Memories of mid 80's for my short story?

[onesmalldog]

What can you remember of the mid 80s living in the UK as regards house decor, colours, house style, furniture, knick knacks, wallpaper, doors, flooring, light fittings etc?

Also what did you eat and drink?

I'm writing a story need this sort of detail to make it realistic.

Would be so grateful to hear your suggestions - and fun!

Patterned carpets. Woodchip wallpaper. Fake wood panelling.net curtains.eye level
Grills. Coal heating.

We had glass light shades in the living room, yellow with little orange bits. Most of the walls were artex, that sort of swirly pattern. I remember my neighbour 2 doors down being the first one to build a conservatory, it was a big deal at the time, nobody else in our estate had one. It was a terraced house, in a row of terraces with some green space out the front where we used to play. Our bathroom suite was avocado green.

Pale green and pink
Peach/apricot and green
Lemon and duck egg blue

Laura Ashley
Celebration of Victorian/Edwardian features
Coving and cwiling roses
Designers Guild
Baker & McKenzie chintz and wallpaper
Rag rolled paint effects

Apple white, bluebell white, apricot white
Brass picture lights
Ornate pelmets and swags and tails
Chintzy patterns
Chinese rugs

Octagonal china
Dinner and drinks parties "At Homes"

Loads of pine

Sloaney vibe
Monet prints

The incarnation of the German fitten kitchen.

Roast whole salmon
Still pates and mousses
Nouvelle Cuisine
Creamy sauces on everything
Steak, pepper sauce and dauphinoise
Nursery food

Bloody loved it!

Umm ,we had just moved in 1985 we had a pink carpet throughout the downstairs and a green velour suite I think we might have had green flowery wallpaper in the lounge ,my mum had an " elternal beau" dinner set for best ,I had grey flowery wallpaper and matching duvet set ,pierrot the clown duvet sets were also popular, being only 11 I drank Orange cordial ,one bottle a week from Asda , or tea,or water,rarely fizzy pop , mum would make things like spaghetti Bolognese for tea ,no jars etc so it was quite bland, frozen individual pizzas,s were becoming quite popular ,I used to eat country store for breakfast ,which was a type of muslie ,really nice I don't know if you can still get it .

Snaps crisps. Opal fruits. Neon socks.

The TV had on mini pops which I watched over and over in VHS! (a child myself at the time I might add!)

We all (teens) had white duvet covers and curtains with little tulips on one side and stripes on the other. The boys had zig zaggy geometric ones in red and grey.

Wall paper Borders where the top half of the wall was plain, the bottom half stripey and the border was floral. Often in peach or green.

Bathroom coloured suites - I remember my mum putting in an avocado suite in 89. Latter end of the fashion iirc.

Coloured bathroom suites (ours was dark brown )

Patterned carpets

those creepy Pierrots on duvet covers etc

Top of the Pops on Thursday evenings hopefully with Duran Duran 😍

Super fresco wallpaper

I distinctly remember everyone had these mugs!

Ashtrays on coffee tables and kitchen tables like centre pieces, as many puffed away while us kids were in the room.

Dado rails. Victoria plumb bedding.

Soda streams on the kitchen sides.

Pop tarts, crispy pancakes, Wimpy stores.

Shell suits, very plasticky earrings, lots and lots of hairspray.

Racist and sexist jokes common place.

The OHP in assembly for hymns.

Also going out for dinner only on very special occasions and having a glass of fresh orange juice as a starter!

Cerise pink or azure blue

Dewberry

Horse brasses

News hairspray

Iridescent Leg warmers

Boost bar

(for background, northern, working class upbringing)

Electric blue and fuchsia everything, clothes, make up, jewellery.
Slip on shoes, narrow ties, mullets and rats tails on men
Big hair - lots of hair on fire accidents.
Wide brimmed hats
Having wholemeal bread, manage tout, courgettes and garlic bread and being thought quite avant garde on our council estate.
Never having tasted pizza or lasagne but had seen them on TV
Um bongo
Trap Door (tv show)
Trio adverts
Goths and punks
High unemployment. Those news reports saying how many jobs had been lost vs jobs gained.
Teachers telling us in school that it was still worthwhile pursuing qualifications - even though it hadn't occurred to me that it wouldn't be.
Artex - on everything and everywhere
My Nan got a microwave for the first time and we spent an evening playing with it, watching bacon rotate and confirming that yes, it had cooked!
The 'minimalist' look coming in (ie, not having 14 clashing patterns in one room) and people marvelling at how anyone could live like that
Macrame and spider plants.

Ooh, yy to ashtrays. My parents refused to have one in our house as they didn't smoke. That was considered quite extreme.

Esso collection, tiger tokens

Coloured bathroom suites, ours was burgundy and we had pink tiles.

Beaujolais nouveau was a big thing in yuppie circles. There would be special days when "le Beaujolais nouveau est arrivé!" And all the yuppies would go and get drunk.

We didn't eat pasta with sauce mixed through. You had plain pasta and plopped the sauce on top. I worked in a pub and we did prawn cocktail or orange juice or soup as a starter. The only vegetarian food on most menus was a veggie lasagna. Jacket potatoes. Steak or chicken and chips. Ploughman's lunches were popular as well in our pub. Black forest gateau was SO sophisticated!

Coloured bathroom suites. Coordinated chintzy patterns like Eternal Beau, Summerfields which appeared on everything from plates, to curtains, to bedding, to tiles etc. Yes to shades of white paint. Black veneer furniture.

Mini metros , they were everywhere

Yes those glass mugs had forgotten all about them miconium😂,I think we had a set of glasses that we had got from collecting tokens from.a garage 🤔 80,s fashion as a teen ,hooped earinngs, matching babeads beads and bangles ,the obligatory perm everyone had a bad 80,s perm ,pixie boots, stilloto,s ,denim jackets,all the girls wore white long socks rolled down,rara skirts,puffball skirts .

Don’t forget that unless you’re writing about someone rich and fashionable not everything in the house would be absolutely of the moment. In the 80s our living room had Laura Ashley wallpaper, a Habitat rattan lampshade, a 70s green floral sofa and a lot of heavy brown furniture from the early part of the 20th century which used to belong to my grandparents along with a TV and video from Radio Rentals.

Curly perms ( like Brian Mays hair), over the knee socks, body shop perfumes, floral velour sofa , sandwich toaster and really awful frozen pizza.

My parents decorated their house in Scandi/Danish style in the late 60s/early 70s and it was still like that - blue and white plates, some loud abstract patterns, but I had Sanderson pink flowered wallpaper in my room.
We were also weird of diet as my mum was forrin. Some German/E European stuff like smoked sausage soup, pizza, pasta and even Mexican and Ikea type meatballs. And whole foods before it was common.

Avocado green bathroom set
Faux wooden beams in living room
Large floral sofas
She'll suits
Walkmans
Taping straight of the radio
Keep fit on morning TV

Pek tinned pork
Salad - limp lettuce, tomatoes (not cherry) cucumber, spring onion and sliced hard boiled egg. Salad cream never mayonnaise.
Angel delight
Viennetta was a posh dessert
Cresta pop
Pedal pusher trousers.
Velour lounge suits