Vintage interior style: A retro Manchester home

One of our favourite vintage and retro furniture sellers, the brilliant Planet Vintage Girl - otherwise known as Laura Gaither – lets QueensOfVintage.com into her gorgeous Manchester home for a bit of a snoop around. And what a fantastic collection she has!

Laura takes us on a tour of her fascinating rooms…

In looking over my home, I’ve realised that 99 per cent of it is reclaimed, salvaged or recycled! The only new furniture we have are some Ikea bookcases. But everything else came from flea markets, antique fairs, jumble sales or friends and families.

The Hall

Some terraced houses have notoriously narrow front halls. To solve my space issues, I’ve found these Fifties display racks to be the perfect thing for holding keys, mail, sunglasses, overdue library books. If you’re a dumpster diver, keep an eye out for odd shallow drawers. Flip the drawer so the base is now the back. Screw the flat back on to the wall, and you have interesting wood shelving to serve the same purpose in a tight space.

The Living Room

We purchased this house because it still had its original ceiling rose intact, as well as its plaster mouldings. Perhaps a silly reason to buy a house, but why live in an old house if it doesn’t have any of its original features?

Behind a panel we discovered the Victorian fire with all its tiles complete because of a thoughtful workman who installed the gas fire without damaging the fireplace. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to redo the floors or walls when we moved in, so we just painted & cleaned. George Mulhauser “Mr. Chair” for Plycraft–found at charity shop in North Carolina. Hopefully I will find the matching footstool someday!  You can also see in this photo, the white and orange sewing box I found at Lille, which I use for knitting projects. The large print above the fireplace is by Reika Gwani. The bentwood chair is not an Eames, but attributed to Thonet.

If you look at the first photograph in this article you can see an alternative view of our Living Room. The satinwood desk is by Neil McIntosh. There’s a hanging light from Ikea – it was my replacement of the classic artichoke lamp which I can’t afford! I like its smooth texture against the decorative plaster.

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