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Post by johnnyowen on Mar 8, 2007 13:22:53 GMT -1
can you remember some of the old furniture that your parents had.
we had one of those old kitchen cabinets that i think had 3 different compartments...the middle bit came out like a little table...i stood on it once and brought the whole thing down on top of me...my mum had a fit !!! then of course there was the radiogram.. only ever plugged in on a sunday for 2 way family favourites !!!!
any more examples please??
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Post by marjorie on Mar 8, 2007 13:48:46 GMT -1
hiya johnnie, you just give me a right good laugh, and brought back memories, we too had a food cabinet, i don't want to show off but ours was quite new , the top was kept for plates and cups themiddle part for tea suger etc on the sides we had two bread bins that pulled down and in the bottom cupboards we kept pans etc, well, one day i spied a bag of apples jutting off the corner but i couldn't reach, got a chair stood on the pull down and wham,finished up in the sink, everything smashed sugar, butter, all mixed together, my mam had to go round the neihbours borrowing a plate here a plate there acup here a cup there so we could have our tea. she ranted on at me for months about that. forgot all about it till i just read your post. keep thinking about it now and laughing my head off, happy days marjorie
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Post by marjorie on Mar 8, 2007 14:09:07 GMT -1
HIYA BODZY, HOW VERY TRUE, I BOUGHT A NEW IRONING BOARD, BECAUSE I CAN'T STAND MARKS ON ANYTHING, 2 WEEKS LATER, BURN MARKS ON IT , AT THE SAME TIME BLUE MARKS OFF BLUE DENIM ON MY NEW IRON, LIVID, NOBODY HAS DONE IT . I HAVE BOUGHT ANOTHER IRONING BOARD AND ANOTHER IRON AND IV'E GIVEN THEM FAIR WARNING IF ANYBODY TOUCHES THEM THE DEATH PENALTY COMES BACK INTO PLAY IN OUR HOUSE. MARJORIE
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Post by lin on Mar 8, 2007 15:19:32 GMT -1
I REMEMBER MY GRAN HAVING A COLLER CABINET, SUPPOSED TO BE A REPRESENTATION OF A FRIDGE I THINK, IT WAS METAL AND KEPT THINGS FAIRLY COLD..NOT ELECTRIC THOUGH.
I ALSO REMEMBER THE OLD CLOTHES RACKS THEY HAD OVER THE KITCHEN SINKS, THEY USED TO PULL THEM UP BY A PULLEY AND ROPE.
LIN:)
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Post by fluffymoat4 on Mar 8, 2007 22:30:22 GMT -1
I remember the old formica table and chairs in our kitchen. The chairs padding used to split and the stuffing was always poking out. The formica got scratched if you so much as looked at it sharply! Ours was blue small squares highlighted with black.
I remember our grandparents house. They had a large front BEST room and in it was a rather grand piano (polished until it shone) and a leather three piece suite (also polished until it shone). In later years, when our parents and their siblings wanted to discuss what to do with our grandparents, all us grandchildren got placed in the BEST room to sit and behave ourselves..... as if...! We all clanked away on the piano keys and sprawled all over the leather suite. Well how were we to know just how valuable these things were?
We too had a drop down kitchen cabinet just as everyone has described only ours lacked the drop-down bit (obviously someone beat me to standing on it and breaking it??).
Please don't get me going on the old stereocabinet (lift the lid to reveal the record player and compartments for records/lps) and on the front were controls for it and the inbuilt radio. My parents really pushed the boat out on theirs and spent years paying for it! This was the time when credit started to become the "norm"! Years later as I set up home with my new hubby my parents asked if we wanted to BUY it off them ............ AS IF!!!!! We were busy saving for a stereo system that played records AND cassettes!!
Linoleum (I KNOW it's NOT a piece of furniture but YOU started opening the floodgates of my memories not ME). Hated linoleum - cold to the feet and it used to crack in the winter months making it almost impossible to clean and keep clean.
Pouffes - how I loved pouffes! We used them to sit on, lounge on, play board games on, eat our tea on and throw at each other if we got really mad.
Pelmets! Wooden Pelmets above the curtains!! My Dad used to make different ones for each room in the house (they kept the dust off the curtains). He even made some for us when we bought our first house.
My brother and I would have been about 7 and 8 when we were introduced to bunk beds!! We were thrilled when they were delivered - not like nowadays when they're flat packed and you have to put them together yourself!
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Post by fluffymoat4 on Mar 8, 2007 22:50:15 GMT -1
Hostess trolleys and trays! The trolleys were designed to make dispensing cuppas and biscuits/cakes easier! (Why?) The hostess trays were designed to plug in and keep pyrex dishes of food hot (of course microwaves have taken over). I had both and used hardly either.
I remember the overhead racks Lin - ours was situated in the middle of the kitchen though - My sis-in-law has one in her kitchen these days and she hangs memorabilia from it - it looks fantastic.
I remember the old open fire hobs - we used to have to "black" them weekly. It was odd as we weren't using the hob to cook in - for that we had a gas cooker/oven - but mum insisted the hob had to "look good"!
I remember our mahogany dining table and chairs (in our best room) - hardly ever used. The legs of both table and chairs had an intricate design and were a bummer to keep clean and polished.
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Post by fluffymoat4 on Mar 8, 2007 22:55:21 GMT -1
Sorry Johnny it's not about old furniture.... but does anyone remember the very first heated rollers?? There was an inner and outer bit and you placed the inner bit in boiling water until a red dot showed, then you took them out and rolled a section of hair around them before securing them with the other half of the roller. I can't believe I used them as they used to leave obvious marks on my hair and the curls weren't that believable either...! Johnny you've unleashed a beast now..................................!
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Post by fluffymoat4 on Mar 8, 2007 23:01:08 GMT -1
My brother had a globe on wheels. He used to pull one half of the globe over the other to reveal a drinks cabinet. He was so proud of it (bet it's hidden somewhere in his cellar).
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Post by marjorie on Mar 8, 2007 23:03:29 GMT -1
what brill reading mo, i too remember the black lead range you had to plish that was my sisters job every week, i had to polish and strip the beds ready to go the wash house in the old pram. on the range we had a very big fireguard and everybody used to lean on it , i lent on it one day and it wasn't there, i fell in the fire, it was a good job it had been leaft to go low while the grate got cleaned, my mam rushed me up the docters luckily just up the road, right in and the docter put my arm under the running water and scrubbed all the ash and black lead out of my armwith a scrubbing brush i might add.if it happened today he would have been had up for child cruelty . boy did i play on that, comics toffee, no chores, didn't last long though, soon as i got the okay everything back to normal
..
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Post by fluffymoat4 on Mar 8, 2007 23:05:59 GMT -1
When I was young my father bought our first dog kennel. (Again not an actual piece of furniture). He bought it because our dog kept chasing cats. He chained our little terrier to the kennel and decided that our dog's life of chasing cats was well and truly over. Well our little terrier had other ideas and we all watched bemused as our dog chased it's next cat.... complete with kennel. It's a vision I will never ever forget... watching the dog running down the street after the cat with his kennel tailing after him!
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Post by marjorie on Mar 8, 2007 23:08:44 GMT -1
the curling rods, you put them in the fire then wiped them with a bit of rag and wrapped your hair round them , my hair was always lob sided, your hair used to singe and fall off, in the end my mam threw themaway.
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Post by fluffymoat4 on Mar 8, 2007 23:09:22 GMT -1
I also remember those home hairdryers where you slipped a bag like item over your head - it was attached to a "trunk" leading to the machine that blew hot air onto your barnet!
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Post by fluffymoat4 on Mar 8, 2007 23:11:17 GMT -1
Wow Marjorie - I bet Johnnie wishes he'd never asked us now eh??
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Post by marjorie on Mar 8, 2007 23:13:22 GMT -1
those old fashioned hair driers , we had the top half as a heater for ages even after the hair drier was no good
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Post by marjorie on Mar 8, 2007 23:17:08 GMT -1
we also had a mangle that ahad a big wheel you had to turn and you had to put a bowl under it to catch the water , i had many a slap for letting the water go over and all over the floor, then it used to let down into a table top
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Post by fluffymoat4 on Mar 8, 2007 23:18:23 GMT -1
FIREGUARDS. Ours was Massive - it covered the entire fireplace. It had a bit at the side you could open to operate the controls of the gas fire. It also had an opening at the top but we never found out what that was for?
CLOCKS. My parents had a clock that they had to FEED with 50p pieces each day - it was an insurance SCAM - the clock would stop working if my parents didn't FEED it!!!!!! Of course the insurance man would call each month to EMPTY it and they would be credited with Life Insurance Profits. Thankfully this "time" of their lives didn't continue for very long...!
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Post by fluffymoat4 on Mar 8, 2007 23:26:20 GMT -1
Oh I so loved the mangle............. NOT! Picture the scene... Freezing cold winter and we had to mangle the sheets etc. before we hung them either outside or inside to dry. One time I remember my young brother actually mangled his hand and wrist!! I felt so sick for him but my mum called him a "mardarse" for crying!
We would mangle things until they were "dry" enough to hang aloft in the kitchen.
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Post by fluffymoat4 on Mar 8, 2007 23:33:15 GMT -1
I still remember washing things on the washboard. Used a bar of soap on a garment and then scrubbed it up and down on a washboard.
Anyone remember the "Airing Cupboard" oh my, everything got put into that.
Lin remembers the metal COOLING cupboard (as a forerunner to the fridge) which we also had BUT we were offered a similar thing that was used to hang clothes in to DRY them, it was electric and so my parents only used it a few times before deciding that it ATE too much electricity.
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Post by lin on Mar 9, 2007 9:01:05 GMT -1
Hi Mo...all these talks about furniture etc sure are bringing back memories...lol! the cupboard in the kitchen you talk about with the drop down front...thsoe were called kitchenettes wasn't they?
Lin
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Post by johnnyowen on Mar 9, 2007 10:49:09 GMT -1
we always had one of those "stand up" ashtrays that seemed to swallow the cigarette butt and scrunch it up...my mum and dad both smoked like chimneys so it was always on the go....seem to think it was blue but it was a long time ago !!!!
also the old tv sets rented from radio rentals or wherever.. the tube used to go and the horizontal hold was always on the blink. i remember our telly breaking down just before the grand national was due to start ..my dad was apoplectic !! me and my mum had to run for cover ..no tellies in pubs in those days
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Post by lin on Mar 9, 2007 13:48:02 GMT -1
I remember those tv's Johnny, and then the ones you used to put a tanner in the side of...a bit like the electric meters  For some reason I used to get our tv's working when they went wrong...usually it was a valve, remember the old valves in them? I was always messing about with the horizontal or vertical hold...even used to put an old wire coat hanger in the ariel socket at the back, used to produce some really nice pictures to Lin |
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Post by fluffymoat4 on Mar 9, 2007 16:04:56 GMT -1
I remember not long after my mum and dad's 25th Wedding Anniversary when they received quite a lot of Silver presents, they bought a display cabinet. Mum still has it in her lounge in fact. I had to laugh when dad insisted on putting a lock on it - just in case they got burgled! All they'd have had to do was break the flimsy glass  We had a huge sideboard when I was little and we'd hide in it when playing hide and seek. At Easter it would be full of easter eggs for us six kids and on Birthdays that's where you'd find your cards and pressies. Your cards were then displayed along the top of it for one week only. I was fascinated by my mum's dressing table with the three mirrors. Us three girls would sit there trying on her jewellery and make up, putting her rollers in our hair (and inevitably getting them knotted up in our long locks - ouch) and even trying her perfumes out. What a sight we must have looked and smelled. Paraffin heaters - what an awful stink and they never got the rooms quite warm enough. We had a clock that you used to put money in - 50p a week as I recall - it was emptied once a month and was used to pay for an insurance scheme. Our t.v. was a slot t.v. - think we used to put 10p pieces in that. Was it Fred Dawes we'd have rented from? I remember Dad objecting to renting a colour t.v. when they first came out. He was convinced they'd only be one colour and you'd have to choose between green, red or blue!!! Well I'd best push off as I'm encroaching on son's online time. Will probably be back later on tonight when my two "boys" have gone to bed! |
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Post by lin on Mar 9, 2007 16:41:39 GMT -1
I still remember washing things on the washboard. Used a bar of soap on a garment and then scrubbed it up and down on a washboard. Anyone remember the "Airing Cupboard" oh my, everything got put into that. Lin remembers the metal COOLING cupboard (as a forerunner to the fridge) which we also had BUT we were offered a similar thing that was used to hang clothes in to DRY them, it was electric and so my parents only used it a few times before deciding that it ATE too much electricity. HI MO...WE HAD ONE OF THOSE ELECTRIC DRYERS WITH THE RODS IN THE TOP OF IT TO HANG YOUR CLOTHES IN, IT HAD AN ELEMENT AT THE BOTTOM, THEY WERE CALLED A FLATTLEY IF I REMEMBER RIGHTLY. LIN |
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Post by fluffymoat4 on Mar 11, 2007 23:53:12 GMT -1
The row of houses where we lived when I was a youngster were condemned as unfit to live in and one by one each of the residents packed up their belongings and moved. Elderly residents would often leave behind their old furniture and move into residential care homes. The council tennants (us included) were the last to be moved into safer housing (nice one). Anyway, during the summer holidays us kids would have a great time nipping down the cellar holes of empty houses and then playing hide and seek in the rooms. One day I hid in an old wardrobe when all of a sudden I felt as though I was falling forwards - sure enough I was - the wardrobe was gaining momentum and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I don't remember much as it hit the floor or for some time afterwards. In those days if you weren't found they didn't waste too much time looking for you - they'd get fed up and go play something else. I must've been out cold for a few minutes at most and then, realising where I was and the situation I was in, I starting banging frantically. I was in there for what seemed like an eternity and probably would have stayed there if it hadn't been for our eldest sister rallying us for teatime. (She wouldn't have dared return home with one of us missing). Finally my siblings found me but refused to go and fetch help (no way THEY were going to get in trouble because of me). They heaved and tugged but could not lift the wardrobe. In the end they broke through the flimsy back and lifted me out. I had a huge lump on my head which I had to pretend I'd got from walking into a lamp post. My mum then smacked me round the head for not looking where I was walking............! Whenever we move house I always get hubby to secure our wardrobes to the wall!
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Post by marjorie on Mar 13, 2007 16:48:08 GMT -1
HIYA LITTLE MO, NOT EXACTLY FURNITURE BUT GOD WHAT A NIGHTMARE TO KEEP CLEAN, IT COULD NEVER HAVE BEEN WORTH IT.COCONUT MATTING. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY MAMUSED TO DRAG IT IN THE BIG ENTRY EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT, ANYBODY REMEMBER BUCKET NIGHT  AND I HAD TO HELP HER SHAKE THE DIRT OUT OF IT,WELL!!!!!!!!!!!! SHE USED TO PULL AND SHAKE THAT HARD SHE WOULD DRAG IT OUT OF MY HANDS, SHE USED TO GO MAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. NOT LIKE THAT LIKE THIS, I DARE NOT TELL YOU WHAT WAS GOING ON IN MY MIND, THEN INSIDE TO SWEEP THE WEEKS DUST UP, THEN MOP THE LINO, I HATED THAT COCONUT MATTING IT MIGHT HAVE JUST BEEN A BIT BEFORE YOUR TIME MO. AND FOR ALL THAT ALL I GOT WAS CHIPS AND A VIMTO FROM THE CHIPPY WOW , MY MAMSAID I WAS AN UNGRATEFULL LITTLE SO AND SO LOL.WHEN I USED TO TELL MY DAD WHAT SHE MADE ME DO HE USED TO LAUGH HIS HEAD OFF. TALK TO YOU LATER. |
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Post by fluffymoat4 on Mar 13, 2007 21:49:18 GMT -1
Marjorie, I agree with you about the coconut matting - what an absolute nightmare to clean. In fact in later years mum and dad bought a colourful plastic mat, woven like the coconut one and that was even harder to clean (I used to use an old toothbrush in the end).
Remember the old HEAVY mirrors that hung by a thick chain over the fireplace?? They were mounted on wooden backs, shaped at the top/sides/bottom and were etched with various designs.
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Post by fluffymoat4 on Mar 13, 2007 21:54:55 GMT -1
Grandfather clock! My grandparents had a real stately one that never worked. My grandad showed us the huge key once and we took it in turns to try it out. We kept hoping that it would begin ticking again as if by magic!!
Cuckoo clocks! We never had one I am certain of that so why do I hate them so?? A few years ago, on our usual visit to the Mother-in-Law she was very excited about her latest purchase - turned out to be a cuckoo clock! I hate the d**ned thing but I don't know why. It doesn't even sound as loud as the one I seem to remember from my childhood.
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vivien
Junior Member
Posts: 39
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Post by vivien on Mar 14, 2007 20:08:42 GMT -1
Does anyone remember cleaning the front door step with "donkey stones" that you used to get off the rag and bone man ? I was never any good at it but I used to try and help Mum when I was a kid. I was talking about them a few weeks ago with some friends in Birmingham (younger than me of course) they had never heard of them - I just think there were lots of filthy door-steps in Birmingham. I also remember my Mum having a "cigarette Machine" which was like a wooden box and the Cigarette man came once a week to fill it up with cigarettes and also take the money Mum had put in it to buy them. Can anyone else remember having one of those ?
Viv
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Post by fluffymoat4 on Mar 14, 2007 21:14:31 GMT -1
Does anyone remember cleaning the front door step with "donkey stones" that you used to get off the rag and bone man ? I was never any good at it but I used to try and help Mum when I was a kid. I was talking about them a few weeks ago with some friends in Birmingham (younger than me of course) they had never heard of them - I just think there were lots of filthy door-steps in Birmingham. I also remember my Mum having a "cigarette Machine" which was like a wooden box and the Cigarette man came once a week to fill it up with cigarettes and also take the money Mum had put in it to buy them. Can anyone else remember having one of those ? Viv Vivien - we did discuss the subject of Donkey Stones on a thread entitled "Rag and Bone Man" - The Thread subjects you see on the General Board aren't the only ones, there is a Page two full of them too. You might like to have a browse one night and add your views to any that take your fancy? I for one look forward to reading your future posts. |
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Post by Lisa on Mar 15, 2007 16:40:41 GMT -1
Hi Viv, I used to have to do jobs for my gran each week and I hated it when she asked me to clean her front steps. She was a real strickler for doing them correctly and came to check if the lines were not straight. She used white stones and brown ones which she got from the Rag and Bone Man. They made my hands really dry and sore. Women were very houseproud in those days and the front steps and paths were swept daily and cleaned weekly. I also had to take her washing, wrapped in a sheet over my shoulder, to the local launderette which was miles away and in the hot summer the walk seemed endless. I once spent a penny that was meant for the spin-dryer on an ice-lolly because I was so thirsty. I was too frightened to tell her what I'd done. She was very cruel. I used to sit under the kitchen table eating the dog's biscuits while my cousins (same age) were given large bowls of steaming soup and I dont ever remember her saying 'thank-you' for all the jobs I did.  It was expected of children in those days........ Does anyone remember cleaning the front door step with "donkey stones" that you used to get off the rag and bone man ? I was never any good at it but I used to try and help Mum when I was a kid. I was talking about them a few weeks ago with some friends in Birmingham (younger than me of course) they had never heard of them - I just think there were lots of filthy door-steps in Birmingham. I also remember my Mum having a "cigarette Machine" which was like a wooden box and the Cigarette man came once a week to fill it up with cigarettes and also take the money Mum had put in it to buy them. Can anyone else remember having one of those ? Viv |
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AND I HAD TO HELP HER SHAKE THE DIRT OUT OF IT,WELL!!!!!!!!!!!! SHE USED TO PULL AND SHAKE THAT HARD SHE WOULD DRAG IT OUT OF MY HANDS, SHE USED TO GO MAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. NOT LIKE THAT LIKE THIS, I DARE NOT TELL YOU WHAT WAS GOING ON IN MY MIND, THEN INSIDE TO SWEEP THE WEEKS DUST UP, THEN MOP THE LINO, I HATED THAT COCONUT MATTING IT MIGHT HAVE JUST BEEN A BIT BEFORE YOUR TIME MO. AND FOR ALL THAT ALL I GOT WAS CHIPS AND A VIMTO FROM THE CHIPPY WOW , MY MAMSAID I WAS AN UNGRATEFULL LITTLE SO AND SO LOL.WHEN I USED TO TELL MY DAD WHAT SHE MADE ME DO HE USED TO LAUGH HIS HEAD OFF. TALK TO YOU LATER.
It was expected of children in those days........