One thing leads to a flipping nother!

I like Ercol as it is made in England and good quality. This is especially so of the furniture made in the 1950s and 60s. I have a light beech coffee table with a ladder shelf underneath , made in the 50s which is still excellent, also one of their Windsor chairs, which has been updated with a retro Sanderson fabric. I also have a 1960s studio couch, You have to be careful though, as John Lewis have a range of "Ercol designs" which are made in China.

We had new everything when we moved 3 years ago, i fully expect to have the same furniture in 20 years might change the scatter cushions and light shades but i like to get my moneys worth. Biggest problem we have had is that we just never find the time to do the DIY we need to do as there is always a new place to visit and another beach to walk on. We have managed to plaster and decorate 1 room but by the time we get round to the rest the wallpaper we bought will be out of fashion

Sounds lovely, kitty. We have a full Ercol dining suite that has been in the family since 1958.
The table is a bit battle scared and we are having the debate whether to have the top refurbished or to let it show its age!

Suzie, the table we have just bought is Ercol. I love their retro stuff. We first bought Ercol (a refectory table which is in pieces in the garage) in 1975 and have recently redone our dining room in Danish retro teak. We have a brick wall on which I hang retro Denby and our everyday stuff will be a contender soon.

On the Denby theme -- we have a large collection of Greenwhich, about 20 years old. The only bits to get broken were cups and the design changed, so we mixed and matched them with the green with blue inside, in the original design.
I was walking past a charity shop and they had just put 6 original Greenwich cups in the window. I could believe my luck.

It certainly does last and last!

Just over a week ago we got sick of the almighty racket the old washing machine made when spinning and ordered a new one. It arrived last Saturday and we were thrilled with it but we both instantly said "Goodness the dishwasher looks really shabby next to it". So yes of course the matching dishwasher arrives on Wednesday. The one excuse I have is that the plastic bit you pull to open the old dishwasher is cracked and I kept catching my fingers in the crack, but I had mainly solved that by making him indoors responsible for loading it.

Still using Denby plates I bought 40 years ago when I first married, mixing it with another Denby set in the same colour, different style, that I bought 25 years when I moved into this house, so I can make some things last.

There is nothing special about our Denby - it's dark blue on the outside and pale blue on the inside. All seconds, from the factory shop and, seemingly, indestructible! Our best set is Denby too - cream with black line on, also seconds from the factory shop. It's all a bit boring!

On the bright side, we've bought a new light - now the wait for DH to put it up!

I love that dark blue finish that Denby does - and the shapes of their mugs and things.

I still have a few pieces of the Denby which is dark brown with lighter circles and maybe something else on it. Circa the 60's.
Also Green wheat.

A shop near us sells that heavy pvc table covering by the metre.
It's useful to put on the floor as well when the DGC want to play with cars, build lego etc.

I've gone for the retro look, so the old Ercol stuff is super trendy. Denby is officially retro so I would hang onto it. I like the brown one with the cream stripe. You can buy bits on eBay.

We retired and moved to a bigger house on the coast. I think the only furniture we still have 3 years later is the sofa ... and it'll be out the door too when we hopefully move house again next year.
We didn't buy posh but what we bought will last us forever ... good sturdy oak!

[Ann] . How about festooning the chairs/sofas with throws which can be washed along with the trousers? Not sure about the carpets tho' .......

Ann60, I think I'm a few months after your husband, good at walking mud in and sitting in chocolate.
Luckily we have a conservatory which is used as a utility room between the huse and garden. We have cotton carpets which mop up most of the walked in mud etc. plus a Vax to clean them with when necessary. Just the chocolate to sort now.

I've never been one for changing things for the sake of it, but DH is decorating our dining room, which is a bit of a dark cave. It has become a receptacle for things we can't find room for anywhere else - a mahogany bookcase, s-I-l's late father's antique chair (we have been 'looking after it' for five years!), and a large dark wood wall unit with a display cabinet on the top. Just getting rid of that would increase the light levels, but I can't convince him. He's quite attached to it. It was in our living room at the last house and it suited its space, but not here. I'm working on him.

"where"

Our home is getting the "lived in" look, especially the carpets.
H is at the stage of spilling things and will go into the garden through the conservatory and come back in treading mud on the carpets. Obviously if it isn't one end of the age spectrum it's the other.He has become addicted to chocolate and drops it were he sits so sofas frequently have sat in chocolate (along with the back of his trousers). Oh we do have fun. I try to think of all the money I am saving by not renewing things, sometimes it works!!

We are the same. We kept saying we needed a new settee suite but i refused to get one as our little dog was so use to jumping up beside me in the evenings i didn't want to make her old age a misery by saying 'get down' all the time.
When she passed away a few months later i said to hubbie shall we go look for some new furniture. His reply why there is only the two of us now there is nothing wrong with the settee, you can take the covers of to wash them it is comfortable, so here we are nearly four years after dog died with the same furniture!!! lol.

Ive bought one of those too, gilly and already have a heat protector for the dining room table. It might be a race to get the table covered before they get at the glue etc.

The best investment I have ever made was a huge PVC table cloth and heat protector for my (not very expensive, but all I will ever have) table . My 3 DGC love craft and my poor table shudders at the thought of glue, scissors and glitter. Wiped down and folded away once they have gone home and the table is non the worse for wear.

We changed just about everything when we down-sized, had to as the furniture we had was just too big for the space. Changed colours and some styles. It took a year before it felt like home , love it now just as well as I don't imagine we will be changing anything major in the future.

I really need a new sofa but can't bring myself to buy one as then I will need a new carpet which is shabby and then the walls need repainting so I ll stay comfortable and worn I think after all there is only me to see it all so hey ho spend the money on something else x

I was looking for an advent calendar for myself, a pampering one but could only find either expensive or make up, and I don't use that much so that was no good. Ended up buying some felt, trimmings, little perfume samples to put in a stocking bunting I will make with it, but will also make stockings for the day for me and my doggie. It's true, I went online to buy cotton wool as I forgot it on my food order!

We seemed to have changed everything since we retired we wanted to go contemporary and uncluttered/unfussy so that's what we have now. If you are selling your Denby let me know. I love all the designs.

DD said to me the other day that people lose "interest" in their homes and surroundings as they get older and it is true for me that if I like something I don't care if it is old fashioned or a bit (!) shabby. You seem to disprove this!
BTW it is very trendy to have mismatching china so hang on to that Denby, in fact scour the charity shops for more but in different colours!