Things we used to have in our houses. Why are they gone!?

[thieuster]

This weekend, my son and I stayed in an old & old-fashioned but very clean hotel somewhere in the NW part of The Netherlands for a sailing regatta. In our room, there was something I hadn't seen in ages - and my son spotted it for the first time in his life: a light switch cord above the bed with a small 'glow-in-the-dark' knob at the end to make it easier to find the cord in the dark. He was over the moon! "Oh, that's a nice gimmick! I want one above my bed!"

I realised that I hadn't seen a cord like this in ages! Modern (Dutch) houses don't have that high-just-under-the-ceiling switches anymore. Hence my question: why are they gone? And secondly: what else do you remember, that's gone now... but certainly worth having in your home?

Menno

[Dave+63]

Not in the home Menno but right up your street (and you probably still see plenty), I nominate the choke lever.

I remember my now 23 year old daughter asking about “those big, black cd things”!

[Tomaitch]

Wall heaters in the bathroom..

[Passenger]

Frost on the inside of the bedroom windows first thing on a winter morning. A coal scuttle. Outside toilet and cut up newspaper threaded onto string hanging on the back of the door.

[Glamdring]

This weekend, my son and I stayed in an old & old-fashioned but very clean hotel somewhere in the NW part of The Netherlands for a sailing regatta. In our room, there was something I hadn't seen in ages - and my son spotted it for the first time in his life: a light switch cord above the bed with a small 'glow-in-the-dark' knob at the end to make it easier to find the cord in the dark. He was over the moon! "Oh, that's a nice gimmick! I want one above my bed!"

I realised that I hadn't seen a cord like this in ages! Modern (Dutch) houses don't have that high-just-under-the-ceiling switches anymore. Hence my question: why are they gone? And secondly: what else do you remember, that's gone now... but certainly worth having in your home?

Menno

You used to be able to buy plastic luminous surrounds for light switches. Most of my German relatives had them.

[eagletower]

Serving hatches from the kitchen to the dining room. With open plan living and incorporating the dining room into the kitchen there is no need for it.

[khumzi]

Serving hatches from the kitchen to the dining room. With open plan living and incorporating the dining room into the kitchen there is no need for it.

Lol - I still have one of those! Haven’t gone open plan quite yet.

Can’t remember the last time I saw a grapefruit knife though...


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[Gyp]

This weekend, my son and I stayed in an old & old-fashioned but very clean hotel somewhere in the NW part of The Netherlands for a sailing regatta. In our room, there was something I hadn't seen in ages - and my son spotted it for the first time in his life: a light switch cord above the bed with a small 'glow-in-the-dark' knob at the end to make it easier to find the cord in the dark. He was over the moon! "Oh, that's a nice gimmick! I want one above my bed!"

I've got 2 of those

Wall heaters in the bathroom..

2 of those too

Serving hatches from the kitchen to the dining room. With open plan living and incorporating the dining room into the kitchen there is no need for it.

And one of those

Can’t remember the last time I saw a grapefruit knife though...

Yep

...and my 1950's refrigerator is still working too

[Dave+63]

I've got 2 of those



2 of those too



And one of those



Yep

...and my 1950's refrigerator is still working too

No wonder Mrs Gyp is always out on the piss!

[chrisparker]

Landline telephone. Haven't had one for a decade at home and don't miss it one bit.

[Omegary]

Eye level grill on a cooker.

In my first house we were left an old New World cooker from the 50's/60's and the eye level grill was just so convenient. Don't know why they seem so unpopular these days.

Cheers,
Gary

[Glamdring]

Lol - I still have one of those! Haven’t gone open plan quite yet.

Can’t remember the last time I saw a grapefruit knife though...


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I have one of those in my drawer. Works brilliantly for extracting segments minus pith.

[snowman]

Lol - I still have one of those! Haven’t gone open plan quite yet.

Can’t remember the last time I saw a grapefruit knife though...


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We have the remains of one in our dining room, but we blocked it off 20+ years ago.

M

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[yumma]

Demijohns for making home made wine - I remember getting sozzled as a kid on my parents Parsnip wine - Parsnip wine for gods sake, what were they thinking???

[Dave O'Sullivan]

When I bought my previous house, it had louvered windows. Bloody draughty!

What I miss the most from my childhood home was the joy of getting a warm towel from the airing cupboard. These days with combi-boilers, that has been lost forever.

[Snoopdong]

What I miss the most from my childhood home was the joy of getting a warm towel from the airing cupboard. These days with combi-boilers, that has been lost forever.

When we moved into our current house I feared what would have been the airing cupboard would be impotent for this very reason... I was mystified as to why it was still warm... turns out someone had the foresight to pop a small radiator in it... the joys need not be lost!

[Fitzer]

When we moved into our current house I feared what would have been the airing cupboard would be impotent for this very reason... I was mystified as to why it was still warm... turns out someone had the foresight to pop a small radiator in it... the joys need not be lost!

When we had the house re-modelled the other year we did the same, there wasn't any point taking out the airing cupboard as it couldn't be incorporated into any other space so in went a radiator with a TRV and Bob's your uncle

[Mick P]

I have to confess that we have a "best china" cabinet in the lounge to show off expensive crockery and decanters etc.

I don't think I have even opened the door of the thing for over twenty years so really it is totally pointless.

The only thing in its defence is that it looks rather charming and has a few things passed down from the odd deceased relative.

[Pelicans]

When I bought my previous house, it had louvered windows. Bloody draughty!

What I miss the most from my childhood home was the joy of getting a warm towel from the airing cupboard. These days with combi-boilers, that has been lost forever.

I have a small rad in my airing cupboard. Great in the winter!

[Dave+63]

Fluffy mats around the toilet!

[Dave O'Sullivan]

Fluffy mats around the toilet!

Ah, the classic P!ss sponge.

[P ELLIS]

Ah, the classic P!ss sponge.

Indeed ! Have to mop it up sharpish these days

[gregory]

Every kitchen when I was a kid used to have a dartboard on the wall. With zillions of holes on the wallpaper around it.

Stone fireplaces with a hole for the huge VHS / Betamax video to slot into... just below the wooden plinth where the tv went. The epitome of sophistication.

Formica (in general).

Wood paneling on walls.

China Cabinets. EVERY house had one. Some still will... but EVERYONE had them.

Polished brasses on the wall.

Toby Jugs.

[Gurmot]

Teas made

[Dave+63]

Teas made

I still have my teas made! I’ve got a wife for that.

[hogthrob]

Anything made from wood.

[Gyp]

Every kitchen when I was a kid used to have a dartboard on the wall. With zillions of holes on the wallpaper around it.

Stone fireplaces with a hole for the huge VHS / Betamax video to slot into... just below the wooden plinth where the tv went. The epitome of sophistication.

Formica (in general).

Wood paneling on walls.

China Cabinets. EVERY house had one. Some still will... but EVERYONE had them.

Polished brasses on the wall.

Toby Jugs.

I should back away from this thread now...

[bond]

Pouffes that doubled as a magazine or storage holder .

As mentioned and I agree -
polished brass on the wall.
Eye level gas cooker with grill you lit for toast .
Airing cupboards for a warm towel.
Electric blankets .
A parlour or best room .



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[gary1064]

Table lighters. My parents had a couple (both Ronson's IIRC), great big heavy metal things that you could stove someone's head in with.

Anything made of onyx.

Lacey material covers/protectors for the arms and head rest of sofas.

Pipe rack on the mantelpiece.

Living room bar complete with optics on the bottles of spirits.

Manually operated meat mincer.

Circular saw like device for cutting cold meats.

[SimonK]

Sharps toffee hammers, there were always 3 or 4 in the kitchen drawer (of which there was only one).

[vortgern]

Lacey material covers/protectors for the arms and head rest of sofas.

Antimacassars!

And doilies ... what happened to all the doilies?

And phone books next to the only telephone in the house ... in the hall.

[SimonK]

And phone books next to the only telephone in the house ... in the hall.

And a plastic telephone directory thingy with a sprung lid so when you moved a slider alongside a letter of the alphabet and pressed a button, it popped open at the right page.

[reggie747]

The clothes rack on a hoist above the fire ?

[gary1064]

Antimacassars!

That's it, knew there was a posh name for them but couldn't think of it!

[bond]

Antimacassars!

And doilies ... what happened to all the doilies?

And phone books next to the only telephone in the house ... in the hall.

Yes all separate or the big combined business and residential BT book? Then your Thompson directory and yellow pages

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[yumma]

Net curtains, Lace doyleys and lace covers over the arms of the furniture

[oldoakknives]

A kitchen cabinet

[Motman]

A kitchen cabinet

That’s made me go cold! We had one exactly the same as that in red. We kept our breakfast cereals on top of it. One morning, my sister aged 4 and me, aged 7 were up before my mum and dad. I decided to make breakfast for us. We got two chairs and stood on them. Still couldn’t reach the cereal packets, so I pulled that central flap/door down and climbed onto it. It toppled forward, I jumped off, my sister wasn’t quick enough and her head went crashing through the reeded glass doors as it fell directly on top of her. Hearing the noise, my dad came flying down the stairs, stark naked, and lifted it off of her. She didn’t have so much as a scratch on her but it could have been so much worse.

[ktmog6uk]

That’s made me go cold! We had one exactly the same as that in red. We kept our breakfast cereals on top of it. One morning, my sister aged 4 and me, aged 7 were up before my mum and dad. I decided to make breakfast for us. We got two chairs and stood on them. Still couldn’t reach the cereal packets, so I pulled that central flap/door down and climbed onto it. It toppled forward, I jumped off, my sister wasn’t quick enough and her head went crashing through the reeded glass doors as it fell directly on top of her. Hearing the noise, my dad came flying down the stairs, stark naked, and lifted it off of her. She didn’t have so much as a scratch on her but it could have been so much worse.

My mum had one in white , still in service until she passed on three years ago

[alexaff]

Porn mags.

[Enoch]

A kitchen cabinet

Pah.... got 2 of them.... still in daily use. They were called kitchen maids, and the company I used to work for (Remploy) made them by the thousands

One in the kitchen... home made chips tonight Mmmm..... This is a Remploy one that I got off eBay and fully referbished..


And one in the dining room..(dog food)

[AlphaOmega]

...home made chips tonight

Trying to remember when I last had home-made chips.

It might be the late 80s.

Might have to remedy that.

[Enoch]

Trying to remember when I last had home-made chips.

It might be the late 80s.

Might have to remedy that.

They’re soaking now..... I refuse to eat oven chips, microwave chips or any other type that aren’t what I consider a proper chip..👍

[verv]

They're fab enoch!

[JasonM]

We didn’t have a lava lamp, but we did have a similar thing that had bits of glitter in it.

[Enoch]

They're fab enoch!

Cheers Verv....we like retro👍❤️

Oh, I have an ACME mangle in the garage, use it for rinsing drying cloths for the car..🤓

[Maysie]

A kitchen cabinet

We had this exact same model!

Cooool.

[blackal]

a 'glow-in-the-dark' knob

Menno

I think I saw a ‘70s porno film you might have featured in..........

[Dave+63]

I’m surprised that non of our divorced members have gleefully said “a wife” yet!

[robcat]

I spent my early childhood (in the 70s) on a middle class suburban estate, and it was surprising how faddy the families were. The houses were typical late 60s boxes, but as time went on you could see one following the other in terms of improvements and mod-cons, with a certain amount of (normally) good natured oneupmanship. Some cracking examples have already been mentioned.

Knocking through a serving hatch between the kitchen and dining area was one that almost everyone had on our road.

As was was adding a porch to the front of their 60s box!

Everyone got a colour TV within months of each other - rented, obviously. (And videos were a major status symbol in the 80s).

Teasmaids were the height of 70s sophistication, as were hostess trolleys and sodastreams.

I remember having a second telephone via an extension was quite a big deal (usually in parents’ room).

There was also an arms race of extensions - the simplest being a downstairs bog, to larger two floor dining room/addditional upstairs bedroom behemoths.