When you move to a new home it is only natural that you should want to decorate it in your own individual style and in a style that suits the type of property you have bought. If you have bought a contemporary property that should present no difficulties because there are lots of stores which sell modern furniture and accesssories. However, if you have gone for a period Edwardian or Victorian home things can get a little trickier. You will probably have to scour the antique shops for suitable items or seek out a reproductions manufacturer.
And what if you have bought a Seventies-style property? There is a great deal of nostalgia at the moment for this period, harking back to T Rex and Slade, Abba at the Eurovision Song Contest and even a British winner at Wimbledon in the shape of Virginia Wade. This nostaligia has perhaps been summed up best in recent times by the award-winning TV show Life On Mars.
The difficulty with adopting this kind of look for your home is that if you take it too far, you may end up with something that looks a little kitsch or contrived, so you do need to exercise a modicum of restraint.
If there is one item that sums up this period above all others it is probably the sideboard – usually made from teak by brands such as Ercol or Parker Knoll. You may be able to find a good quality used sideboard as well as other furnishings from the seventies at a craft fair or car boot sale, but if you have no success with this you should try out the website preloved.co.uk or even gumtree, where you could pick up a good example at under £100.00.
Another simple way to hark back to this era is with the clever chioice of wall paper. No – we do not mean the dreaded woodchip, but rather some funky, bold printed wall hangings. There has been a real revival in interest in printed wallpaper recently, so you should have no problem finding something to suit you. The best way to use this kind of paper is to hang it on one wall and use something neutral for the others, or else to break up the pattern using plain paper above a dado rail or picture rail. There are plenty of good makes to look out for but Laura Ashley and Cath Kidston capture the style perfectly.
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