#221 Baker Street

[T.o.b.y]

Ha! Found it. But not really ha, since it turns out what I had in mind isn't John's bedroom at Baker St, but an early idea for John's room before Baker St. I just got that wrong back when I spotted it. Damn.

 

Okay, put "see what John's room at Baker St looks like" on my series 4 wish list. Especially what it looks like now. What's in it? Is Sherlock using it for anything? Does he keep junk there, or boxes or body parts or drugs or...? Does Mrs Hudson use it to hang up her laundry? Or is it still fairly "John's bedroom"ish, with a bed and a few spare clothes, in case John has to stay late for case work and doesn't feel like curling up on the sofa? I mean, John still has a key to Baker St. It's not unreasonable to assume he still has a room.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I've written up my impression of John's bedroom in the spoiler box below.  Anyone who also has a mental image of it, please do likewise (before you read mine, of course), and then we can compare.  If you have no mental image of your own, I'd still be interested in your comments, additions, or complaints about mine.

 

 

John's room overlooks Baker Street.  It's smallish, with just one window (so there are apparently two front bedrooms on that floor).  The head of his bed (an ordinary double, I think) is against the front wall, mostly to the left of the window, but with part of the headboard overlapping the window.  There's a small, simple nightstand next to the bed, in front of the window.  If you turn and stand with your back to the window, there's a small clothes-closet in the wall in front of you, with the door to the room somewhere to the left of that.

 

 

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Interesting thoughts Carol.  My big issue (and not with your description) is that I keep rotating the main part of the flat in my head.  I keep picturing the smiley face wall as street side even though it's not, it's adjacent to it.  I've seen the CGI rendition of the main floor of the flat so I need to keep that in my head.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Okay here is what I see in my head.

As you stand in the door facing into John's bedroom, there is a window on the wall to the right, the headboard of bed is up against the wall you are facing. There is a bedside table and a clothes closet against the left hand wall. Probably a chest of drawers against the wall facing the bed.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

That sounds about like my version, except that the bed has been moved, and I hadn't noticed the dresser.

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I just wish I knew if this is something I have actually seen....or what.

[Carol the Dabbler]

... I keep rotating the main part of the flat in my head.  I keep picturing the smiley face wall as street side even though it's not, it's adjacent to it.  I've seen the CGI rendition of the main floor of the flat so I need to keep that in my head.

 

I assume you're talking about the 3-D floor plans (click on each small picture to see that view considerably enlarged).  Before seeing those, I had absolutely NO idea of how everything fit together in that house.  In my mind, it was all just sort of vaguely there.  But I've studied the plans well enough that I now have a pretty clear mental picture of the second [American], alias first [british] floor, and the best part is that it all seems to jibe with the episodes.  The person who worked out those plans (apparently just from watching the show) must have an amazing ability to visualize and integrate -- plus the willingness to put in a whole lot of work on both the research and the graphics.

 

Hopefully the forthcoming behind-the-scenes book will have more info of this sort, and we're expecting our copy any day now.  Has anyone got theirs yet?

[SherlockedCAMPer]

That's exactly the plans I'm talking about.

[sfmpco]

Has anyone ever discussed John's room?  We never see it, of course.  It doesn't seem connected to the main flat... just is called "the upstairs bedroom" like a disembodied room.  Like, what else is up there on that level?  So if John needs to take a pee in the night, he's got to come down the stairs to the main flat?  Obviously Sherlock's bedroom is the "master" bedroom since it has the bathroom connected to it (and of course he would be in the "master" bedroom since that's who he is).  John's bedroom is just a nebulous thing.

[Boton]

Has anyone ever discussed John's room?  We never see it, of course.  It doesn't seem connected to the main flat... just is called "the upstairs bedroom" like a disembodied room.  Like, what else is up there on that level?  So if John needs to take a pee in the night, he's got to come down the stairs to the main flat?  Obviously Sherlock's bedroom is the "master" bedroom since it has the bathroom connected to it (and of course he would be in the "master" bedroom since that's who he is).  John's bedroom is just a nebulous thing.

 

I keep hoping John's bedroom also has a bathroom attached, but we have never been given a clue about that.  

[T.o.b.y]

I doubt John had his own bathroom at Baker St, because in The Reichenbach Fall, we saw him walk around the living room in his bathrobe, having obviously just taken a shower, and it stands to reason that if he showered upstairs, he'd probably have come down fully dressed.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Unless upstairs bath is a half bath only in which case he could have a bath but still share a shower.

[sfmpco]

Still odd because it's like the only think up there...

[Carol the Dabbler]

Unless upstairs bath is a half bath only in which case he could have a bath but still share a shower.

 

I can think of two upstairs configurations that might lead John to use Sherlock's bathroom.  If there's just a toilet and sink (a "half bath"), he'd have to do his bathing downstairs, as CAMPer says.  And if he has an old-fashioned bathroom with a tub and no shower, he might prefer to use Sherlock's if it has a shower.

 

Of course any time he's already downstairs, he'd probably use Sherlock's bathroom to pee in, but I do hope he has some sort of toilet facilities upstairs!

[Boton]

OK, here's what I picture when I think of John's room:

 

 

It is the same floor plan as Sherlock's, so it adjoins a bathroom and has a window facing out on Baker Street. The bed is in the same position as Sherlock's (up against the wall that has the door) but is a wrought iron or metal frame with a simple blue spread over it that is tucked into the mattress with military precision and tight enough to bounce quarters. There is a single chest of drawers on the wall shared with Mrs. Turner, and perhaps a foot locker at the end of the bed. That's it. He allows no one in his bedroom, and Sherlock actually more or less respects that. There are no experiments kept in there, and Sherlock doesn't go up there to borrow anything because he can't be bothered to climb the stairs to get it -- he'll either text John or get what he needs from the sitting room or his own bedroom.

 

 

In fact, I tend to think that Sherlock and John are pretty respectful of one another's bedrooms.  I've not seen a lot of evidence of either of them barging into the other's room, and I always imagine them giving one another that kind of private space by tacit agreement.  

[Carol the Dabbler]

It just occurred to me that we do not actually know (though we are certainly free to suspect) that John routinely showers / bathes in Sherlock's bathroom.  We apparently see him come out of there in his bathrobe one time -- but for all we know, that was the day that his shower broke or his tub drain clogged.
 
Boton, I agree about John's bedroom being homey but rather spartan, and your ideas seem perfectly plausible except for one detail:
 

If when you say, "It has the same floor plan as Sherlock's," you mean it's directly above Sherlock's, then it could not have a window onto Baker Street, because Sherlock's bedroom suite is in a wing behind the main part of the house (see floor plan), so its window would have a view of the back garden or the alleyway.  My imaginary version of John's bedroom agrees about the window overlooking Baker Street, which places it directly over part of the living room.

 

... I tend to think that Sherlock and John are pretty respectful of one another's bedrooms.  I've not seen a lot of evidence of either of them barging into the other's room, and I always imagine them giving one another that kind of private space by tacit agreement.

That's a good habit for apartment mates to have. In support of your thought, when John checks on Sherlock a couple of times in "Scandal," he doesn't just barge in.

 

[Boton]

It just occurred to me that we do not actually know (though we are certainly free to suspect) that John routinely showers / bathes in Sherlock's bathroom.  We apparently see him come out of there in his bathrobe one time -- but for all we know, that was the day that his shower broke or his tub drain clogged.

 

Boton, I agree about John's bedroom being homey but rather spartan, and your ideas seem perfectly plausible except for one detail:

 

 

If when you say, "It has the same floor plan as Sherlock's," you mean it's directly above Sherlock's, then it could not have a window onto Baker Street, because Sherlock's bedroom suite is in a wing behind the main part of the house (see floor plan), so its window would have a view of the back garden or the alleyway.  My imaginary version of John's bedroom agrees about the window overlooking Baker Street, which places it directly over part of the living room.

 

 

... I tend to think that Sherlock and John are pretty respectful of one another's bedrooms.  I've not seen a lot of evidence of either of them barging into the other's room, and I always imagine them giving one another that kind of private space by tacit agreement.

That's a good habit for apartment mates to have. In support of your thought, when John checks on Sherlock a couple of times in "Scandal," he doesn't just barge in.

 

Oops, you're right about your detail.  Wonder why my mind always puts a window there? Maybe I'll keep my visual but with the alterations you suggest -- probably more peaceful for John if the rooms are offset in that way.

[Arcadia]

More peaceful? With the street traffic right outside his window and Sherlock directly underneath in the living room at all hours playing the violin and shouting at the telly? (John's a saint, that's all I gotta say.....)

[Carol the Dabbler]

No matter what part of the flat John's bedroom is directly over, I'd advise him to invest in a good, comfortable set of earplugs.  And/or a white-noise generator.

 

'Course, he's used to sleeping in a war zone.  Hearing Sherlock banging around downstairs might be positively comforting, compared to that!

 

[sfmpco]

I just saw the pilot for the first time (gasp!), and of course we don't get to see John's room in that either... just whatever other bachelor pad John was maintaining somewhere.  You kind of get the feeling that John doesn't have a lot of "stuff" unlike Sherlock.  All the decor, books, etc., seem to be Sherlock's.  I still maintain that I like the flat better in ASIP than the pilot.  It's just so much more warm.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Agree, the pilot flat seemed dark and less inviting.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Also more "decorated" and less homey.

 

[sfmpco]

Also more "decorated" and less homey.

 

But I think that decorated thing makes it more homey, more lived-in.

[Carol the Dabbler]

That's why I said "decorated" in quotes -- the pilot's flat had more of an interior-decorator look, as I recall, with bright-red wallpaper and a split-level living room.  The series flat looks more hodgepodgey, like a real home.  But it's been ages since I saw the pilot, so please don't count too much on what I say about it.

 

 

[sfmpco]

Well, the wallpaper is a great thing.  In fact, I've heard that sales of wallpaper in Britain have gone up since the series.  I wouldn't mind having a bit of wallpaper...