Old School Inspiration

Robert Doisneau, 1956

The irony is that we spend many years at school, effectively wishing we could be anywhere else, hating the school uniform, endless hours of homework and repetitive learning of periodic tables and Shakespeare sonnets.

Then once we run through the school gates for the last time we seem to revert back to getting back into the school uniform for fancy dress St Trinian’s Style, and endlessly telling children those same stories that we were told by adults who were grafting it in the real world….”school years are the best years of your life!!!”

So with this nostalgia firmly in place, and the removal of any threat of 100 lines or 5 strikes of the cane, (unless you really play up….. I will be watching those comments at the end of this post!), I take you back to old school inspiration, pre iPads and internet, when good old pen and paper and heavy hardback books were still the rage!!!

ABC easy as 123

One of my favourite authors as a child had to be Roald Dahl, and with these great stories came the fabulous illustrations of Quentin Blake. Osborne and Little’s new range of Quentin Blake wallpapers from the Zagazoo range are sure to reignite your nostalgia.  There are also a couple of other wallpaper patterns unmistakably Quentin which would add a bit of fun to a kids room.

Geography – Mapping it out

A simple and effective way to vintage up a room and cover a large wall area is to grab an vintage map.  You may get lucky and find one in a second hand store or the mighty ebay, failing that there is the good old modern map stained with tea or an old brown lacquer (just like we used to make pirate maps).

Old maps put together with some second hand school chairs used for seating and shelving…..or plan your travels over breakfast by making the map the focal point of the kitchen.

Or bring a little vintage school back into a study are with the alphabet and good old chalkboard….Who needs and iPad????

Concocting in the Science Lab…

I love the look below using old specimen drawers and test tubes, and scientific vessels for containers on the shelves….

….You can also soften the look of the test tubes by using them as flower vases…..

…or as a cleaver way of bringing a a focal point to a plain ceiling or as a way of retracting light as in the “Taste Lab” in Harvey Nichols in London.

…or framing up parts of the periodic table as in the work  of RH Baby and Child below.

50 Pushups in the Gym

Who could forget the lockers, a perfect hard wearing storage area….I love the idea of painting the front with chalk paint to enable you to write messages or memories…

…..or make a feature of sporing memorabilia such as balls, racquets, trophies……

The Three R’s “Reading Righting and Rithmatic”

Use your imagination, how about this lampshade made out of old wooden rulers….so simple…

So sit around the classroom table and put your thinking caps on…. get creative Old School Style!!! Enjoy

 On with the colourful journey………

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