to think that those of you of have abundant cushions on your bed are just as bad as the loons who have teddy bears on theirs?

[GetOrfMoiLand]

A friend (rather DP's workmate's girflfriend) just moved into a new house. She is a lovely girl, went round their house with some lilys to nose have a look.

She has about 6 great big cushions on her bed all nicely arranged. And one of those strips of material like a scarf at the bottom.

I made all the right noises but then said 'what do you do when you go to bed, do you just throw 'em on the floor?'

She looked at me as if I was old man Steptoe and said 'no we put them in the ottoman'. And by the window is a blanket box in which she puts the cushions at night, and then puts them back on the bed in the morning.

That's MAD isn't it?

Mind you, she is only 24. Surely a bit of real life will knock that madness out of her.

Fellatio - okay so...

On shelf by fireplace:

• Peppa Pig house in canary yellow, with purple sofa suite and accessories
• sparkly gift bag in green, containing a selection of miniature TV-character related merchandise
• stuffed 6" kangaroo (genuine Australian)
• Peppa Pig piggybank
• dodgy out of date family photos in wooden frames, which need a good editing

On walls:

• 1930s Beken print (sepia)
• framed old maps of surrounding area
• round 1930s mirror
• framed 1930's advertising poster for men's woollen suits
• original 1970s lamps with dodgy knittedy fabric lampshades
• original Victorian and Edwardian postcards of surrounding area, in 1930s wooden frames

Furniture:

• nest of 1950s Ercol coffee tables
• 1930s-style rounded arm shaped brown leather sofas, accessorised with duck egg blue twill cushions
• Ikea Poang armchair

Kitchen:

• Cream Dualit toaster (used to have matching kettle too, but it developed a terminal leak)
• retro chrome round-shaped kettle (to replace crappy Dualit failure)
• various Jamie Oliver-ness about the cookware

Okay - apart from the above, the twee-ery I hold aloft for heavy judgery is the range of reproduction 1930s advertising prints on small metal plates in the dining room. And the pastel and white spotted 50's-style tea towels and curtains in the kitchen (they are but a step away from actual bunting).

And... okay so I do have JUST THE ONE decorative cushion on my bed which I used as bump support during pregnancy. It MATCHES THE WALLS, okay?

Which puts me in mind of when my DH took me to Nobu for my birthday and for a night of wild abandon in a tres chic hotel (of the bed bolster variety) afterwards. I got a bit over-excited at spotting Trevor Eve and another luvvy whose name escapes me right now in Nobu, and I drank one two many watermelon martinis, and fell asleep with my my face in my plate of the very expensive black cod signature dish, and, well, to cut a long story short, my DH wasted his money that night and wasn't best pleased with me in the morning.

But at least it makes a change for me to be the drunk embarrassing/useless one.

OK. Thanks. I really like you now.

We are interiors soulmates.

I might have to judge you on the repro thingies, admittedly, but then you know that already don't you?

I'm loving the daring addition of 70's bits. But you are probably younger than me. I can't do it, at 44, or people will just think I never bought new stuff from the first time.

Also, I did do a great line in 50's and 60's retro stuff when I lived in a very modern house about 6 or 7 years ago, but I can't make it look right in my current house. I need to embrace the classic country house look. I do sneak in the odd eyebrow raising item though.

And I might need to judge the kangaroo....but otherwise all is well.

I have wanted some vintage travel advertising prints and maps for ages but the prices have gone really silly and I won;t buy anything repro if I can really help it.

I do have the most fantastic little 1950's school chair and desk set in an Eames stylee that I got in a charity shop for £15. (You've never seen a woman pay up and leave so fast in all your life.)

And an original 1930's EXIT sign (railway or underground related I suspect) from a boot fair for £7 from some useless know-nothing pikey junk dealer person who thought he'd done well out of me.

Ultra-luvvy Sir Peter Hall, that's who it was. Sorry - as you were.

Fellatio - we are indeed interiors soulmates. And yes, I think the repro 1930s ad prints do have to go .

I'm not younger than you (older by a year), but the 1970s lamps came with the house and it seemed a shame to get rid of them. Especially as we could probably only afford to replace them with crappy B&Q ones anyway (nice lamps are horribly expensive).

I noticed on the way to your photos that you are a Neil Diamond fan - now that is a TRUE indicator of excellent taste I have trouble deciding between Cracklin' Rosie and Sweet Caroline as his top track, I think Cracklin' Rosie has it by a nose...

Well they are the two that remind me most of my childhood and make me sing loudly in the car, but I'm a big fan of Solitary Man, and his last few albums which are just fantastic.

And yes, Cracklin' Rosie is the more classy of the two. SC is very anthemic, but a verging on the pedestrian.

Ooh ooh! I've just remembered! I bought from a junk antigue shop in St Ives about 12 years ago a set of 5 1960's Hornsea pottery John Clappison dishes for £10 for the lot. I think they are worth maybe £50 each (minimum) now. I use them regularly as well, which is probably foolish. I keep meaning to put one on Ebay, just to test the waters.

I have cushions on my bed. They prop me up when I am reading the paper in the morning. I can assure everyone that they serve no decorative purpose whatsoever.

I do all that and I've been married 22 years. Its simply as I am trying pathetically to recreate the ambience of Malmaison (sans enfants) in my 1970's house in a suburban cul de sac in scarborough.

shirley

aloiseb are you my very own alouiseg after a few drinks?

Or is it all a horrible coincidence?

Can't sleep so logged onto this instead and am now trying to supress chuckles of mirth- MamaMtundu-LOL-you just described my husband (but must admit he is at least having a good stab at re-arranging our VERY FEW bed cushions.
I'd like to point out that our bedroom is too small to swing a cat in, never mind an ottoman (if I could remember what one even is at 1am)
ninedragons- OMFG now I'm really struggling not to laugh out loud- you have just described THE most irritating, up her own backside, wannabe yummy mummy in the whole of NW6 whose daughter always used to hit/bite mine and who has gi-normous Silver and Coloured letters in both her children's bedrooms spelling their names (presumably in case she forgets their names when back from an all-night bender)...she has that bloody awful "Stay Calm and Carry On" in her kitchen AND "upstairs cloakroom" ya know...plus all of the above.
Surely given this, a few bed cushions seem positively tame???

I have a fabulous bed, which right now I'm having trouble sleeping in, but I do draw the line at having cushions on it. I always imagine them to be the preserve of prissy girls who need to shower before and after sex.

I have a friend who showers before and after sex, which I find odd. He DH does too. Can't think of anything worse than both having to get out of bed afterwards to shower and then get dry.

I don;t even make my bed unless poeple are coming over and may see it.
But I alway wished I could be the kind of person to have nice cushions all over it.....

Drawn back to this thread by Aitch's round-up quoting someone's disgust at the orchid and pyramid of towels in the bathroom.

I do usually have an orchid in the bathroom (not at the moment actually, as it got covered in vermiculite insulation when DS fell through the ceiling and I chucked it out) but the only pyramid of towels round here is the growing one on the floor of DD's bedroom.

For the retro equipment fans amongst you, I also have MIL's old Hoover in my garage - I think from the 50's if anyone's interested. It would probably be for ornamental purposes only though, I'm not sure if it still works and I'm not too keen on plugging it in to find out....

I thought the pieces of material at the end of beds were for cats to sit on, helping to prevent cat fur getting in the bed?

Miffster a little smack on kitty's botty is usually the best way to avoid getting cat fur on the bed.

I think the types of people who have strips of material at the end of their bed are also the types to have palpitations at the thought of an animal on their bed.

(...unless perhaps that animal was a skinned one).

Fellatio - Neil?? Pedestrian?? Noooooo...

Check out this live version and you are bound to change your mind:

The 1950s pottery set sounds good. Have you googled similar to gauge prices? Damn, now I want to spend the weekend looking for 1950s frippery on ebay... (Our last house was 1930s, this one is 50s, hence the mish mash.)

And re animals on bed, they can feck off too, along with the cushions.

When we had a dog, she once sicked up half a box of Milk Tray UNDER my pillow. So I didn't find it till I went to bed. Ta, little doggy.

HOB it's these and there are four designs in the range I think. I have all four plus one duplicate. This site won't divulge prices though and they are indeed rare as I have never seen another one about from this one and mine.

Ah sorry you said 60s not 50s. They do look really unusual, I haven't seen anything like those before (not that I'm a pottery expert). Great colours.

Bit of a random hijack but would it be worth starting a thread about pottery? I am also keen on retro pots and love comparing notes. I'm sure I read in Homes and Antiques that Clappison is regarded as a wise investment, so prices should continue to go up in future :)

Re the bed cushions, I'm firmly of the belief they are entirely unacceptable if they aren't genuinely comfortable ones that get used. Rubbishy extra-small light ones are never ok. Ditto scarf thing, but actual warm useful blankets are a different matter.