Is this the most despicable home furnishing trend in British history?
From a shagpile in the shower to gas-fuelled irons, Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan lifts the lid on Britain’s strangest domestic design choices…
The carpeted bathroom is, arguably, one of the most baffling post-war British home design trends.
Once considered a cosy mark of luxury, the decision to lay plush shagpile in the most humid and accident-prone room in the house has become something of a national punchline.
Speaking on the HistoryExtra podcast, Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan, a historian of design and the home, offers both sympathy and scepticism for what she admits may be “one of the worst” furnishing trends in British history.
But how did we get there? And why does it matter?
According to Sugg Ryan, the key to understanding the answers to these questions – and what design trends says about Britain’s national identity more broadly – is recognising that the country’s history of home ownership is distinct from many other nations.
“The British are peculiarly obsessed with home ownership,” says Sugg Ryan. “So our homes are a really good lens to do with our taste: our aspirations, our dreams and our desires.”
From this perspective, analysing the history of the British home is a window into conversations around the shifting changes in class and social stratification. And, connected to that, our ever-evolving trends in home furnishing.
The worst trend of all
But not all of those trends last. And of them, Sugg Ryan says, “I would say the bathroom carpet is probably one of the worst”. Decades on from its surge in popularity, the sight of a soggy pastel carpet does now raise eyebrows: “looking at those seventies bathrooms, with not just shagpile carpet, but sometimes going up the side of a sunken bath, is never a good look.”
This design disaster didn’t emerge in isolation. It was part of a broader shift in post-war domestic life, where the bathroom evolved from a utilitarian space into a site of comfort, style and even status.
Indulging in these parts of the home became the mark of higher social standing and good taste.
Connected to this, Sugg Ryan explains that, from as early as the 18th century, “Hobbies and handicrafts start to be seen as leisure and of course, it's very class based.” Whereas, for others – especially working class families – these hobbies were, “a necessity depending on how well off you are.”
Creature comforts or creeping horrors?
The carpeted bathroom wasn’t the only design feature to fall foul of hindsight.
Sugg Ryan’s research into British domestic design reveals a long history of bold but baffling choices, many of which were once seen as cutting-edge.
Take, for instance, the gas-powered iron. “The [innovation] that terrifies me the most is the gas-powered iron with liquid fuel […] ironing was such a kind of arduous task, but the idea of a gas powered iron I think is utterly, utterly terrifying.”
Or the Teasmade, a bedside contraption that promised a freshly brewed cup of tea the moment you woke up. This sounds blissful in theory, but Sugg Ryan explains that it produced “often not very good tea.”
Some outdated home innovations weren’t so dangerous or ill-conceived, though, and simply became obsolete as technology and social habits changed. These include the telephone table, or “gossip bench,” says Sugg Ryan.
A staple of British hallways during the mid-20th century this combined a seat and a small shelf for your rotary phone and address book, offering a more private spot for conversations.
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“Lots of us would have grown up in a house with a phone, with its own telephone table maybe in a hall […] I think that's really interesting as a piece of furniture that has disappeared.
“It’s an extraordinary change that we no longer have this. My mother put ours in the coldest place in the house to try and dissuade teenage children from spending too long on it.”
The curious comeback of ‘bad’ taste
Perhaps the most surprising twist in the tale is that some of the most mocked trends are now making a comeback.
“The return of the avocado bathroom and the fact that coloured suites have started being manufactured again […] they're becoming very collectible and fetching quite high prices now.”
Could the bathroom carpet be next? Given the cyclical nature of taste and fashion, never say never. And, until then, it’s a reminder that ‘bad’ taste – like everything else in the home – has its own history.
Deborah Sugg Ryan was speaking to Ellie Cawthorne on the HistoryExtra podcast. Listen to the full conversation
Authors
James Osborne is a digital content producer at HistoryExtra where he writes, researches, and edits articles, while also conducting the occasional interview