House interiors

[I Am Nico]

A little off track, but reading these wonderful stories particularly lyns about living in an 1860's house now 1930. Then I read (on a different thread)about some of these towers built after I came to the US being pulled down after 60 years! We were in Amsterdam last year there are 6 and 8 story buildings the same vintage as lyns still going strong. Why does the new stuff have such short a life? We see that in the US for economic reasons but big cities have big old building where people live over 70 and 80 years old and still very viable.
Just thinking out loud.

Things were made to last. Nobody had any money. We were not a consumer society then but the adverts starting creeping in.I know you can get flat pack houses now. In Coventry they built a high rise called Coventry Point. Now they have pulled it down. I ate in a rubbish Pizza place in a the tiny bit of old coventry that is left in town. With ancient medieval houses round the cathedral. And the old wallpaper is still on in places. They ask you not to touch it. And there is lead paint. I want to hear about more Forum readers houses. They fascinate me. Do any of you dream you are back home or in your gran's. I do. But it's not quite the same sometimes. Another post maybe?

 

[I Am Nico]

Getting back on track, I hope. Nan had a rag rug her mother in law whom she couldn't stand, ("Ar cord abear 'er") made for her bottom 'drowa', sewn together with little bit's of her father in law's old suits. 'Is trazis. But where she got the red centre from I don't know. 'Er britchis' quipped Nan. That was in the spare room with the empty birdcage when my namesake perished. An ancient black linen chest 'come over from Ireland' with one of her dad's grandmothers. My old spare cot. Goodness knows why she kept it, and the Goblin Hoover and a eventually a small bed for me. For when I stayed. This rag rug ended up in the kitchen when mum bought her a puppy when HER mom died. My Great Gran. And he slept on it, and gnawed it and chewed it to bits eventually, I think it was Nan's revenge on her mother in law. I saw the exact same rug almost, spookily when the Black Country Museum first opened.

 

[Morturn]

A little off track, but reading these wonderful stories particularly lyns about living in an 1860's house now 1930. Then I read (on a different thread)about some of these towers built after I came to the US being pulled down after 60 years! We were in Amsterdam last year there are 6 and 8 story buildings the same vintage as lyns still going strong. Why does the new stuff have such short a life? We see that in the US for economic reasons but big cities have big old building where people live over 70 and 80 years old and still very viable.
Just thinking out loud.

As s builder, someone who has spent a lifetime in the construction industry I have, as you can imagine also pondered this question of why some building survive.

The answer to me is because they have not fallen down. If you look at of your abbeys and cathedrals, they were built in stages. The idea behind it was to build so far and see what happens. If all went well, they would build a bit more, wait then build a bit more.

You can often pick out these phases of building and in in quite a few places see that it did start to go wrong, and the builders have patched things up. The leaning tower of Pisa is a classic example, it is actually banana shaped as they built it left it then built more and tried to correct it. There is also a cathedral in the UK (cannot remember where) where the arches supporting the tower have deformed by over 300mm. Once things stopped moving he continued to complete the tower.

 

[mw0njm.]

The real reason

was because the plague wiped out so many skilled people so the commissioners had to make do with workers who made the mistake of using unseasoned wood. As it dried, the weight of the lead tiles on the wood caused the spire to twist, exacerbated by a lack of cross bracing.

 

[mw0njm.]

mort i started out a bricklayer. having past my CGLI exam i worked for a few firms bryants douglas etc,and sure seen some bad workmanship. but as you know we had the clerk of works on site and gangers to put thing right.

 

[devonjim]

I don't know if it is still there but some twenty five years ago we went to The Castle Museum in York. There were a series of rooms decorated in the style of the different decades of the twentieth century. I remember seeing, in the flesh so to speak, my great grans black leaded grate, my grans fireplace with its mirror above, my mom's set of three ducks flying up the wall. Spent ages there reminiscing!

 

[Johnfromstaffs]

Are you familiar with Hilda Ogden’s “Muriel”?

 

[Morturn]

Are you familiar with Hilda Ogden’s “Muriel”?

I do indeed, she had a photo Muriel, quite popular in the 60’s/70’s. They were printed onto wallpaper, the decorator would paper it on for you.

 

[Johnfromstaffs]

I can move forward into the 1950s, if you are interested.

My godmother, Aunt Mary, who had lived in an Edwardian end terrace since the 1920s, commissioned a new bungalow to individual design, for her and her mother, the remaining two of the maternal family. She was a senior rank in the police, and never married.

The design was quite heavy on corridors, with oak blocked floors with loose carpets which her boxer dog used as sledges, sliding along the hall. The kitchen had a cream tiled floor, with cream units with sliding doors and a stainless steel sink with separate taps, and there was a large pantry with a frosted glass window, lots of shelves, and a Frigidaire fridge with a lock that clicked shut like a car door. Out of the kitchen to the back door a cream tiled corridor led past the coats and ‘ats and a loo.

A garage with a heavy sliding door and a radiator to keep her Morris Minor warm faced the street. The central heating was powered by a Potterton boiler, solid fuel fired, in the kitchen.

The choice of use was two bedrooms and a separate lounge and dining room, or have a third bedroom and eat in the lounge, which took up the whole length of the building. The rooms all had high level shelves instead of picture rails, designed to show off nick-nacks and collect dust. The bathroom had a walk in shower, which would have been large enough for a platoon, bath, loo and floor to ceiling oatmeal tiles.

I think she paid less than £5,000 for it, in a quite substantial plot.

 

[Richard Dye]

Things were made to last. Nobody had any money. We were not a consumer society then but the adverts starting creeping in.I know you can get flat pack houses now. In Coventry they built a high rise called Coventry Point. Now they have pulled it down. I ate in a rubbish Pizza place in a the tiny bit of old coventry that is left in town. With ancient medieval houses round the cathedral. And the old wallpaper is still on in places. They ask you not to touch it. And there is lead paint. I want to hear about more Forum readers houses. They fascinate me. Do any of you dream you are back home or in your gran's. I do. But it's not quite the same sometimes. Another post maybe?

Seems like an expensive choice someone made!

 

[devonjim]

Has anyone mentioned "hall wall paper" made to look like wood panelling, came half-way up the wall. A friend had bought a house with this paper and wished to redecorate the hall before moving in, I offered to help, what else was a best man for? We were taken aback to find that this wallpaper had been glued to the wall and no amount of soaking was going to assist with its removal. It was literally chipped off, a square inch at a time.

 

[Richard Dye]

Has anyone mentioned "hall wall paper" made to look like wood panelling, came half-way up the wall. A friend had bought a house with this paper and wished to redecorate the hall before moving in, I offered to help, what else was a best man for? We were taken aback to find that this wallpaper had been glued to the wall and no amount of soaking was going to assist with its removal. It was literally chipped off, a square inch at a time.

Jim, I have seen that in my uncles house and while I was in my teens remember how much work it was to repair, smooth out the wall after he removed it!

 

[NoddKD]

I ran the full spectrum of housing growing up. Started in Athole St Highgate, two up two down, outside loo and no bath them moved to a 3 bedroom flat, Balfour House, Cawdor Crescent which had underfloor heating ! My parents divorced and after a few years mom met a smashing fella whom she married and she and I moved into his three story five bedroomed house in Grove Avenue Mosely...a full gauntlet of houses and to tell the truth I was happy in all of them, its not the house thats the most important, its your parents love and care that make the home good.

I remember watching Cawdor Crescent and the flats and houses being built. Cawdor Crescent went through the back garden of the property we lived in!!!

NoddKD

 

[Morturn]

Has anyone mentioned "hall wall paper" made to look like wood panelling, came half-way up the wall. A friend had bought a house with this paper and wished to redecorate the hall before moving in, I offered to help, what else was a best man for? We were taken aback to find that this wallpaper had been glued to the wall and no amount of soaking was going to assist with its removal. It was literally chipped off, a square inch at a time.

It would have been Lincrusta a type of wallpaper invented by the same person who also invented Linoleum. It’s a high relief wall coving that is made from Linseed oil and wood pulp. Ove time the linseed oil dries out, so it become s harder and harder.

It is still made today, and I have hung it. You have to soak it in water to make it pliable.

 

[rosie]

I mentioned Lincrusta #12. Ours had so much paint over the years that you could barely see the pattern, I think it was probably stronger than the the wall underneath!! It was still there when my mother died and she had lived there all her married life.
Nico's post reminded me of Nan's ragrug, it was old dark and heavy, she never wasted material so it might have been Grandad's old trousers! Our "staircarpet" was like thick green sacking (sisal?) and was very narrow, held in place with stair-rods. The stairs were narrow too.
rosie.

 

[Vivienne14]

I can’t believe Lincrusta is still being produced, but it is ! It was highly textured paper. This is quite similar to the Lincrusta we had in the Hall, running below the dado rail. Look at the price ! I remember my mum saying it was pricey, Viv.

 

[Vivienne14]

As part of my mum’s constant attempts to modernise the interior of our 1930s house, she bought a 3 piece Danish-style suite in an orangey-yellow colour from Cavendish Furnishers on Hawthorn Road, Kingstanding. But to do so, she entered into a credit agreement.

I remember going with her to pay weekly, through a ‘hole in the wall’ at the back of the shop. I’ve since wondered if having this ‘hole’ was intentional to keep transactions discreet, as I know at the time Hire Purchase was frowned upon. This would have been in the late 1960s. It was certainly frowned upon by my dad who didn’t believe in credit of any kind, except a mortgage. My bet is, my mum didn’t tell my dad until a much later time into the agreement.

I don’t even know how she managed to get a credit agreement, as I think in those days a married woman couldn’t do so (?) or maybe she got it because she always worked. Or maybe she got it through some other means, but I know it was without my dad’s consent.

I don’t remember anyone coming to the house to collect payments, but from an advert by the shop in the 1970s when they were looking for ‘collectors’ for their business, this was how they collected payments. How times have changed. Viv.

 

[Vivienne14]

This photo of my mum, probably taken around the late 1950s, speaks volumes to me of our house interior of the time.

The home made covers over the 1940s chairs, the antimacassars on the chair backs, the brocade cushion covers and the Moroccan leather pouffe. It wouldn’t be long before she transformed this room with Danish-style furniture, modern carpet, a rented TV and lots of coloured glass ornaments, including tall vases and those horrendous clown ornaments.

It’s funny that even though it’s a B&W photo, I can remember the colours. The home made chair covers were white, with a blue/black pattern. The cushions were black and red. The pouffe was red and greyish patterned, with red/grey cord around the middle. I can even see the clothing colours; two-tone, green mohair cardigan with brown and white Chanel-style patterned dress in some sort of man-made fibre.

Mum loved to play Patience!

Viv.

 

[NoddKD]

It's a very strange,thing but when I think of my own past everything is in vivid colour. Thinking of other peoples past they always seem to be in black and white! I wonder if this is related to the fact that most photographs years ago were black and white. I wonder how modern generations see the past? Colour or monochrome. (Note that I brought myself up to date )

NoddKD

 

[Richard Dye]

It's a very strange,thing but when I think of my own past everything is in vivid colour. Thinking of other peoples past they always seem to be in black and white! I wonder if this is related to the fact that most photographs years ago were black and white. I wonder how modern generations see the past? Colour or monochrome. (Note that I brought myself up to date )

NoddKD

Interesting, memory process.....My distant memories for the most part are different shades of grey, some darker than others. After I met my now wife which is about 57 years ago things began to get colorful, now wonderful bright colors!

 

[latoyabongaarts]

I am purchasing a home built in 1991, and it has some really out of style tile in the kitchen, dining room, and leading to the front door. At first, I was planning on removing it completely and putting in laminate or bamboo. I have now found that the tile goes under the kitchen cabinets. Because of this, I don't think I can remove it. What can I do to make this space look awesome? I am also planning to add new furniture I like these reclining sofas but ay opinion will be appreciated. Can I put a new floor on top of it? Will this cause problems with the doors or anything else? I know I would at least have to raise the level of the floor in the living room to be flush with the tile.

Alternately, do you think I could choose wall colors and carpet that would make this tile look classy? I really, really don't want it to look tacky, but I'm not sure my skills or budget will allow a complete removal of the tile. The tile is actually in really great condition, and if it weren't for those green diamonds, I would be more than happy to leave it, and just get new carpets. If I can clean this place up, it will be really nice for my family, but I could use some design help. Thank you in advance!

 

[Brummie a long time ago]

really out of style tile in the kitchen, dining room, and leading to the front door.

What can I do to make this space look awesome?

Alternately, do you think I could choose wall colors and carpet that would make this tile look classy?

Ask 10 people, get 20 different replies. (wives opinions are compulsory in this case).

Removing tiles is hard, but do-able. Making good afterwards to take a new covering is challenging. New floor skim. Taking the kitchen units out prior to this work would be a no-brainer.
Skimming the lounge floor to existing tile level, or a new level. would be quite easy, then new carpet will cover the tiles anyway. Alternatively, just skim the whole floor over the tiles as well. For the kitchen/hall, try a good quality laminate or flexible off the roll covering. Both would need underlay, raising the floor as you say. Without underlay, a flexible floor covering will eventually show up the tile grouting lines underneath. Alternatively use a levelling compound beforehand. A bit like a thick paint that fills undulations then sets flat. The plinth of kitchen units would probably accommodate this, but fitting would have to be accurate as a slight error will catch your eye forever. Taking the bottom off the internal doors is normally easy, but watch out for the thickness of the bottom rail for panel doors.
Tile over the tiles is a good solution, but choose the correct adhesive for that job.
As a last resort, try tile paint. Trouble is, not the best for floors, redo it every 6 months.
Good Luck.

Andrew.

 

[Eric Gibson]

I'd see that as chucking good money after bad, I'd live with it as it is and spend the money on something more useful/necessary.

 

[mikejee]

Please note that this is a historical thread and not an advice section.

 

[Eric Gibson]

Please note that this is a historical thread and not an advice section.

Some of my floors have been historical Mike.

 

[mikejee]

Looking at some of the things that appear on the Antiques Road show, then I am an Antique myself.

 

[Richard Dye]

I am purchasing a home built in 1991, and it has some really out of style tile in the kitchen, dining room, and leading to the front door. At first, I was planning on removing it completely and putting in laminate or bamboo. I have now found that the tile goes under the kitchen cabinets. Because of this, I don't think I can remove it. What can I do to make this space look awesome? I am also planning to add new furniture I like these reclining sofas but ay opinion will be appreciated. Can I put a new floor on top of it? Will this cause problems with the doors or anything else? I know I would at least have to raise the level of the floor in the living room to be flush with the tile.

Alternately, do you think I could choose wall colors and carpet that would make this tile look classy? I really, really don't want it to look tacky, but I'm not sure my skills or budget will allow a complete removal of the tile. The tile is actually in really great condition, and if it weren't for those green diamonds, I would be more than happy to leave it, and just get new carpets. If I can clean this place up, it will be really nice for my family, but I could use some design help. Thank you in advance!

Take the tile up to the cabinets and put the new floor in with a shoe or half round molding at the edge of the cabinets. You will be the only one who knows. Sorry for off topic.

 

[I Am Nico]

Ask 10 people, get 20 different replies. (wives opinions are compulsory in this case).

Removing tiles is hard, but do-able. Making good afterwards to take a new covering is challenging. New floor skim. Taking the kitchen units out prior to this work would be a no-brainer.
Skimming the lounge floor to existing tile level, or a new level. would be quite easy, then new carpet will cover the tiles anyway. Alternatively, just skim the whole floor over the tiles as well. For the kitchen/hall, try a good quality laminate or flexible off the roll covering. Both would need underlay, raising the floor as you say. Without underlay, a flexible floor covering will eventually show up the tile grouting lines underneath. Alternatively use a levelling compound beforehand. A bit like a thick paint that fills undulations then sets flat. The plinth of kitchen units would probably accommodate this, but fitting would have to be accurate as a slight error will catch your eye forever. Taking the bottom off the internal doors is normally easy, but watch out for the thickness of the bottom rail for panel doors.
Tile over the tiles is a good solution, but choose the correct adhesive for that job.
As a last resort, try tile paint. Trouble is, not the best for floors, redo it every 6 months.
Good Luck.

Andrew.

I am guessing around the 1990's so historically, 30 odd years ago my parents bought their last house with yellowing kitchen tiles. After trying tile paint, a chap said he could box them in using battens & put lightweight wooden sheet panels over them which looked like bad imitation wooden boarding, which I duly painted and it looked great. I once raised my bathroom floor using a thick rubbery underlay maybe, it was quite smooth then plywood with cushion floor on top. I built my kitchen cupboards from the inside out, under the sink from pieces of wood glued together. Brass butterfly hinges. Cheap retro door knobs from the cheapy shop. I put silver tile stickers at intervals on my white tiles, and imitation
tiles over the cracked tiles window sills. A bit of cheap net to look like café nets.

 

[Spargone]

We had these taps. Don’t think I’ve ever seen them in any other house.

Viv.

Those were 'Supataps'. We had them in our house, perhaps around 1960. My dad constructed our kitchen worktops using 'Formica' glued with 'Evostick' to blockboard, supported on a skeletal framework made of ramin square-section hardwood. Dad considered that a proper 'engineering' wood and he was no doubt influenced by the construction of aircraft. The result was light-weight and far stronger than the thick, heavy, chipboard rubbish used now. The steel sink basket was properly supported too.

My dad was quite inventive, his 'built-in' kitchen had fluorescent lamps let into a false ceiling that had a well to take a square drying frame suspended by ropes. Lots of things were never completed, we had an electric clock with no numbers and an unpainted streak were a hand must have been during painting. There was a matching panel with a loudspeaker that never got connected to anything and a half-completed cupboard that was going to be a fridge. We had a door handle, interior light fitting and freezing compartment waiting to be used. I suspect Dad bought bits when he could afford it. In the end he bought a 'Beekay' fridge, mail order from somewhere in Hampshire.

The side of the stairs was covered in hardboard pieces shaped like rough stones. He coated these with 'Pyruma' fire clay. He thought it was a good idea because if it got hit by one of the large prams common in those days any damage could be easily fixed. (Not so sure about the damage to our skins or the prams!).

 

[mw0njm.]

Those were 'Supataps'. We had them in our house, perhaps around 1960. My dad constructed our kitchen worktops using 'Formica' glued with 'Evostick' to blockboard, supported on a skeletal framework made of ramin square-section hardwood. Dad considered that a proper 'engineering' wood and he was no doubt influenced by the construction of aircraft. The result was light-weight and far stronger than the thick, heavy, chipboard rubbish used now. The steel sink basket was properly supported too.

My dad was quite inventive, his 'built-in' kitchen had fluorescent lamps let into a false ceiling that had a well to take a square drying frame suspended by ropes. Lots of things were never completed, we had an electric clock with no numbers and an unpainted streak were a hand must have been during painting. There was a matching panel with a loudspeaker that never got connected to anything and a half-completed cupboard that was going to be a fridge. We had a door handle, interior light fitting and freezing compartment waiting to be used. I suspect Dad bought bits when he could afford it. In the end he bought a 'Beekay' fridge, mail order from somewhere in Hampshire.

The side of the stairs was covered in hardboard pieces shaped like rough stones. He coated these with 'Pyruma' fire clay. He thought it was a good idea because if it got hit by one of the large prams common in those days any damage could be easily fixed. (Not so sure about the damage to our skins or the prams!).

thats brill spargone,