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!

One phone in the hall. Ours was on the wall at the bottom of the stairs. Some friends had wee phone tables that had a seat and a drawer/cabinet for the yellow pages, phone book and address book.

Our living room was various shades of brown - brown velour three piece suite, brown and fawn swirl carpet, fawn curtains, teak furniture,

My bedroom was plastered floor to ceiling with posters from smash hits. My bedding was Sarah Kay with a white valance. I had my owl collection on umpteen shelves. Other friends had other collections on display - rubbers, garfields... All my tapes (shop-bought and mix tapes) were on a shelf too.

Watch some old episodes of Only Fools & Horses 😊

CDs were new and exciting. We got our first CD player in 1987, I think. We had a colour TV but by modern standards it was tiny, probably classified as a portable. We decided to buy rather than rent because reliability had improved a lot and we were fairly confident we wouldn't need to get it repaired (unlike the ones in the 1970s when I was growing up, which went wrong often - the Radio Rentals man was a regular visitor). We also got a video recorder some time in the mid 80s - VHS. There was a rival system called Betamax which eventually got phased out. It was revolutionary to be able to decide when we watched programmes. Prior to that if you weren't in when it went out you missed it. Flipside of that was that because so many people only watched live TV and there were only four channels (no SKY, no cable, no internet) TV was a big talking point the next day as there was every chance your colleagues had all watched the same thing.

Has anyone mentioned the Coca-Cola yo-yos? I was born in 1979 and don't remember a lot about the 80's but I do remember those. Also loving Morten Harkett.
My sister used to read the Misty annuals which were really spooky (I wasn't allowed to read them but did anyway and had nightmares after!)

Playgrounds didn't have safety matting, I fractured my skull after falling from a seesaw, would probably bounce if it happened now.

Autumn Leaves china in our house.

Coloured toilet paper as well as bathroom suites. Carpet in the bathroom.

Fringed lamp shades in our house. Lots of orange pine bits. Wood was generally varnished. All woodwork painted gloss (never satinwood or eggshell). Wallpaper was more common on walls than it is now - our bedrooms were all papered.

Mostly curtains rather than blinds - we only had blinds in the kitchen and bathroom.

Not everyone had a shower in the bathroom.

Not everyone had a landline phone.

Power cuts were quite common.

All kids drank squash. My grandparents would buy us Mr Whippys from the ice cream van, known as 99s, with a flake and raspberry sauce. They also kept toffee in the fridge, and Dairy Milk, which came in a foil wrapper with the paper wrapper on top. We used to like Wildlife bars, which were thin chocolate bars with pictures of animals on them and you could rub the foil to make an indented picture of the animals on the bar.

Coloured bathroom suites , carpet in kitchens ( from memory called Flowtex or something like that ) and some had carpet in bathrooms as well .
Was that about the time Shellsuits were the high of fashion as well ?

We had a peach sofa from a really nice shop that was from a company called Minty. It was peach with multicoloured flecks. It was quite cool.

I recall having angel delight
Birds eye potato waffles and crispy pancakes.

My dad was on strike for a lot of the 80s I don't remember money being discussed but I do know that for a year I didn't have many new things and family members bought us coal and potato's. We were pretty much lower middle class so it felt very stripped back to what we were used to.
When my dad went back to work my mum went and got me a giant bag of clothes from Tammy girl.

I was a brownie and kept a diary daily.
I also went to gymnastics and only had the one leotard. I used to practice in the garden on a mattress that we kept in the shed.

We had a massive wood effect stereo in the living room that had a record player and we listened to dexys midnight runners on it.

Our fire was a gas box fire on the wall I distinctly recall the blue flame flicking up the white grid.

I wore a lot of cord skirts and high necked blouses in the mid 80s and had a short haircut. It was likely that it was inspired by Princess Diana.

One of my earliest memories was Charles and Diana coming through our town after the wedding and it was pissing down. My mum was pregnant at the time so I hid under her stomach and used her peachy pink coat that smelled like mothballs and white musk as a pair of curtains to peek out of!

I was newly married in the mid eighties and we had just moved into our first home together.
New build, through lounge with kitchen leading directly off. Colours - living room was terracotta and magnolia, kitchen red and white. Our walls were just painted,
we didn't have any patterned carpets, curtains. The onlybpatyerns were on the duvet covers. Bathroom had a pampas green suite (slightly greyer shade of green than than avocado).
Food : lots of chicken with vegetables and potatoes. Special meals were things like bolognese. As another poster said, any sauces were very creamy.
We had a top loading video recorder, TV and video did not have remote controls. Only the main four channels (channel 5 came along quite a bit later) and no satellite or cable TV.
We had a duvet, with lots of floral covers. My parents still used sheets and blankets at that time.
Microwaves were around, but ridiculously expensive - we didn't get one until about 1991.
We had a music centre with combined record player, radio and dual cassette deck - great for making mix tapes!
People weren't so fussed about matching, or coordinating household items. So things like tablecloths, placemats, coasters crockery etc were a bit of a mish mash. Eating out and even take aways were treats, not a regular occurrence. The major town where we lived, didn't have a McDonald's, KFC etc until much later.
Milk came from the milkman and we had a choice of dairies. Tesco stayed open late on Fridays - until 8pm! Around 1985 we bought our first ever ready meal in Tesco - lasagne.
I had a Walkman so I could listen to music on my commute to work.
Book clubs - you had to buy one book a month at a discount.
No internet, so if you ordered anything you had to post your order with your cheque. No 'next day delivery'. It could be a couple of weeks before you got your product in the post.

Ate findus crispy pancakes and turkey burgers with cheese in them.

Thought I was the bees knees in my pink raa raa skirt set.

Living room had a patterned brown and orange swirly carpet.

Miners strikes dominated the news.

Margaret Thatcher was prime minister and had been forever.

I was a teenager in the 80S giant ghetto blasters every kid seemed to have them I didn’t today I’ve got a replica one I love it for my 80s cds. I wasn’t allowed half the fashion stuff the others had, I was 17 before I had my first pair of jeans, loved Duran Duran, still do today the 80s stuff the best.

My parents weren't in to decorating.
My first home stayed very 70s, dark, heavy florals (wall paper and carpets) nothing matched.
Every day crockery/ cutlery was a jumble originating from the 70s and 60s. Some things were upgraded, so we got Denby for best, and the white with pink rims were relagated to daily use.

Next house was already decorated in woodchip and painted magnolia or shades of pastel off-white. Still heavy florals or chintzy for soft furnishings.

I remember seeing a breeze block of a mobile phone. We had a car phone mounted on the console between the driver/ passenger. Big bulky thing.

The bigger and blacker the home entertainment (TV/ stereo) the better.

A few memories, especially of the toys (remember coveting them in Asda!)
I wanted a Ladybird dolls' pram which was a little, child-sized big-like one with a plastic hood like a ladybird's back. The hood could flip over from one side of the pram to the other. I was bought a special Silver Cross style one for Christmas...that hurt so much as I still wanted the Ladybird one, but no chance after that.
There was a plastic tree house style toy (a green tree dolls' house that opened up - a lot of families seemed to have one).
Keypers! Look them up if this means nothing, they were great.
The great question of Raleigh vs BMX for primary school boys.
Victoria Plum (Book/TV character); Hollie Hobby
Home style: I still remember dusty oranges and brown (curtains, colour schemes - in a Trusthouse Forte hotel as well) although this was a hangover from the 70s.
Clothkits: my Mum used to make children's clothes from them. They were patterns on fabric sent by post every month or so, often quite Scandi-esque, to cut straight out and sew. Loved some of these but mostly felt a bit embarrassed as they were nothing like the prevailing styles.
Ice creams: as well as the cones - The K9 (miss this), Funny Foot, Apple Cider and Shandy lollies (mmmm). Glass, fairly decorative bottles of dandelion and burdock and other "pop" that seemed to be gone almost as soon as they were open.
The Black Lace 'Party, Party' album played at each and every child's birthday party where I lived. I can even vaguely remember the order that the songs ran as it's now locked in a neural pathway. You were expected to dance, often while led by one of the adults. I fear no song on this album was missed out.

...That should say 'child-sized bug-like one.'
Oh yes, and a good number of the Roald Dahl children's books including the BFG came out in the 80s and caused quite a stir at school. I believe every student in my primary was also made to read Stig of the Dump and Flat Stanley (not as a class, serial and individual borrowing from the library)

Cycling Proficiency and the Tufty Club road safety badges...
(Ok, stopping now. Really.)

I painted my bedroom pale pink and had a pale grey carpet in the mid 80s. I had matching curtains and lampshade. Meanwhile my parents had Edwardian Lady duvet and curtains. Our capets weren't patterned. My cousins lived in a very 70s swirly carpet and wallpaper house.

Saturday afternoon trips to the video shop. Vesta curries and frozen foods. Teenage girls with Pierrot the clown quilt covers, dewberry scent from the Body Shop, lots of decor was apple green and apricot with floral borders, every floor was carpeted, tiling on a roll wallpaper for bathrooms and kitchens, pink.or grey bathroom suites

The 80,s wasent had for every one my parents,both worked for the Gas board we had holidays abroad every year my parents also owned a fairly large 4 bed semi detached very different to my circumstances in a small two bed social housing house we can barely afford a week in a caravan every year I'm not complaining but circumstances are very different.

Pedal pushers
The Di flick
Hair Mouse to scrunch into your perm
Lots of hair gel for the boys
Men wearing jacket sleeves rolled up Miami Vice style
Nerds sweets
Men having dodgy highlights
A Team, Fame Knight Rider massive with kids
Dynasty and Dallas - who shot JR?
Eastenders- Dirty Den and Angie
Live Aid
The Tube
Thorn Birds
Early eighties we still had bus conductors, still miss them.
Tuck Shop at primary school
The Falkland war
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mike 13 3/4

Haha ah yes we wore denim and Ra ra skirts and had a brown sofa with orange corduroy cushions 🙈...loved corned beef hash , volavonts and chicken chasseur and babycham & snowballs listening to my sister's favourite Europe or my brother's T'pau or mine Sinitta ...double 🙈🙈
It's strange but since lockdown I feel we've revisited the 80's ..exploring the local woods , board games, more time with the kids. I know that's not the same for everyone due to circumstances but it's been quite surreal.

We got our first colour TV around 1987. I can remember going with my mum to get it. It was a portable one and went in the front room that we only went in on special occasions or if posh visitors came. By the 90's we used the front room a lot more and had a video. Food wise pot noodle was our annual holiday treat in the summer. It was so exciting choosing which flavour to have. Cakes or pudding were for Sunday tea or special occasions only and sweets or pop were seldom eaten. Maybe a couple of times a month for sweets and birthdays/Christmas for pop, I had a friend who had a chocolate bar box in the kitchen and they got one each evening, it was things like 2 finger kit kat and breakaways, but I was seriously impressed! Furniture wise I remember cane settees, spider plants and lots of grey and pink. Socially there was lots more smoking as it was years before restrictions on public smoking (although it was strictly banned in our house) and people were openly racist, sexist and homophobic and excused it with "traditional" and "grew up like it".

wow! fabulous thank you so much to everyone who posted

Look at the Argos catalogue from the time you need - all the back issues are online, good for toys, decor, appliances etc.

eatpeachpearbum

how amazing is this?!

I knew this meme would come in handy some day.