Owning Books

[Boodi 2]

Can't imagine a house without books and nik naks and wouldn't want to. A house that is perfectly tidy, perfectly matching, perfectly surgeon's table clinical but utterly devoid of any warmth or soul. That's not a home it's just somewhere to hang your coat. Houses need books and all the other odds & ends that make it cosy and inviting. I actually wouldn't want to go to the house of someone who thought they ruined the look of a room.

I agree IceMaiden! The house of an aunt and uncle of mine was like a show house (or similar to that in "Keeping up appearances") with everything colour coordinated and matching and dainty little sandwiches and buns served on bone china plates. I never felt comfortable there and was almost afraid to sit down for fear of creasing the carefully arranged cushions on the sofa!!!

[Katharine]

I'm really split between my taste in houses. I enjoy watching make-over programmes and love seeing how people's homes are transformed by the likes of the DIY SOS team etc. However, while I'm sitting there admiring all the matching cushions, nik naks, and the specially commissioned pieces of art, I'm also thinking to myself, but where is all the 'history' from their lives gone?

My house is a real mis mash. The dining table dates from probably the late 1970s, and was given to us by someone I worked with when we first set up home over 30 years ago, but if someone offered to make over my dining room with a new one I wouldn't part with it for any price, much as I do like some modern furniture, but the table holds memories. Not just of the people who gave it to me, but the fact that my grandmother stored it in her house for a few months while we were waiting for the purchase of our first home to go through, and my uncle gave it a good polish and made a small repair to it.

Similarly, there's a small cabinet in one room that doesn't match anything, however it was my bedside cabinet when I was a child, and it was part of a washstand that my great-grandfather made. Worth absolutely nothing financially, but I'd rather live in a scruffy, out of date house than let that be put in a skip.

Ideally I need two houses - one to satisfy the modern, minimalist part of me, and the other to house all my 'stuff'.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Personal items like the ones you describe are lovely, Katharine. As you say, they're part of your family history and they evoke warm memories. It would be a crying shame for things like that to be ditched as part of a makeover.

Can't imagine a house without books and nik naks and wouldn't want to. A house that is perfectly tidy, perfectly matching, perfectly surgeon's table clinical but utterly devoid of any warmth or soul. That's not a home it's just somewhere to hang your coat.

And the coat must be hung in a closed cupboard, because it might not match the décor!

[Boatbuilder]

Amongst the things I have which belonged to my parents is a floor-standing dispay cabinet which they bought in the 1950s. Apart from items Enid and myself acquired over the years that are in there, are some very sentimental items that belonged to my mother. There are three engraved silver cups which she won for athletics in the early-mid 1930s and a bone china coffee service she also won around the same time. They have always been a part of my life and I hope will remain a part of my daughters' lives in years to come.

[Jack400]

I think you might find this link interesting. It includes a London bookshop that specialises in children's books.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/t ... 1ebf&ei=11

[IceMaiden]

I agree IceMaiden! The house of an aunt and uncle of mine was like a show house (or similar to that in "Keeping up appearances") with everything colour coordinated and matching and dainty little sandwiches and buns served on bone china plates. I never felt comfortable there and was almost afraid to sit down for fear of creasing the carefully arranged cushions on the sofa!!!

Ooh gosh yes! One of my aunts had a house like that, like Marble Hall! All cream carpets, light fawn sofa, light coloured throws, expensive glasses and pristine furniture. The one time I went there I was so uncomfortable, scared of actually walking on the carpets for fear of flattening it and refused biscuits or a drink as I was scared stiff of dropping them! Not at all inviting, how can you live in a house like that where you're almost afraid to move? I much prefer my other aunt's cosy untidy lively cluttered farmhouse with the farm dogs in the kitchen, lambs by the aga and chickens at the door, things piled high on the dresser and the lovely old uneven wooden ceiling beams. You can actually sit down and relax comfortably as it's a lived in home not a show house.