‘Go Big Or Go Home’ Home Edition

Disclaimer: The following observations are things I noticed during my time living in Holland.
They are in no way about certain people and the opinions stated are just that, my opinion.
I don’t mean to portray anything as a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ difference, simply ‘different’ then what I was used to.
😊😉🇨🇦•🇳🇱

As time goes by, I plan on sharing some of the things I learnt/noticed/experienced during my time living and traveling in Europe.

This is the second such post and I apologize in advance if I repeat some things, when moving around the different subjects, you can read the first post here ‘Go Big Or Go Home’ Kitchen And Surroundings

‘Go Big Or Go Home’ Home Edition.

So, once we leave the kitchen space of a *typical Dutch home, we head to the bathroom.

Where else would you go after being in the kitchen 😜

Anyways, they generally have one small bathroom near the entry as the houses kind of main bathroom/guest bathroom and that one contains a toilet and a sink.
A sink that fits one hand at a time, no joke 😳

(And it’s usually just a cold water tap)

They will have a ‘normal’ 😉 sized bathroom somewhere else, with a sink you can wash in, a toilet you can sit on without hitting your head on a slanting ceiling and usually a shower/tub of the size I’m used to.

Though I hardly ever seen a bathroom that had a fan in it?
They have brick houses, so humidity, post shower isn’t such a worry to get rid of as it is for our dry walled/wooden homes in Canada.  I guess the Dutch must not smell when they go number 2 either, because personally, I like a fan for that reason, be it my stench or someone else’s 😝

They are big on subway tile in the bathrooms and for the most part, they had an older, more sterile feel then the decorated bathrooms I was used to.

Having three bathrooms, all with a shower/tub and all diversely decorated in the home I grew up in.

I think it’s due to the fact that the homes last longer and can be years old by the time someone else moves in and if a bathroom is tiled and usable it would be one of the more costly/left last, to renovate places in the house?

Not really sure, if you know why, better, let me know in the comments! 😊

On to stairs… the blasted, narrow little slats sticking out of an almost upright incline.

The things I tripped on so many times, while cautiously walking at a normal pace, going up or down, but usually down since I’d be tripping😜

Back in the day, property tax was based on how wide a house was, so they built up instead.
Making for very narrow, steep stairs.
You have to walk up them with your feet sideways.
Space wise it’s pretty smart, safety wise… I highly recommend against it, especially if you’re not graceful… unlike me of course who floats across any surface, swan like 😋

Now, after my feet and back were messed up from tumbling on the stairs, let’s move up to the bedrooms/hallways upstairs, where I can hit my head on the slanting ceilings 🤕

I did that so many times too… I probably came back to Canada, dumber, due to brain cells I knocked out when I’d bend over to pick something up and then stand up quickly, forgetting the ceiling was shorter than me.

They are pretty nifty with making space out of it once again though, using the narrow base of the wall, pre slant and converting it into storage.

It’s rare to have a built in closet and most people have a free standing wardrobe.

Due to the height of the houses a lot of the floor plans have more of a lengthy, large hallway kind of feel, compared to the more wide, open layouts I was used to.

Home decor varies a lot less from house to house then it would in Sask.
Which is funny to me because there were MANY home decoration/furniture stores with reasonable prices.
The colors and decorations generally found in homes were from a few of the same stores and more on the knick knack side of the scale.

Many little hanging ornaments, candles, saying plaques and pictures would be found, usually in white, grey or blush pinks 😉

When I first arrived in Holland it was funny to see the white washed look, remade vintage furniture and overall feel of what we, back at home had been seeing on Pinterest and oohing and awing over😉

It got normal fast though and I missed the variety and color found back in Sask.

Many a Dutch person probably left slightly blind after being in my chartreuse colored living room 😂

So, after climbing the ladder like stairs and walking through a hallway bent at a 45 degree angle to avoid hitting your head, you fall into bed for a restful sleep.

(Unless the frogs are ‘singing’ 😳 they growl. They have monster frogs there, no joke)

Anyways, if you’re sleeping alone in a single bed you probably wouldn’t notice anything odd… but if, as a couple you go to bed, you will do so on two, separate mattresses, pushed together and made up with two, separate sets of bedding and blankets.
That’s the only normal they know, in homes, hotels, b&bs etc.

It has to do with being able to maneuver the mattresses in the little vehicle and homes.

Typical Dutch 😏

*That above phrase is one you/me as a tourist/foreigner would hear, A LOT.
Because they are a small place, they kind of have a syndrome of wanting to make sure you know what it ‘typical Dutch’; Straight from Holland, made in the Netherlands, created/invented there or pointing out what famous people who are actually Dutch or descendants from Dutch  😋
Sooo, be it flowers, food, a phrase or product they will be suuuure to let you know it’s a typical Dutch thing.
Only good things of course 😉

(Sorry about the quality of some of the pictures, it’s a tad tricky to find images to use😬😉)