Ad_Forums-Top

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Oddments in the living room

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Oddments in the living room

    When I say Oddments, I mean furniture in the same room (usually living room) that don't match the colour, pattern, texture, and so on - mostly in lieu of three piece suites.

    When you were younger and wanted to take a friend over to your home to play in your bedroom (and trying to get up the stairs and perhaps through one or two rooms as a result), or perhaps one was a little bit older and wanted to take your new girlfriend home to meet your parents (i.e. future in-laws), or were you ever embarrassed as to how disorderly the house, and even the furniture in the front room was like?

    Think of it a bit like wearing odd socks - the chairs do not match and the settee (I prefer the word "sofa" myself - it adds class) doesn't either. We were a few years away from a proper three piece suite in the living room, and we weren't going to take advantage of any ELS or Wades Bank Holiday sale to do just that either. My older sister was like that - she was embarrassed by the tartan-patterned rocking chair that my late father used to sit on; a brown reclining armchair from Cavendish Woodhouse which used to block the view of the TV set when raised up. I prefer leather ones instead of fabric - for a start, leather can be cleaned easier and does not let any smells through if you know what I mean.

    I vaguely remember a black "Mastermind" swivel chair in the front room (incidentally I am sitting on an Ikea one as I am writing this), but it was a vague memory, you understand. Of course, to add tastefulness, anything in brown will be described in the catalogue as being "chocolate" coloured as if Cadbury's had made them - nothing at all to do with someone getting chocolate all over them. I know that suites do sound like sweets but isn't that taking things a bit too far?

    Yes, my sister was exactly like that - she was embarrassed that the sofas and chairs don't match, and she was going to bring a friend home for dinner as well - oh the shame of it! I won't even attempt to mention the leather pouffe (whoops, I have just done that!) But, go into most homes, and the armchairs wear a "uniform". I think that the TV-am and Breakfast Time sofas back in the mid 1980s must have had something to do with this as well.

    Looking back, I suppose that we could easily say that all tastes in home design including chairs and sofas look twee 30 to 40 years on, but my sister had those impressions even back then. Never mind Ikea and Billy bookcases... Come back ELS and Cavendish Woodhouse - all is almost forgiven...
    I've everything I need to keep me satisfied
    There's nothing you can do to make me change my mind
    I'm having so much fun
    My lucky number's one
    Ah! Oh! Ah! Oh!

  • #2
    Re: Oddments in the living room

    I will start with my Aunt & Uncles house on my mums side.I remember the bright cherry red front door of the large terrace house,my mum used to take me growing up in the 60s.The entrance hall with the parlour on the left,a small table with an astral what ever you called that plant placed by the window,2 armchairs a sideboard and that was it.I wasnt allowed upstairs so dont remember those bedrooms apart from a few sneak peeps when my uncle wasnt around lol.The lounge was the biggest room of the house with a huge Welsh dresser full of blue and white plates and things against the back wall there was 2 armchairs opposite each other by the coal fire,then there was a table and chairs by the back window which always had a brown thick table cloth.A broom cupboard next to glass door with 2 steps down into kitchen,a small pantry another table with brown thick tablecloth by the window facing the back yard ,there was 2 armchairs by the coal fire,a grandfather clock next to small sideboard,an electric stove behind the back door,cant remember carpets it was probably miss match of mats and rugs.In the back yard there was a wash room no indoor bathroom,the old air raid shelter was still there,my uncle had a grape vine growing around the shelter,also there was a small bedding plot a toilet and shed at the bottom of the yard,the gate lead onto a back lane as they were all terrace houses for ash man coal man etc.A typical old fashioned home for the times love to visit my Aunt and Uncle sadly they both passed away there never married.Probably they were born in that house to

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Oddments in the living room

      I can not remember anything matching in our house as a kid.Even now its a real higgledy piggledy of odds and bods.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Oddments in the living room

        We had second hand furniture when we we small, i remember the couch was cloth with wool woven through it to create patterns, the armchairs didn't match, we had a brown coffee table in the middle of the living room and 2 small wooden cabinets. We lived in Toxteth at the time, we didn't have much money so made do the best we could.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Oddments in the living room

          My lounge is a bit like this as I was given some spare furniture when I moved in & have mostly kept it.
          The Trickster On The Roof

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Oddments in the living room

            Back in them days families from poor backgrounds did have to make do with what they had,not like the must haves from today.In my house growing up I remember the 1940s 50s dining furniture it was horrible dark colour wood but were well built and heavy meant to last,the polished dining table & chairs my dad had a radio gram
            Everything was so old fashioned,even the TV was a wooden box lol

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Oddments in the living room

              I remember our furniture being made up of a few different elements when I was a young kid, we had these horrible itchy black fabric chairs and a radiogramme. Then i remember my parents doing up the house, with an extension built, although for a while we had a concrete floor with a tiny rug on, then they replaced the radiogramme with a G Plan wall unit with an inbuilt "bar" and smoked glass doors for the glasses/knickknacks and a real stereo system with touch buttons. They also replaced the furniture with a lovely comfy beige suede one with wooden ends with some form of cane meshing in the middle, we had coasters that matched these and a corner table with a big luxurious lamp, the one with the pumpkin style base and tall slender shade. This was my favourite era of our lounge, so many happy memories of it like this.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Oddments in the living room

                I remember my Aunt & Uncle weren't so well off, and when my Grandad retired and downsized they took on a lot of his furniture. They still had some items from the 1950s-60s into the 1990s.
                The Trickster On The Roof

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Oddments in the living room

                  My aunt and uncle had their formal living room sofas covered in protective clear plastic zipper covers for at least the entire decades of the 80s and 90s. I remember visiting on Sundays, Christmas, Easter whenever and never, ever seeing anyone ever actually sit on that fabric. Not sure if it was to preserve resale value or in case the pope ever came over to visit them they would have pristine new sofas for him to sit on.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Oddments in the living room

                    Thick velvet curtains to keep the winter draughts out,draught excluders behind doors,or door stoppers

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Oddments in the living room

                      We did get a new 3 piece suite one time and my dad insisted we kept the pouffe even though it never matched anything in the house ever

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Not many people know this. It was quite hard to buy individual pieces of furniture back in the 1930s. Manufacturers and retailers strongly preferred to sell an entire suite of furniture for a room because there was more profit than selling individual pieces.

                        In 1953, G Plan started to manufacture a range of furniture which could be bought one piece at a time according to customer's requirements. This initiated a movement in the industry towards selling individual pieces of furniture.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Yeah, I think most of us did not have a well-organized living room as kids. It's a recent trend to have everything bought together and look coherent. I'm not against new trends though, when it comes to unique ideas for home design as I have used a lot of ideas found online to decorate my newly built house. It's always great to see how many optimizations you can implement and add comfort to your house. There is nothing better than having a cozy place that you always look forward to coming back to.
                          Last edited by NervHQ; 05-05-2021, 01:37.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Not just furnishings but I also recall all the awful ornaments that were common back in the 70s
                            porcelain shire horse with a dray cart
                            glass clowns
                            glass fish
                            benidorm / Spanish Donkey
                            old man and woman figurines

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Faux glass fishing floats hanging on the wall
                              Ravenshead glass on the coffee table
                              Those badly cast brass effect flintlock pistols...also hanging on the wall
                              mfp records proudly displayed in the K-tel record selector
                              A couple of Pan books of horror stories (lurid covers) lying around

                              Love it...If I had the time and money I'd have a dedicated 70's room.
                              Having a spare room would also be a bonus.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X