We've had another wet weekend and so I've spent some time emptying cupboards and sorting through stuff that hasn't seen the light of day for quite a while. Amongst some of my parent's bits and pieces I found odds and ends of wallpaper which mum had squirreled away many years ago.
This one dates from the late 1950s or early 1960s and I can remember it in our kitchen. Pictures of foods in a tile formation were very popular then.
Wallpaper in those days had selvedges that needed trimming by hand. Mum was a great hanger of wallpaper but dad was always responsible for trimming the edges. Thankfully ready trimmed paper was introduced around this time. I can't imagine doing it today!
Mum and dad were married just after the war and the kitchen pictured below was the style young people dreamed of. I found it in one of dad's home making books dating from the 1940s.
I love the heading......... 'Ask any bride...... would a kitchen like this make a dream come true?'
And how about this.......
'You can clear the decks in the perfect kitchen. A place for everything and everything put away tidily.' How modern these kitchens must have seemed compared to pre war styles.
But what a huge change took place in just 20 short years. This pictures comes from a mid 1960's book.
By then everyone wanted more vibrant colours and mum changed our kitchen wallpaper to something more sunny and bright. This one dates from the mid 60s. I remember a new kitchen chair with a yellow vinyl seat arriving which made the room seem 'very modern'.
I now own that chair and it still has its original yellow seat! It lives in our utility room. It's a bit paint splattered and worn round the edges but very sturdy and still a useful item. I suppose I could paint it and perhaps make a cover for the seat but that would change its character and so I'm happy to leave it as it is.
