homeonabudget #ukhomes #americanintheuk #usvsuk ♬ Funny Song – Funny Song Studio & Sounds Reel
Some design quirks are simply a matter of following tradition
Having a home to call your own is a dream come true for many of us! However, depending on where you live, it might not come cheap.
The average house price in the UK in June 2023 stood at around £288,000 ($290,409.30). Meanwhile, the median home price in the US in September 2023 stood at $412,000 (323,455.02) pounds.
However, if you’re prepared to do some renovations relying on your own DIY skills, you can always nab a slightly cheaper property.
Something that we personally couldn’t wrap our heads around was why Brits have separate taps for hot and cold water.
We don’t want to sound overly judgy, but it’s an absolutely abysmal design decision. You have to constantly play a game of “will I scald myself” every time you want to wash your hands or brush your teeth.
Kevin Wellman, the chief executive officer at the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering in the UK, shed some light on this.
“This tradition dates back to a time when hot and cold water were kept separate to prevent contamination through cross connection,” he told the BBC.
“Cold water came from a mains supply and was fit for drinking. Hot water would be serviced by a local storage cistern often situated in the loft. This caused an imbalance of pressures which meant that if incorrect taps and valves were installed one stream of water could force its way across to the other,” Wellman explained.
Image credits: Lisa Fotios / pexels (not the actual photo)
“The lack of closets, the washing machine in the kitchen, and the fact that nowhere has air conditioning even when it does get very hot in the summer was really surprising to me”
We were curious about the biggest culture shock moments that Brittany experienced when she moved to the United Kingdom. She was happy to share her experiences with us.
“When I first moved to the UK, any house I saw made of brick was absolutely beautiful to me. Even what I’d consider some dodgy student housing today looked like it was from a fairytale when I first came,” she told Bored Panda via email.
“Where I’m from in Florida, we don’t tend to have homes made of brick, so it was really surprising to see that pretty much every home here has brick walls. On the flip side, the lack of closets, the washing machine in the kitchen, and the fact that nowhere has air conditioning even when it does get very hot in the summer was really surprising to me when I first arrived.”
Brittany opened up about the inspiration to move to the UK. She shared with Bored Panda that it’s her fiancé’s homeland. “We met while we were both working as teachers in South Korea. After quite a few years in Asia, we decided to settle in the UK.”
According to her, getting a visa for the UK was “definitely a challenging and time-consuming process.” So anyone thinking about moving there from the States should stock up on patience. “Save as much as you can because the visa fees add up very quickly,” she added.
Bored Panda also wanted to find out the inspiration behind Brittany’s @thebrickhousechronicles project on TikTok, as well as what keeps her passionate about sharing videos on the platform.
“When my fiancé and I decided we were ready to start looking to buy a house, I knew I wanted to make content showing the renovation and our experience as new homeowners since I love watching that kind of content myself. I’ve worked in social media marketing since before I decided to create my own content on TikTok, and I’d wanted to create videos for myself rather than just for other brands for a while,” she shared with us.
“Seeing comments or getting messages from people who are inspired or just get a laugh from my videos really keeps me motivated to keep making videos.”
Image credits: Lina Kivaka / pexels (not the actual photo)
No house will ever be ‘perfect,’ but we can embrace its quirks and make it feel like home
Anyone who’s spent at least some time living in the United Kingdom probably knows that the homes there tend to be… quirky, to say the least.
On the one hand, you’ve got houses with gorgeous gardens, orangeries, and unique decor and architectural details pretty much everywhere. Many British homes also have distinct names that add character (but might scare off post workers from abroad!).
On the flip side, you can also come across tons of tiny, draughty buildings that make you wonder where it all went wrong. They sometimes have single-pane glass windows, creaky floorboards, uneven carpeting, rickety appliances, and yards so cramped and yucky that you don’t want to spend any time there.
And don’t even get us started about the “landlord special”: walls that have been coated in so many haphazardly applied layers of paint that they resemble dystopian housing more than Hobbiton.
What we’re trying to say is that just like any other country, the United Kingdom boasts its architectural and design quirks. We love some of them. We loathe others.
But we know that there’s no such thing as a ‘perfect’ house and that no home is ever truly ‘finished’ in terms of decor or renovations. It’s always a work in progress. So you might as well embrace the weirdness and look at the flaws as something that gives the property character and flavor.
Brittany boasts 14.7k followers on TikTok, as well as another 9k adoring fans on Instagram. She and her fiancé currently live in Birmingham. The couple describes themselves as “new homeowners trying to figure out how to not burn our house down” as they renovate and decorate their property. On top of DIY, decor, and renovation updates, Brittany also shares fun videos about the cultural differences between the US and the UK.
What do love and loathe about British homes the most, Pandas? What things would you love to change if you could and which design decisions do you think work wonderfully well? If you’re feeling up to it, share your thoughts in the comments. Meanwhile, for some more awesome content, feel free to follow Brittany’s TikTok page @thebrickhousechronicles.
Image credits: Mark / pexels (not the actual photo)
Here’s what some of Brittany’s fans on TikTok had to say about watching her videos
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As a tea drinker, I hate it when I go to a hotel and there IS NO KETTLE. Instead, there offer teabags and some sort of coffee maker or coffee pod device thingy. The instructions say that I can run hot water through that machine and make tea but they LIE. Either the machine has a seizure over the whole idea and doesn't work or the whole beverage reeks of coffee and that is just the grossest way to make tea. I travel with a kettle now.
Yes, I spent a month travelling around the US and really hated that every single hotel room had that one specific flimsy black coffee maker.
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The thing about washing machines - don’t most Americans in apartments not have one at all? To me that’s weird, unless I couldn’t afford to buy one I’d rather have one in my kitchen than have to trek to a laundrette or communal laundry room.
Yeah, that would be so annoying. I wash my gym kit after every sweaty session. If I didn't have a washing machine in the flat it would be terrible! We don't have a tumble dryer though and do go down the road to the laundrette in winter to dry towels and bedding.
Load More Replies...
We have a thing in our house called 'house hunter bingo'. Those TV shows where people (usually Americans) are looking for houses or apartments in other countries. Check off when e.g. they mention 'king-size bed', or 'an oven for a turkey', or they use the phrase 'it's a little smoll' (no, not 'small', they seem to put some effort into saying 'smoll'), or when they express surprise that the kitchen is not big enough to accommodate a reunion of everyone they ever met since they were in kindergarten. That sort of thing.
As a tea drinker, I hate it when I go to a hotel and there IS NO KETTLE. Instead, there offer teabags and some sort of coffee maker or coffee pod device thingy. The instructions say that I can run hot water through that machine and make tea but they LIE. Either the machine has a seizure over the whole idea and doesn't work or the whole beverage reeks of coffee and that is just the grossest way to make tea. I travel with a kettle now.
Yes, I spent a month travelling around the US and really hated that every single hotel room had that one specific flimsy black coffee maker.
Load More Replies... The thing about washing machines - don’t most Americans in apartments not have one at all? To me that’s weird, unless I couldn’t afford to buy one I’d rather have one in my kitchen than have to trek to a laundrette or communal laundry room.
Yeah, that would be so annoying. I wash my gym kit after every sweaty session. If I didn't have a washing machine in the flat it would be terrible! We don't have a tumble dryer though and do go down the road to the laundrette in winter to dry towels and bedding.
Load More Replies... We have a thing in our house called 'house hunter bingo'. Those TV shows where people (usually Americans) are looking for houses or apartments in other countries. Check off when e.g. they mention 'king-size bed', or 'an oven for a turkey', or they use the phrase 'it's a little smoll' (no, not 'small', they seem to put some effort into saying 'smoll'), or when they express surprise that the kitchen is not big enough to accommodate a reunion of everyone they ever met since they were in kindergarten. That sort of thing.
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