Anyone live in a 1960's semi?

[beatie]

I need some decorating inspiration for the living room/dining room. We moved from a Victorian Terrace to a 1960's semi (hey, we're going up in the world ) and I find our new home so bland in comparison.

Victorian homes with original features, high ceilings, picture rails etc... speak for themselves beauty wise. 1960's Barratt or Wimpey homes seem to need a magic decorating touch - which I don't think I possess.

We have a lounge/diner, separated by an archway. We use the dining section as a playroom since the kitchen was extended and fits a dining table in it.

The carpet is mid-blue, our sofas are navy blue and the walls currently pale yellow. We're planning to paint the walls soon. Should I play it safe with neutrals or go for some colour?

What's your like?

I dont live in one but think you should go contmporary ..i would go pale duck egg with an accent of aubergine!

We have a 1960s semi that sounds a bit like yours - we wanted a gorgeous period house but sacrificed character for square footage and parking.

When we moved in the decor was very faux-period - brass doorhandles, light switches etc, big fake-oak fitted shelf things around a fake fireplace, pelmets, leaded glass doors between living & dining rooms - and it was just ghastly - didn't suit the house at all.
When the house was built it was very 'modern' and open plan, with woodblock floor etc, and stud walls had been added after. We kind of took it back to its original state and made a virtue of the space - light neutrals, same flooring throughout etc. It would be minimalist if we didn't have so much stuff.

Blue can be a tricky colour to match to - I like the sound of the duckegg blue or eau-de-nil. Whatever colour you go for on the walls, get a hint of it into the rest of the room - cushion covers, vase, anything - to stop it looking completely random.

I could have written this thread!We moved from a beautifu huge Victorian terrace in a dodgy area,to a smaller,1965 semi in a fab village.It hasn't been touched since 1973,so you can imagine the state of the decor ect & I am at a loss as to how to decorate.

I really miss my old house with its beautiful period features,but don't want to start sticking fake dado rails,ceiling roses,ect in here,as it will look naff.

It is just so characterless-I can't get used to having low ceilings & cardboard doors.

Someone told me that if the skirting & walls are all painted the same colour,it will make low ceilings look higher.Any idea if it works?

Any other tips?We are gutting the place as there is nothing worth saving.

Apologies for hijacking your thread beatie.

Please - hijack away.

Sadly we inherited ceiling roses with our 60's house - who knows who put those up. With you on the crappy doors. I miss our stripped floors and doors a little too.

I have done this too although am about to sell the 60's house.I have replaced all internal doors with very modern glazed ones.All the walls and ceilings are very flat and I have painted the walls a stone colour,lots of built in shelving and have avoided anything even vaguely period as it looks wrong.I find ethnic furniture works well in this house along with big modern paintings and big leafy plants.I have a black slate floor throughout the ground floor and a duck egg blue plain kitchen with steel range cooker and appliances.It is harder to get right as a period house gives you lots to work with but a modern gives space and light.HTH

Check doors are actually cardboard - some lovely panelled doors were hardboarded over and can be restored.
New doorhandles make a real difference (weird I know) - we have these and they are luurvely - also shiny lightswitches (in living room only as v pricey)

Downlighters make low ceilings look higher as ceiling stays in shadow - pendants have the opposite effect. The skirting board tip also helps but ours get too much bashing so are glossed white.
Think the trick is to make it all as light and airy as poss, then you don't notice low ceilings - dark colours, tall furniture etc make the walls close in and it all feels much smaller.

Actually I think a modern house gave us more freedom than a period house - friends who have a Victorian house drove themselves nuts with 'authentic' colours, getting fireplaces restored etc and envy us our groovy modernist lamps, square modern sofas and walls that are actually flat.

Sounds dumb, but have a look at pics from the era when the house was built - often gives you an idea what the architect was trying to achieve.

I originally painted almost all the walls in my 1960s flat a vague peachy colour, the ceilings white and all the woodwork gloss white. It certainly looked spacious and warm, but it was dull, and didn't lift the ceilings at all. Over the years I've repainted most of the walls: pale yellow in two rooms, sandy yellow in another with two 'accent' walls in vivid purpley-blue, pale pink in another with an accent wall in dark purple, and the children's room is yellow, orange and lila. Frankly I vastly prefer my colourful flat, it's far more alive and welcoming, and the ceilings are virtually unnoticeable!

Definitely avoid pendant lights, but consider where your natural light is coming from. Rooms on the south side of our flat, which are very sunny, don't need much colour - they're all white or pale-ish yellow - but rooms which don't get much natural light, on the north or east, need help, and they are the rooms which are bursting with colour.

What's a downlighter

I've always fancied a 60s townhouse-type home and we looked at a couple when we moved house last year, but they weren't in very nice areas. The bbc website has tips on decorating in period style www.bbc.co.uk/homes/design/period_1960s. Also see these two websites for design and accessory ideas www.20thcenturymodern.co.uk. www.ourshowhome.com

(sorry, links always go wrong when I try to do them). Hope this helps

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no idea where the shtml came from. Also noddyholder's ideas sound good