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!

Ooh - Constance Carroll make up and Rimmel Heather Shimmer lipstick. Microwave ready meals were a mid to late 80s thing.

And @Callimanco how did you get hold of my old duvet cover! I’m sure I had that and it was very fresh and pretty, not that bad now actually.

Also had that exact set!

Pale pink and grey everything.

Eternal Beau crockery.

Lladro figurines.

Wham!

Ra-ra skirts.

Diana hair.

Toasted sandwich makers. Soda streams, blue bols, Malibu, ouzo. Beanbags, zx spectrum , those massive 'portable' music systems that used loads of batteries (can't remember the word for them) , prawn cocktail, orange juice for starters, only one vegetarian menu choice usually lasagne, vienetta

Ghetto blaster?

I put Pierro on dds bed for a while plus a pastel Sanderson hippo design, old duvet covers of mine

My father tried to teach me to program on a ZX Spectrum - not sure which model, but knowing him probably the one with the most memory and / or weird unpopular features. I wanted a Commodore 128.

Brown decor as a throwback to the 70s.
Pastels and grey.
Red and black diagonal stripes on a white background in my brother's room.
Duran Duran posters out of the middle of magazines in mine.
Black Ash effect furniture in the argos catalogue
Vitbe hi bran bread
Clunky video recorders
Evenings huddled around a commodore 64 waiting for a game to load.

Still have my LA decorating book

@Callimanco. I had that very duvet cover. It was from Habitat I think.

I bought my first flat in 1983 and it was mainly furnished with cast offs so it was all very brown. I had a LOT of house plants. And a weird little dishwasher shaped like a dalek that sat on the draining board and leaked. I couldn’t afford a proper cooker so made do with a Baby Belling and a microwave. I could produce wonderful meals on that. I was very petite back then so bought most of my clothes from Tammy Girl including some very nice cotton flying suits. I had a pale pink one and a turquoise one. It was compulsory to wear them with a bright belt and high heeled court shoes that matched the belt!

Kiwi cheesecake - that was very posh 'coz kiwis were imported.

Someone mentioned wall paper borders. I proudly decorated my flat just a couple of years later with almost every room have a mid wall border. (Actually I say I - it was my lovely mum and dad, both of whom could wallpaper brilliantly, but I think rather cursed this idea!).

I also had the pale pink and grey combination (with Laura Ashley wallpaper).

Lot of antique pine.

I remember people having a lot of stuff/clutter that wasn’t used or necessarily even liked. Bookcases full of big books like the Guinness book of records, and lots of tapes and records filling up a small room when you would only seem to listen to the radio. Having lots of small tables and shelving units all over the place, with ornaments that weren’t particularly cherished. Probably because they were hand me downs. It wasn’t the done thing to get rid of things or certainly not to throw such stuff in the single grey/silver bin with lid.
Lots of photo albums or piles of photos in the wallets from the developers. Photo frames with lots of small photos in, in different shapes.

Sundays were really boring, lots of people seemed to wash their cars or tinker round the house. The news seemed to be on TV a lot.
Dogs seemed to be bigger types: either labradors or Alsatians with the occasional collie. They had dog, not human names.
I remember brownish/beige/orangey sometimes green sofas that seemed old and had a certain smell. If anyone got a new three piece suite then people would come and admire it and it was assumed that you’d had a windfall. Same with a new car: most cars seemed to be red Fiestas or escorts, some Astras. Cars were smaller and more dilapidated.

Grey glass nest of tables on tubular metal frame in living room

My cousin had strawberry shortcake pictures in frames on her wall and matching bedcovers

Metal Venetian blinds - white in living room , black in kitchen
We actually had them in our bedroom too

Jelly shoes!

Oh gosh, does anyone remember watching snooker or the horse racing on black and white TVs? Incomprehension distilled (in my case at least).

Some primary school memories:
Come and Praise Him hymnbook in assembly
English Links was our primary school English textbook
Country dancing lessons

Clearly didn't read OP! We ate faggots and mash, pork chops and mash, tinned ravioli, birds eye trifle, jam tarts, fruit cake, penguins, salt and shake crisps, cheese and pickle sandwiches, instant whip.

Habitat and Laura Ashley for home decor

Just remembered something. I turned vegetarian when I was 15 which would have been 1985. It was a monumental pita. I had to make special trips to the health food shop to get supplies of things like dried TVP, Sosmix, Burgamix, Sizzles or Tartex yeast pate. Weird lumpy stuff in tins called Nutolene which was a vegetarian gloop masquerading as spam (why would anyone think that was a good idea?!)

Eating out was a risk if you didn't phone ahead to see if they had anything suitable. If the establishment was sympathetic they might make an off menu cheese omelette.

There were a very small number of vegetarian restaurants about. ime you'd read the menu, spend ages actually choosing between options (novelty) but whatever you ordered, it all looked the same. A brown block of something baked involving red peppers, lentils and cashew nuts served with a variety of side salads which invariably involved grated carrot and sultanas at some point.

I have fond memories of 80's vegetarianism though, I still mourn Sizzles to this day.

Nic nac shelves
Rubber collections
Shiny grey blazers with the sleeves rolled up
I had matching wall paper and bedding. Little pink and green flowers on a white background.

My parents liked a family portrait, done by a professional photographer, every few years. At the time, a "misty" edge to the portrait was popular and I remember the photographer smearing vaseline around the rim of the lens to get the desired soft-focus effect.

Ormally yes to watching the snooker on our black-and-white telly! It seems pointless now but looking back I think the extra challenge of working out which ball was which, was the reason I enjoyed it!

Remember Berni Inn and Beafeater dates and not being able to book a table

ProfYaffle, God, yes, I remember Sosmix and the like. I was a few years older than you and became vegetarian in 1980. It didn't take me long to form an eternal dislike of any and all meat substitute offerings, and learn to cook with recognisable food. In the mid 80s a 'health' food cafe opened in town, and I remember the grated carrot and sultana salad so, so well. I'd still love to go back and sit on the pine benches for the nut roast or homity pie, though.

I think we still had a horrible brown and orange swirly carpet in the living room and a brown sofa. Second hand coffee table etc.
My bedroom had a pink swirly carpet.
Early 80’s was about big hair curly perms, ra-ra skirts white shoes, white shorts, pinky/purple blusher and lipstick with royal blue mascara. Mince and potatoes, shepherds pie, liver and onions etc. A curry was vesta and my mum tried to cook us some pasta overcooked it and served it without any sauce.
By mid 80’s we thought we were more sophisticated and wore suits, pencil skirts, pearls, broaches etc. Looking back on photos one of my best friends looks better and younger now in her early 50’s than she did in the mid 80’s.