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Original poster

1930s house pictures please

26 replies

gingerhousecat · 13/05/2017 22:44

Hiya

We have a 1930s house and am wanting to put some more character back into it - anyone with any pics? Even simple things like pictures of doors and handles would be great! My upstairs doors are still original - glass and wooden knobs/downstairs ones had been boarded over, just wood, and have 70's handles on them but have an outline of an oval backplate so not sure what they would have had originally.

And any pics of picture rails and coving would be great!

Cheers

OP posts:

Thread gallery

Sallylondon · 14/05/2017 04:15

patrickbaty.co.uk/2013/04/30/1930s-paint-colours/

Sallylondon · 14/05/2017 04:16

patrickbaty.co.uk/2012/02/18/1930s-house/

Sallylondon · 14/05/2017 04:18

vintagegal.co.uk/art-design/1930s-interiors-werent-all-black-gold-and-drama/

Sallylondon · 14/05/2017 04:19

Recommend a trip to the Geoffrey Museum in Hoxton if you're interested in historic interiors and anywhere near London.

Sallylondon · 14/05/2017 04:29

This company have a good range of period doorhandles incl. Bakelite and polished chrome, both commonly used in the 30s: www.broughtons.com/store/department/2/door-furniture/

Dancingtothemusicoftime · 14/05/2017 09:29

Hi OP - we bought a house that had had the doors boarded over, probably in the 1970's. We were able to successfully remove the boarding and renovate the doors, but had to take off the boarding very carefully. They were lovely (sorry, no pics). Is this feasible for you? Love this era of housing - great room sizes and often have big gardens too.

lashy · 14/05/2017 22:33

Instagram!
Consider having a look at the following:-
restoringlansdowne, lexdenhome and littleedwardian73, to name a few fab, inspiring restoration projects.
Be warned - it's addictive!

elephantoverthehill · 14/05/2017 22:37

Look in an early Ladybird book.

savagehk · 14/05/2017 22:45

I'll try take a few for you tomorrow - I'm pretty sure we have original doors throughout and the downstairs knobs are indeed fancier than upstairs. We also have original picture rails, skirtings and cornicing in at least some rooms. Can even show you some previous wallpaper scraps ;) we also have a parquet style wooden floor in the hall which i think is original. We've not got any original fireplaces but do have some tiles.

wowfudge · 15/05/2017 04:34

Our last house was a thirties semi. No coving but the plasterwork curved to the ceiling. Picture rails, architraves and skirting boards were all lamb's tail pattern. The original doors were one over three panelled and had rim locks. I found matching locks and knobs for those doors that were missing them on eBay.

We took the boarding off the bathroom door - it was glued and tacked around the edges. DP just used a chisel and hammer round the edge to work it loose.

We had the original tiled bedroom fireplaces but sadly the downstairs ones had been removed. From the neighbours houses you could see they would have had been tiled in small metro tiles and had quite simple oak surrounds.

We were lucky to have the original glass lights for the front windows - they had been encapsulated in double glazed panels.

Have a look on Amazon - I got a couple of books about 1930s house design from there.

savagehk · 15/05/2017 08:24

Door (upstairs)

savagehk · 15/05/2017 08:24

Door lock

savagehk · 15/05/2017 08:25

Picture rail (hard to take a photo of!!)

TheGirlOnTheLanding · 15/05/2017 08:55

Pinterest! Loads of 1930s house boards. I did lots of picture research for our 30s house and found it really useful. We're still mid renovation but I've a much clearer idea of what we're doing now thanks to Pinterest (and visiting neighbour's houses that have more features intact). Our next big project replacing our living room fireplace (which is currently a 1980s gas monstrosity) with something more appropriate.

savagehk · 15/05/2017 09:01

Inside of front door

savagehk · 15/05/2017 09:02

Skirting board (it's very tall!)

savagehk · 15/05/2017 09:03

"parquet" flooring, incl showing how it was affixed (we're about to renovate/extend and redo it)

MyHairNeedsASnip · 15/05/2017 09:06

We've got those doors savage but we've never got round to getting them dipped, think you've just convinced me - they're lovely.

savagehk · 15/05/2017 09:15

Downstairs door handle (in dire need of a polish)

PrancerForHoney · 15/05/2017 09:18

savagehk
Your front door is beautiful.

NotMeNoNo · 15/05/2017 09:37

A good reproduction door is here

You could have a look on Rightmove. We are looking at houses in a very 1930s area at the moment, some of them are lovely. here - is this original? here

Broughton of Leicester have lots of period fittings including rim locks

savagehk · 15/05/2017 09:45

myhair - just be careful.... One of our upstairs doors has clearly been painted and then had the paint removed, but it was done with something too vicious and/or someone too enthusiastic so the detailing on the panel edges has gone.

MyHairNeedsASnip · 15/05/2017 10:49

Thanks I was thinking of sending them off to be dipped so I'll check that they won't be damaged by the process. I worked hard for my doors, got them out of a skip complete with original handles!

Original poster

gingerhousecat · 16/05/2017 22:45

Just having a look through some of the links now. Thanks everyone

Savagehk - wowza, what a front door! Stunning! Our vestible door is leaded /stained glass but sadly nothing else. I think that's what our downstairs doors would have had from the outline on the door and upstairs we have similar

I'll take a couple of pics tomorrow of some of the things we still have!

Wowfudge - yep got one of those books from ebay x

OP posts:

Original poster

gingerhousecat · 17/05/2017 19:20

Few pics