Retro Accents

I’ve been on vacation all week, so must admit that I don’t have any momentous thoughts on retro renovating for my normal Sunday communique. Too much sun, seafood and Dairy Queen. A very good week! So instead, I pass along this gem of a story that Kay sent right before Christmas. A real keeper! And – be sure to click on the photos, they all enlarge really well. So fun to ogle-eye the details! Thanks, Kay. And… A very happy new year to everyone — you are the best and all your support and messages make this blog so fun and rewarding! – Pam

From The Daily Mail, U.K.
Timewarp: The house which hasn’t been decorated since 1961

On the outside 181 Durham Road looks like any other terraced house but inside time has stood still for nearly 50 years.

For the home in Spennymoor, County Durham, has remained the same as it was in 1961 – when John F Kennedy was U.S. president and Harold Macmillan was Britain’s Prime Minister.

Walking into the mid-terraced property is like entering a time capsule, reflecting an era when you could buy a house for £1,000 and pay for it in pre-decimalisation money.

The owner Bob Dixon, an author and academic, is preparing to hand over the keys of the three-bedroomed home, where time has stood still for almost five decades.

The house has belonged to Mr Dixon since his mother, Hilda, died ten years ago, and has remained unchanged since Mrs Dixon furnished and decorated it in 1961.

Over the years, Mr Dixon has regularly continued his visits to the terraced property from his home in Kent.

He has never seen the need to change any of the house he loves, and only failing health has prompted him to sell it.

Looks familiar: Bob Dixon enjoys the decor at his family home which has remained unchanged since 1961

“I liked it when my mother first did it, and never thought of changing any of it,” said Mr Dixon, who said it would be a wrench to sever his ties with his Spennymoor roots.

The first hint of walking into the past comes in the hall, with its linoleum-edged floors covered in a red floral carpet.

Turn left into the front room and there is an immaculate classic Sixties-style three-piece suite in two shades of green on a matching floral wool carpet, with a dominating feature wall decorated in its original bamboo-pattern wallpaper.

The way we used to live: The dining room is decked out in a style that has long since gone out of fashion

Continuing to effectively warm the room, the Belling fire set into a tiled green and cream fireplace still has its pristine instruction leaflet on a nearby coffee table.

Despite their age, the dining room’s table and chairs have no marks on them, and the accompanying aubergine-coloured suite and matching aubergine, blue and black abstract design carpet look as if they have just been delivered.

On the upstairs landing, blue floral wallpaper makes its own Sixties statement, while following the fashion of the day, the bathroom is all pink tiles and black splashbacks.

Matching wardrobes and dressing tables stand in the bedrooms, where both the carpets and curtains are the originals installed by Mr Dixon’s mother, who clearly knew quality.

Flaming pink: The colour scheme in the bathroom and toilet is an all out attack on the senses

He said: “She had a good eye for colour and I think she designed the rooms well.”

But despite leaving all the furnishings behind, he is all too aware that after he walks away from Durham Road, the house will never be the same again.

He said: “It most definitely is the end of an era.”