Things you thought were posh/exciting/unattainable as a child that are actually everyday items

[AlternativelyWired]

I'm just searching for scotch tape on Amazon ready for Christmas. It got me thinking how double sided sticky tape was but a dream back when I was little. Blue Peter used it all the time but it was something I'd never have. The same with play dough. I only ever had plasticine. Scotch tape was fancy too, we only ever had yellow sellotape. Ribera. I'm sure I'll think of others.

I always used to snigger when my parents ordered a floater coffee LOL.
'are you have a floater mum' hahaha
I was about 12 at the time !

Vienetta

Ooh yes and corner baths

As I mentioned before my house is a nostalgic timewarp and I have a corner bath (darkwood panelled with gold taps and built in show on the tap) which I like... everyone else HATES it for some reason though.

A builder recently told me it needs 'ripping out' and a 'normal' rectangle bath put in (theres nothing wrong with the bath BTW, we have a completely seperate freestanding shower cublical that is broken but he decided to give his opinion on the perfectly fine bath anyway).

Is it white, or tasteful colour like avocado or aubergine?

What's the gold container thing?

@DameHelena this - Uber posh back in the day

I'd LOVE a corner bath!

My mother's cousin had a sunken bath,it was burgundy with those gold taps that looked like fish.

Loved the fish taps. My mum and dad bought a house in the 80s and we had brass towel rings in the bathroom with lions' heads on them. I always really liked them and would love to buy something similar, but stuff is so neutral and boring now. Nothing wrong with a bit of kitsch...

In a house:

A Utility room
A 'real' fire - so any kind of log burner or open fire seemed like the height of luxury 😁

In general - fizzy drinks! Only allowed on very special occasions, birthday parties etc.

We had a real fire - dad used to get up early each morning in cold weather to rake out the ashes and light it. Because we didn't have central heating and the electric radiators were expensive. Not posh at all.

Ah yes, thank you. I think I remember those from mass catering jobs in my teens and twenties.

Haven't RTFT and these have probably been mentioned.

Cafetieres. I first saw one in the wild as a young child when Mum and I were having lunch in C&A cafe around Christmas time. Our coffees were served in individual and oh so 80s red Bodum mini cafetieres. My little mind was blown. Mum never entertained getting one as there weren't too many places in 80s Belfast for you to buy ground coffee for home use. Years later she wouldn't even accept one of our spare Bodum cafetieres (OH and I had our own ones before we moved in together).

And don't start me on the little plastic swords that held the sandwiches on the platter together, so exciting and sophisticated to a child. Actually, so were sandwich platters 😃

Music lessons where you would be graded. I sang in choirs including being one of the most junior in our school's chamber choir, but would have loved piano lessons. Mum was a widow and couldn't afford them along with our other extra curricular activities. I feel ungrateful now as an adult for grumbling about this as a child, because it must have been so hard for her providing everything we needed and wanted.

Make up sets/pallets. I have loads of these now (more than I need) ranging from budget to too expensive, but to teenage me these were very desirable. The joy when I got TWO from Boots circa 1989 - one for lips and cheeks, and one for eyes!

Also perfume. Mum and I didn't share the same perfume tastes so I couldn't nick hers. I think nothing of buying perfume now, but that first bottle of Obsession in the early 90s felt like winning the lottery 😁

Yeah I grew up in a mining town so coal fires werent unusual up until the end of the 90s, definately weren't luxuary, the house was always under a thick layer of coal dust/ash dust no matter how often you dusted.

My dad spent lockdown reinstalling a coal fire because he missed it, Im sure he just wants something to do all day long so enjoys sweeping it and stoking it etc... he has way too much energy since retiring.

Not sure if thats meant for me but unfortunately my corner bath is just plain white :( would love a colour one though and got DH to agree if we ever do get a new bathroom we can get colour.

Growing up we had a dusky pink toilet, sink and bath but that was just a rectangle bath.

I remember thinking cocktail umbrellas were posh.

@mam0918 yes, for you! People dh knew had two bathrooms and an en suite. One bathroom had an aubergine suite, but only a normal shaped bath. Every drip of water showed up, which spoiled the effect.
Those coffee filters on a cup were really posh , i would like the to return with reusable filter bits obviously.

I always thought garden furniture was really posh . We only ever had deck chairs or we would take a blanket and cushion out if we were sunbathing, I used to daydream about having a padded sun lounger!!

We call these liquor coffees does anyone else? I used to love watching my mum making them at Christmas I thought it was like an artform how the cream floated!

I like amaretto in mine 😁

'Needs ripped out'. I hate that expression. It's savage. How many beautiful things were 'ripped out' of houses? Sash windows, fireplaces, chimneys which still look lovely on roofs even if they aren't used, Art Deco stained glass, tiled surrounds and floors...it's all horrible vandalism and it can never be put back.

I agree @hellycat except I did enjoy ripping out the horrid uvpc door and surround that had been put on my house by previous owners and replacing it with a wooden one that I can paint a nice colour.

Id love to get rid of my nasty front door too. But there is always some other expense that takes priority. I hate making do with things that dont work very well and prioritising spending.

We have lots of stained glass in our house,one of the upsides of the previous owners' neglect.

I love wood windows and doors, you so rarely see them now.