A young woman with a passion for the 1940s has transformed her home into a vintage time warp.
Hannah Hall, 27, from Nottingham, England, bought a house that was built in the 1920s from an old family friend in 2016 and decided to unearth its old-world charm.
The medical examiner officer’s obsession with the wartime period began when her grandfather and grandmother introduced her to 1940s film and television, fashion, and also gave her some of the antique furniture that’s helped build up her house.
“The house is kind of like an ode to my grandpa, who was born in 1936,“ Hannah said. ”He was a significant part of my life and really got me interested in the 40s era as a kid—I was enamored by his droplets of wisdom.
“My nan’s taste in vintage and eccentric fashion has also inspired me to dress quirky.”
Despite still owning a television, Hannah admits that transforming her house has helped her appreciate the simplicity of the past and she plans to continue using antique household objects instead of reaching for technology.
Hannah said: “I’ve always been interested in vintage things and I get told that I’m an old head on young shoulders.”
When Hannah and her mother moved into the house, it was really different to its current state. The mother-daughter duo knew the potential of the house and wanted to unearth its classic charm. The other reason Hannah wanted to make the house special, she admitted, was because it was the first time her mother had bought a house, having only ever rented before.
When they bought the house, they found that, everywhere, it was rather beige; had lots of laminate flooring; and was in need of an overhaul.
“It had lost its charm a little because there were plastic cabinets in the kitchen and lots of laminated floors throughout,” Hannah said.
The theme, Hannah said, really began to take off when they did the kitchen in 1940s style.
“We loved it so much that we decided we really wanted to go with that theme throughout the house,” Hannah added. “The kitchen’s finishing touch was the beautiful 1940s gas cooker—it works an absolute dream and has inspired us to live a little simpler.”
Hannah said she had purchased the gas cooker from eBay and it only cost them 16 pounds (approx. US$22.50).
The mother and daughter pair then uncovered the original floorboards and tore off the carpet to reveal the original stairs, bringing the home’s old-world charm back to life bit by bit.
“Vintage items have a bit more soul than modern things and I get a kick out of finding something that might have so much story behind it,” Hannah said.
The main vintage aspects of Hannah’s home include the wooden floorboards, the 1940s stair carpet runner, a working rotary phone, and other antique furniture such as a stunning oak wardrobe. But the main highlight is the 1940s kitchen, which is complete with black and white flooring, a whistling kettle, wooden beams, and an open pantry.
“After the kitchen was redone, we went a bit mad and just started collecting different items such as a 40-year-old tin opener, vintage wallpaper, and old paintings,“ Hannah said. ”The gas cooker in the kitchen definitely comes in handy if the electricity goes out on our street because we’re still able to cook dinner!”
The family, Hannah said, thinks the house is very quirky and is like a little time capsule. Everyone enjoys coming over to experience the old-school aspect of it.
Hannah is still continuing to add more things to her 1940s home.
“We’re still working on the house every day and we’re hoping to get a 1940s-style front door and also transform the back garden, using my grandpa’s old Raleigh bike as a flower feature,” Hannah said.
She also often posts quirky videos of the house on her TikTok page, garnering millions of views.
“It’s very fulfilling to show off my house on TikTok to educate the younger generation but it’s also very bonkers that my videos sometimes go viral,“ Hannah said. “I’m a big believer that we should honor the past and I don’t think younger people these days necessarily appreciate how different things used to be.”
With the house and its old-world charm, Hannah aims to remind the younger generation what things used to be like before modern times. Meanwhile, for the older generation, she wants to provide nostalgic memories of all the furnishings and objects they grew up with in their day.
