Comment: Teak chic and the trend for ’60s-themed interiors

What does the phrase ‘period features’ bring to mind?

For me – and most of the rest of the world, if my Google image searches are to be believed – it’s all manner of elaborate cornicing, stained glass doors and windows and other such Georgian, Edwardian and Victorian-themed loveliness.

But period doesn’t have to mean hundreds of years old: ’60s chic is now very much a thing, and original interiors from this era can now be an asset rather than an impediment when selling.

Take this week’s property spotlight on Pleasant Rise, Hatfield. It’s bursting full of parquet, exposed brickwork and other original features of that era.

Growing up in the 1980s, I remember the tail end of many of these design trends. Teak was everything. G Plan was a way of life in my family’s home and those of many of my friends. Every other bedroom belonging to couples who’d set up home in the ’60s and ’70s featured a G Plan dressing table. Downstairs you would usually find a nest of G Plan tables. If you want to buy one such set now you’ll be looking at spending in the region of £400, while you can’t give away some Victorian era chests of drawers.

We bought into this teak chic thing by ditching our extremely practical Ikea Kallax unit and splashing out five times as much on an original sideboard from the ’60s. Our kids have since wrecked it.

Not everything ’60s-themed is back in vogue – I think we’ve got a way to go before coloured bathroom suites and psychedelic floral wallpaper make a comeback. Wonder when and if the day will come that we’re rolling our eyes in relation to those 2010s classics: bifolds, kitchen islands and open plan living?