Your Grandmother's House! (washer, front loader, furnace, pool)

[2 Scoops]

What do you remember from your grandparent(s) house (or apt) that you really don't see in homes today?

My grandmother lived in a railroad style apartment, above a bar/club. The steps getting to her apt were
so steep - like something you'd find in a funhouse. Not sure how she managed them when she became elderly,
but she did. She was a real trooper.

Her apt had an air shaft! As kids we would push the windows open and look down it. A little dangerous (if
you fell, forget about it)! She also had one of those heavy metal old fashioned sewing machines. We would
get on our knees and push the pedal with our hands (like the Grinch's dog Max did)...It was fun for us. It must have weighed a ton.

[Diana Holbrook]

Big floral couch fabrics!

[saibot]

My grandmother lived in a tiny little apartment on the second floor. She walked up and down the outside stairs, and walked to and from the bus stop to go do her shopping (she never had learned to drive) until she was in her late 80s.

The only thing I remember in particular is that she had a bed that folded down from the wall, a Murphy bed. I never stayed with her (we lived one town over) but some of my cousins from out of state did, and they would have used that bed.

[davebarnes]

Geraniums in the dining room.
Lots of geraniums.
I hate geraniums.

Refrigerator with a coil on top.
Coal furnace which my brother and I thought was neat.
Front loader washer. This is in the 1950s.
Black & white TV. 3 channels in Syracuse, NY.
Musty smell. Everywhere.

My grandparents were born around 1885.

[ChessieMom]

Both sets of grandparents lived in rural areas - homes back off the road, plenty of land. Not "neighborhoods".
My dad's father had a monkeyhouse out back, for his monkey. I barely remember it - don't even know what happened to it. A tobacco barn (I learned how to hand tobacco from the farm hands). I remember more about the outside than I do about the inside.

My maternal grandparents had a nice brick ranch. Pine wood paneling everywhere. I remember it seemed dark in there. My grandmother had a bowl of wax fruit in the living room. I used to scratch the wax off LOL. A fold-down ironing board in the kitchen.

[Ceece]

My grandparents managed a Motel and lived on site so I remember going to visit and being able to swim in the pool After my grandpa died my grandma moved to a 1 bedroom bungalow court apt few blocks from us. It was adorable.

[Nov3]

Off the back porch was a season room- Not like todays version. It was a dank room where she kept - the chopped wood, the potatoes/onions/summer veggies, sodas ( back then we got them by the crate ) , and her small garden tools. I can't say its a shed though, it was a niche right off the kitchen.

other items:
Old chiming door bell
Cedar closets
Back stairs that went to the maids quarters or nursery.
Never understood why they put a nursery far away from the parents room.
Vestibule- Loved the old stain glass .

[VTsnowbird]

My grandparents never owned a house, moved around more than a floating crap game according to my dad. Once they even moved without telling him where, while he was at school.
All I remember is an apt. in a multifamily house where we kids were told not to be too noisy because it would upset the landlord. Then they moved to senior housing in a high rise, small apt. with a very small balcony. We were told to go play on the balcony, but there was nothing to do there.

[gemstone1]

The overpowering odor of lavender, it was on little dishes all over her apartment, I can't stand it to this day, 70 years later.

Regards
Gemstone1

[grampaTom]

Lots of doilies, African Violets and philodendron. And it always smelled like Noxzema.