MsKnit
Pearl Clutcher
RefuPea #1406
Posts: 2,648
Jun 26, 2014 19:06:42 GMT
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Post by MsKnit on May 1, 2016 2:28:31 GMT
My aunt had these on her furniture when I was a kid. I always wondered if she ever felt comfortable in her home. She was so obsessed with keeping everything spotless and pristine. I had an aunt like that, too. She had plastic runners on her stairs, plastic slipcovers on her furniture, and plastic on her lampshades. Even as a child I knew it was a little nutty. OP - No, this is not typical of any American family! I think we had the same aunt. LOL! I remember when she had new carpet installed. She had a sheet of plastic that went wall to wall that covered the carpet. I was accustomed to the plastic runners. The sheet of plastic kind of threw me for a loop a bit.
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Post by scrapApea on May 1, 2016 2:41:10 GMT
LOL someone I work with always jokes when her kids leave home she's redoing everything and it will have plastic covers when they come over. I remember my neighbors when I was a kid she had them. (they were older) But you know that generation didn't buy things over and over, you kept things nice so they'd last a long time. You didn't have the money to buy new stuff all the time.
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Post by AussieMeg on May 1, 2016 3:17:13 GMT
My elderly aunty had a plastic cover on her couch a few years ago but I think she must have gotten a fair bit of teasing from everyone so she eventually took it off.
I will admit that when DSO and I bought our gorgeous new dining table about the time DS was born, I bought a clear vinyl cover for it. I got the idea from my SIL who had one as well. And thank goodness, because it saved that table from a multitude of scratches and marks from the kids over the years. A few years ago I figured that the kid were old enough to be careful so I finally took it off. Low and behold, someone put a massive scratch on the table.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Sept 29, 2024 6:25:54 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2016 6:30:50 GMT
My aunt had these on her furniture when I was a kid. I always wondered if she ever felt comfortable in her home. She was so obsessed with keeping everything spotless and pristine. I had an aunt like that, too. She had plastic runners on her stairs, plastic slipcovers on her furniture, and plastic on her lampshades. Even as a child I knew it was a little nutty. OP - No, this is not typical of any American family! All this and I'll raise you plastic floor runners laid in and defining the flow of foot traffic.
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Post by katiejane on May 1, 2016 10:04:34 GMT
No never seen them irl. But that plastic hall covering to protect carpets. My grandmother had that.
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Post by LavenderLayoutLady on May 1, 2016 11:17:17 GMT
I had a neighbor couple in the 80's/90's who had plastic over all their sofas, plus a plastic runner over their rug. You were only supposed to walk on the plastic covered runner.
The couple was in their sixties at the time.
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gsquaredmom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,091
Jun 26, 2014 17:43:22 GMT
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Post by gsquaredmom on May 1, 2016 11:36:50 GMT
I think another factor is that furniture is more often throwaway now. And other things came into play to explain why they were popular.
Everything used to be built to last, and preserving the upholstery for guests made sense. People had mud clothes, work or school clothes and Sunday best clothes. Plastic on your furniture meant your house had s Sunday best look for guests.
Credit was not as easy and people saved for years for a new couch.
Cleaning often meant professionals. Now, we have Scotchguard and upholstery cleaners available at any grocer.
We don't often think in terms of a formal, Sunday best form of entertaining in our homes. Pizza and beer, chips and salsa over wine and cheese and horsdoevres now, and our furniture is more casual.
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Post by cmhs on May 1, 2016 11:47:00 GMT
I had an aunt like that, too. She had plastic runners on her stairs, plastic slipcovers on her furniture, and plastic on her lampshades. Even as a child I knew it was a little nutty. OP - No, this is not typical of any American family! I think we had the same aunt. LOL! I when she had new carpet installed. She had a sheet of plastic that went wall to wall that covered the carpet. I was accustomed to the plastic runners. The sheet of plastic kind of threw me for a loop a bit. My aunt had them, too. We must all be cousins!
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joelise
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,649
Jul 1, 2014 6:33:14 GMT
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Post by joelise on May 1, 2016 11:49:49 GMT
I think of the plastic covers that Marie had on her couch on the TV show Everyone Loves Raymond. I like the episode where they convince Marie to take off the covers, then everyone was paranoid to sit on the couch. Great episode. This is what I was going to say. I watch 2 episodes every morning whilst eating my breakfast. I also heard about them from the comedienne Ruby Wax when she was talking about her parents having them.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Sept 29, 2024 6:25:54 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2016 16:03:41 GMT
I think another factor is that furniture is more often throwaway now. And other things came into play to explain why they were popular. Everything used to be built to last, and preserving the upholstery for guests made sense. People had mud clothes, work or school clothes and Sunday best clothes. Plastic on your furniture meant your house had s Sunday best look for guests. Credit was not as easy and people saved for years for a new couch. Cleaning often meant professionals. Now, we have Scotchguard and upholstery cleaners available at any grocer. We don't often think in terms of a formal, Sunday best form of entertaining in our homes. Pizza and beer, chips and salsa over wine and cheese and horsdoevres now, and our furniture is more casual. I don't think I would say furniture is "throwaway " but it is easier to acquire and less costly. My parents probably bought furniture in groupings three times in their lives. They saved up and had to order it because there were no furniture stores in their town. It took months to arrive. On the other hand, I can go to any of twenty furniture stores in our town of a hundred thousand and have new furniture delivered before the weekend. I can buy one piece at the time...or whole rooms. Also, I'm a decorator so furniture is a little more important to me than it was to my parents. I expect to use a sofa every day by my whole family without plastic. Given those perimeters, I expect a sofa to last five years, instead of twenty.
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gsquaredmom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,091
Jun 26, 2014 17:43:22 GMT
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Post by gsquaredmom on May 1, 2016 16:21:15 GMT
I think another factor is that furniture is more often throwaway now. And other things came into play to explain why they were popular. Everything used to be built to last, and preserving the upholstery for guests made sense. People had mud clothes, work or school clothes and Sunday best clothes. Plastic on your furniture meant your house had s Sunday best look for guests. Credit was not as easy and people saved for years for a new couch. Cleaning often meant professionals. Now, we have Scotchguard and upholstery cleaners available at any grocer. We don't often think in terms of a formal, Sunday best form of entertaining in our homes. Pizza and beer, chips and salsa over wine and cheese and horsdoevres now, and our furniture is more casual. I don't think I would say furniture is "throwaway " but it is easier to acquire and less costly. My parents probably bought furniture in groupings three times in their lives. They saved up and had to order it because there were no furniture stores in their town. It took months to arrive. On the other hand, I can go to any of twenty furniture stores in our town of a hundred thousand and have new furniture delivered before the weekend. I can buy one piece at the time...or whole rooms. Also, I'm a decorator so furniture is a little more important to me than it was to my parents. I expect to use a sofa every day by my whole family without plastic. Given those perimeters, I expect a sofa to last five years, instead of twenty. And the expectation that it would last five years is what I am talking about. All the old couches I have ever encountered were fiercely heavy. Steel and core woods. They were often worth reupholstering. Now, it seems you can blow on many and they will move. You can still buy high quality couches worth reupholstering, but a lot of people don't. Buy it, have it s few years, lose it. No plastic needed. But if you scrimped and saved for a quality couch you would keep for your lifetime, you (General you) might want custom plastic covers.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Sept 29, 2024 6:25:54 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2016 16:34:53 GMT
Or maybe they just lasted longer because they weren't used every day. To me a piece of furniture is something to be used and enjoyed by all...not preserved for special occasions three times a year under plastic. We don't do formal living areas in my house...but that's not to say our furniture is not kept nice and is damaged by pizza and beer stains. Not at all.
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gsquaredmom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,091
Jun 26, 2014 17:43:22 GMT
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Post by gsquaredmom on May 1, 2016 16:40:02 GMT
Or maybe they just lasted longer because they weren't used every day. To me a piece of furniture is something to be used and enjoyed by all...not preserved for special occasions three times a year under plastic. We don't do formal living areas in my house...but that's not to say our furniture is not kept nice and is damaged by pizza and beer stains. Not at all. I agree. No plastic for me. Small house. No formal entertaining. My cheap couches last five years. But my parents and grandparents could not think this way. Small houses. No formal area. They DID use their furniture every day. But they wanted it clean for guests, and plastic covers helped. Very different life orientation. I don't know if it related to the Depression, but it would not surprise me.
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