Living Evolves

This week we have visited two friends who live in the same street in the same houses as us. This was really interesting to see how the houses were the same or different. All the houses were built in 1935. No photos sorry for privacy...

Houses in 1935: the houses were built as terraces with a drawing room/ parlour, dining room and galley kitchen. Entry through an internal porch. Upstairs three bedrooms and bathroom pretty standard.

Evolution of our house:
Upstairs the layout remains the same with a shower now joining the bath in the bathroom, original wood doors surviving and one fireplace blocked up, one fake decorative one put in as central heating became the thing. Downstairs the hall was opened up removing the internal porch and the kitchen and dining room were knocked together with a new patio door to garden. In the garden the original walls survive on two sides and a deck has been installed. In the downstairs, an open fire has been reinstalled in the living/ drawing room and a second toilet has been put in under the stairs, Surviving features include decorative cornicing in the drawing room and less appealing asbestos lino and old wiring fragments in cupboards.

House 2:
Living room enlarged with large television. Fireplace has log burning stove. Open plan kitchen diner extended out into garden with glass wall to outside deck. Kitchen has island unit in middle of space. A more recent revamp than ours.

House 3:
Small living room with huge wall mounted television and wrap around sofa. Open plan kitchen diner.

Evolution:
From about the 70s living areas become open plan with a social kitchen area. Televisions grow larger once flatscreen technology is developed.  Fireplaces, Replaced by central heating, become more popular again especially with log burning stoves. Hard floors in wood or tile are now more favoured again than fitted carpets, which were ubiquitous in the 70s even in bathrooms. Recessed ceiling lighting is used in living areas rather than previously pendant or wall lights. Showers join or increasingly replace baths. But the bidet did not survive as a popular feature! A second bathroom or toilet is desirable. Gardens become low maintenance living areas with decking instead of patios. A focus on getting more light into the building and use of light colours and hard surfaces. Wallpaper, hessian, cork tiling etc are all in decline. Often blinds instead of curtains. Interestingly, bedrooms are the last bastion of traditional decor in a home.