Monday, November 12, 2007

I'm going to take a nap in the bath...

How do you turn a dilapidated, run-down lot like this...

...in to a palatial, weather manipulated, sliding roofed, floating walled, mini-house in South London -- that is -- in South London for £210,000 (about $435,000 US)?

With a second mortgage from your father to cover construction costs, and around a bazillion friends to put it all together for you.

A steel-framed house is pretty difficult to construct when you can't afford a crane. But somehow, Monty and Claire made magic, constructing this beautiful dream home out of nothing (how much free pizza and beer do you need to offer to do something like this?!?!).

But really, how cool can this house be? It's sammiched TIGHT between two surrounding brick structures. There's just enough room for one bathroom? They're so close to the neighbors that side view windows wouldn't even work. They must be squeezed at the gills, right?

Well, the bed in the master slides to the side to reveal a bathtub underneath. I'd say that kind of space management can be filed under cool.

In actuality, just about everything in this house can be classified as cool, seeing as it all rotates, slides or spins to add more space.

There's the wall on the master:

The window on the upper mezzanine:

The huge, corner-positioned doors on the side of the dance studio. Yes, a dance studio. FYI: The floor is made out of a Sycamore tree that was cut from the site:

The kitchen cabinets that work at a slant to fit into the odd-shaped nooks and crannies:

And yes, once again, the sliding bed/bath:

Want to take a virtual tour?

Take your seat on the internet Routemaster HERE.

Visit the Pekham House's main website HERE.