More 1930s' House Original Features

Although this blog seems to be mainly me posing, or showing you all the great finds from the car boot sale, it seems my most popular post of all time is about 1930s' house features.  People just like houses apparently.  So, for your viewing pleasure, here are a few more features from our 1935 house.  I am not showing you everything, because we've been doing a lot of DIY and I intend to do a big reveal at some point, so this is just to whet your appetites.

Interior
Windows often had pelmets, and we're lucky to have the original one in our bedroom.  Alas, the dining room has had its removed (sob sob!).  The bedroom one is not a particularly fancy one, but it does look so much better than a normal curtain rail.





Neither my husband nor I particularly like the colour of our bedroom curtains, but they were a quick (and very cheap) buy from the car boot sale to tide us over until we could pick something we really like.  I have visions of something quite '30s, perhaps in Eau de Nil, but I think I might have to persuade my husband about that.  He likes either white, or red, and not really much else in between.

Now onto our landing window which is not original.  I am a bit gutted about that, but as replacements go, it's not that bad.  At least there's still a stained glass effect.

It does reflect the most wonderful colours onto the interior walls and doors when the sun hits it at the right angle, as you can see below.  The photo below also shows you one of the original doors, with original door handles.  No rounded bakelite, they're quite sharp chrome-look (and exceedingly sharp if you catch your shoulder on one!).

We have some parquet flooring intact throughout - in our dining room it's in good shape, but the parquet hidden under our lounge carpet needed refinishing.  There was also the small issue that the lounge parquet only extended for two-thirds of the room, with a lazy 1970s' extension being finished with laminate flooring rather than more parquet.  I think my last DIY post about the floor detailed that my husband had used a concrete-breaker, laid more concrete, and was laying reclaimed parquet.  He's now moved onto sanding, sanding, and more sanding.  It's seemed pretty endless and he is a bit weary from the whole process.  A few more weeks and I hope to be able to share some pictures of a finished lounge.

Parquet in need of some tlc!

I love the original bannisters, with the panels.  I've seen other houses of the same era where the panels were painted a yellow, and the surrounds in green (if you watch Mr Selfridge then George Towler and his wife have their living room like it!).  I think that would be a bit much for me really!



The exterior of our house has a nice bit of mock Tudor timber detail above the bay window.  When I was a child I was obsessed with spotting real black-and-white houses as I called them, the medieval kind that have wonky doorways and lean outwards a bit precariously.  I'm quite glad we don't have one of those now, as even something that's only 80 years old does need quite a bit of attention.

One of my favourite details is a sweet little porthole stained glass window.



And the floor in the under-stairs cupboard has some lovely tiles.



Just to prove the current state of chaos in the house, here's what our living room currently looks like:



The floor has progressed a bit since this photo, and all of that patchy varnish has been stripped off.  It's nearly ready for us to thoroughly clean the room ready for glazing the floor.  Sawdust is terrible, it seems to have drifted through the entire house!

If you would like to see my original post on 1930s' house features then take a look here!