Everytime Aaron Whiteside goes through his front door he steps back into the 1930s – after transforming his home into one for the pre-war era.
Aaron, 36, has dreamt of living in a 1930s’ home complete with authentic gadgets and furniture from the era ever since he was a five-year-old boy.
He is the proud owner of a modest three-bedroom semi – built in 1937 – looks like the rest of the suburban street from the outside but is a time capsule inside.
Everything inside is from a bygone era, including the rare wallpaper, coal fires and electric cooker which was one of the first of its kind.
Aaron recalls browsing junk shops aged five, picking up an old radiogram, hoover, mincers and gas lamps during trips with his grandmother’s sister.
Since then, he has slowly become enamoured with the decade’s style and way of life
He bought his current home in Blackpool, Lancs., for £87,000 in 2007 after it had stood empty for nearly a decade.
The enthusiast has worked tirelessly to transform the house – installing German wallpaper which was buried in a time capsule in the 1930s and cost Aaron £100 a roll.
He sleeps in a vintage bed, has a GEC cooker, doesn’t own a television or fridge and still uses a laundry mangle.
Not content with just looking like it’s in the 1930s, the house also runs like a pre-war one would have, heated by four coal fires and without double glazing windows.
He said: “From the age of five I always liked the music, a lot of people think I’ve been here before.
“My grandmother’s sister would take me round junk shops and I collected a lot of gramophones.
“The first ever item I bought was an old radiogram from the 1950s and an old hoover, as well old mincers and gas lamps. It’s all bits like that as to how it all started and it’s got a bit out of hand since.
“I’ve tried to make sure all the items in the house are originals, rather than being replicas.
“My pride of joy is an HMV state of the art gramophone from 1937. It came from an old house down south where bits and pieces were being sold off, and a friend of a friend told me about it.
“Anyone that comes to the house absolutely love it, I’m not saying they would want to live in it but I’ve not really had any bad feedback.”
Aaron, who has no children, loves 1930s vocalists including Judy Garland, Jessie Matthews and Billie Holiday and even watches silent films.
When at home, he wears vintage clothes, sports a slick back undercut hairstyle and bearded finish and eats a 1930s diet – including cooking foods in beef dripping.
“The house was built in 1937 so this house always had a toilet,” he added. “It runs on coal so I have to lit the fire in the backroom for hot water.
“If I buy a rib of beef and have friends for tea I will cook it the old fashioned way, I don’t use oil.
“The washing machine I’ve got is a Hotpoint electric one with a mangle. The hoover is a 1934 electric hoover senior which I have been using since I was kid.
“The wall masks I collected are hard to come by, they are by an artist called John Douglas. I have the King up on the wall and there are thirties art decor original pictures.
“There is the Victorian organ in there as well as a great big Edwardian sideboard.
“The kitchen has got the original tiles and sink and cupboards. It’s pretty bog standard to how it was when it was built.
“The hallway is pretty much as it was apart from it’s got new wallpaper, it’s an old reprint.
“The items I have sort of go up to the 1940s. Even at the end of the war, you were still living in the thirties because there was no production.”
Aaron, who runs Whiteside Windows, is currently single but admits he isn’t looking for someone who shares the same interest.
“None of my partners have ever shared the same interests but I think now if I ever met someone they would have to have their own house,” he added.
“I’d have mine and then go between the two because I don’t really compromise very well. If they started bringing in Ikea items I think I’d have a nervous breakdown.”
Aaron’s labour of love has spilled out into different decades in certain aspects of his life.
He drives a black Oxford Morris 1952, parts of the kitchen borders on the 1950s in terms of the red and cream finish.
