How we choose a house — the unromantic part of curation
By Christoph · 28 February 2026 · 7 min read
A check-list. Mattress age, mains gas pressure, kitchen knife sharpness, Wi-Fi speed at 7am — fifty boring things we measure before adding a home.
Romantic stories are easy. The boring half of this job is a spreadsheet of fifty fields, filled in during a four-hour visit. Mattress year (under five). Boiler age (under fifteen). Wi-Fi speed at 7am and 9pm (different from afternoon). Number of mismatched chairs at the table (zero, ideally). Whether the host smiles when their dog walks in. Whether the kitchen has a sharp knife. These are the things that decide whether a guest comes home grateful or merely tolerant.
