Tell me about your grandmas houses if your gran lived through the war(s)

[Kellogschocrolls]

My gran was 4-8yrs old in WW1 & 31-35 in WW2 for context. She spent her whole life living in a northern Victorian terrace. Thinking about it this morning, I realised there was nothing soft or feminine about the house at all. No pretty curtains or feminine touches anywhere. Just a utilitarian interior. I'm wondering if others had grannies who liked pretty things in their home or whether it was a product of a life lived through two wars?

For example, my grans house interior woodwork was all painted mid-brown, no lace doilies or 'displayed' dressing table area. Burgundy & brown stripe flocked wallpaper in the front room. No pictures up. Nothing to soften the interior at all. Outside she had a small totally concreted rear yard. At the front she had a tiny garden with only a privet hedge, no flowers ever.

I'm just curious as I can't imagine having a wartime gran who ever wore flowery dresses or had a pretty tablecloth/nice pictures on the wall, vases of flowers etc. What was your gran like?

My Nanna had an outside toilet and no washing machine, but the house was full of knick knacks, quite the opposite of what you describe op.. Glass fronted cabinets filled with royal doulton figurines, and doilies made of plastic on every available service.

Both mine were teenagers/early 20s during ww2. Maternal grandmother had loads of bright colours, she quilted and crocheted. She collected Venetian glass and always had fresh flowers on the table. Paternal grandmother had a very airy bright house, nothing gloomy. Both wore flowery dresses and jewellery.

As did their mothers who died when I was 6 and 17 respectively. Maternal great gran made loads of bright coloured crocheted blankets and rag rugs. One of her crocheted blankets is on my spare bed.

My gran was in her 20s in WW2 - her house was like an explosion in a chintz factory.

Very similar to my grandma in age, but not in the UK but in Hungary. She remembers the Spanish flu and getting it. My dm was born during WWII. She remembers very little apart from a nazi soldier entering the house and helping himself to food -cunt- taking food from poor people and little kids. I hope he’s burning in eternal hell now 😡
Dgm house had wooden shutters on the windows even until she sold it in 2002. She used to switch her radio in at 3am out of habit, waiting for news.

My grandparents were 20 when ww2 started. They both came from working class homes with very little money for frivolities.
They were the first in their families to be educated beyond the age of 12 and became teachers. They ended up reasonably well off.
They both had a good eye for lovely things.
My grandma had a beautifully decorated home with any pretty things from previous generations displayed and loved.
Her mother was a brilliant crocheter and needle woman. We have several lovely things that have been passed on.
My grandfather was a good gardener and carpenter,
Their home was much loved and beautiful inside and out.
Have to say that would be true of both sets of my grandparents. My other grandmother was extremely creative and made some truly lovely things.
I feel that the austerity of their childhoods actually encouraged a love of pretty things in later life.

Oh, and both grandmothers continue to be very carefully and prettily dressed into their 100th year!

School leaving age during Ww1, late 30s/early 40s with young children in Ww2, so a little bit older than op's grandmother.

Lived in a town in Kent.

I remember lots of pretty touches - floral curtains with fringed tie backs, patterned rugs, cushions made of chintzy fabrics, oversized fringed lampshades, upholstered headboards and patterned silky bedspreads. A large dressing table with padded stool and lots of little cut glass pots.
Lots of little ornaments everywhere.

Pretty patterned china cups and saucers always on display and a pink floral quilted tea cosy on the matching teapot.

Stylish clothing, always court shoes with heels and smart wool coats - not dissimilar to Margaret Thatcher. Always wore jewellery and makeup, and looked carefully groomed.

Some lovely memories here - knitting, sewing and crochet seems to be a common thread (excuse pun) running through these reminiscences.

My DGM was born in 1914. Her house was cold as she didn't have central heating, an electric fire kept the living room warm but, in the Winter especially, I remember if I needed the toilet I would have to summon the courage to run upstairs because it was freezing! It also seemed creepy once you left the living room because it was so cold and dark and quite bare going up the stairs, maybe one framed painting in the hallway, an old dolly's pram she'd had since she was a little girl and a telephone.
They had a pantry and one of the massive old fashioned washers in the utility room, where you'd have to press the washing down to drain it. The furniture was smart and formal but there was definitely a feminine touch to the decor and lots of vases with fresh flowers. Also lots of little trinkets and ornaments she'd collected over years, boxes of buttons and costume jewellery.
She was an amazing DGM, who taught me everything I know about baking. I miss her very much.

Both of mine were born in the 1920s. Don't remember ever thinking of either of them as "old". Paternal grandmother lived in the rented terrace my dad was born and grew up in, apart from a heavily patterned living room carpet the house looked like any other to me. She liked "modern" furniture and the house would have been very up to date when last properly decorated in the late 60s/early 70s I think - that would have been when fitted kitchen and (pink) bathroom were put in as I know the house had neither when my dad was young. She liked clothes and most of my childhood memories she was wearing a shellsuit type jacket in a bright colour and other stuff that would have been up to date in the 80s. Ski pants! Lots of Royal Doulton type ornaments and had a lot of jugs with royal wedding, coronation etc prints. She used to clean for the "old woman" down the road who wore floral dresses etc and who I think was actually a bit younger than her!

Maternal grandmother had a lot less tat around but loved moving house and did so every 3 - 5 years including an episode where she emigrated, got bored and came back. Her houses always looked normal to me for the 80s and 90s. A few ornaments etc about but I think she liked to travel light! Her houses were never austere though - more like 90s ikea type decor with books around. I remember my mother being quite annoyed at one point as my grandmother kept copying her decorating ideas. She wasn't particularly interested in clothes but never looked old fashioned, just wore plain trousers and a top from M&S type things, never any make up.

Both died too young when I was in my 20s. Still hard to believe they're not around.

My gran was 18 in ww1 and 43 in ww2
I only remember her in her last house a modern council house

They were poor when she was young
Her dad died in 1901 when she was only 5 and he was 39 and her snd her sisters had to go to an orphanage while her mum was at home with the older children ( the workers) snd the baby

I can imagine the homes were impoverished and grim .. like the times they lived in

Ah lovely thread. Made me miss my grandma.

My grandmothers were both children in WW2.

First grandmother has a love of pink, frills, lace, mirrors, gold, silver and glitter. Her home is decorated to within an inch of its life with frilly curtains, doilies and ornaments. She always loved spending money on clothes, make up and perfume. Always interested in new gadgets and kitchen / household / personal care inventions.

My other gran was the only girl in her family. Studious and very hard working / career focused. Had a large family so money was always very tight and not much to go round and nothing ever leftover. She didn’t believe in buying on credit so things were only purchased when they could be afforded. She was not into fripperies and the house was utilitarian as she raised her family. Gradually as she grew older and family grew up, she was widowed, she had more time and money for home decoration. She was more into creams, beige, blues and dusky pinks and solid woods than the frothy pinks, whites, glass and silver/golds of my other grandma. She was not massively sentimental, although did collect more ornaments etc as she became older and inherited items etc. She would still give away or pass on things which felt unnecessarily ‘nice’ or glamorous.

Mine were in their teens in Ww1 and had children before ww2. One set had a large detached house in suburbia and the others lived in a two up two down in London. Both men fought in Ww2 but in different countries. I have letters that one sent to my mum.

I only really knew the one granny, both my grandads died young long before I was born and the other grandmother hated my mother so we never saw her.

I used to see my granny and also her sister who were both born around the turn of the century so lived through both World Wars. My granny lived in a cottage with a beautiful small garden with lilac she was very proud of. Then she had to move to a flat as she became too frail and there there was a brass bed, brass horseshoes everywhere on the walls, so many pot plants on the floor you struggled to move round them. She wore fairly plain clothing. She had china ornaments on display. She had a tiny garden there with flowers. She used to knit and bake Christmas cake though ate very frugally, she would eat things like just boiled cabbage.

Her sisters house I loved, it was the most perfect place in the world to me. It was a beautiful cottage with the most beautiful garden full of flowers and inside the cottages it was full of beams and dried flowers hanging everywhere. There would always be lots of homemade cakes like lemon drizzle and home made pickles like red cabbage. She had a wooden swing in her garden. She never had children as she was terrified of hospitals and died of cancer in lots of pain at home when I was about 11. I now have a cottage just like hers.

Both my sets of grandparents were bombed out as was one of my husband's. By the time I came along they were living somewhere different to where they had lived in war; husband's gran was back in her own house as it had been repaired.

Their homes were charming.

My maternal grandparents emigrated to England in the 50s, they brought very little from India - my grandad sold his magnificent stamp collection to fund the move. A tiny Indian inlaid table that I was allowed to have my breakfast off sometimes. A large religious painting or print that had seawater damage from being in the hold for weeks. And a sandalwood box that contained their extremely funny love letters. After they died someone broke in and not finding much stole the box and a couple of pictures. The box was a shame, but the loss of the letters was devastating.

Here they lived in a Victorian semi. There weren't lots of ornaments as they gathered dust and grandma and grandad worked so kept things easy. There was a piano, a dining table - at big family gatherings - and they were always held there - I'd sit on the piano stool. I remember it having itchy fabric.

The hall carpet was green and threadbare, we used to play cricket there . Everyone in my extended family (great aunts, cousins, great grandmother would go to church then back to my grandparents for a cup of tea. Money was tight but they were incredibly hospitable and kind. I remember the day my grandad paid off the mortgage and him and my dad went 'over the road' (pub) to celebrate. He must have been in his early 70s.

On the piano was a photo cube and a jar of peanuts. There was a picture of my grandma's dad next to his pride a joy - a car in the 1930s. Her mum died young and she had no memories of her.

The furniture they had was all second hand or home made. My grandma had a lamp next to her chair which someone made with a stick built donkey on it to decorate it.

Upstairs was a bit more decorative, there was a holy water stoup which cherubs on it, a holographic religious picture someone brought them from Lourdes and a pomander that smelt of roses. It was all little bits that people had brought back from places for them.
That house was full of love, kindness and fun.

My other grandma, who is still alive, grew up in England as a child/teen in WW2. Her parents were grocers and she married a farmer, but they moved regularly. Her house when I was a child was brilliant, but we didn't play cricket in her hall! She'd learnt her lesson with her own children- my dad once sawed through a chair leg during a dinner party - he'd been given a tool box for his 7th birthday 😂.

Us kids were sent out to explore the huge garden and would spend hours there. Inside the house she had grandfather clocks, Victorian and Georgian furniture and a some reproduction Georgian coffee table with a chess set in it (my favourite as a child). They definitely had money as their sofa was in the middle of the room - not with its back to the wall- like everyone else's house I'd ever seen. Grandma has downsized now but still has a lot of trinkets.