Ryan Nicholson sits on an iconic Eames chair in his 70s themed living room. (Image: Ryan Nicholson / SWNS)
An IT worker has dedicated almost a month to turning his property into an extraordinary 1970s-themed haven.
New homeowner Ryan Nicholson, 31, took 25 days to transform the living room of his house near Goole, East Yorks into a tribute to the ‘decade that style forgot,’ complete with orange and brown patterned wallpaper, lava lamps, a vintage HiFi, and an assortment of period artwork and gadgets.
The nostalgia enthusiast trawled through Facebook Marketplace, car boot sales, and local antique shops, managing to pull off the retro make-over for a modest £500, not counting the price of his high-end HiFi kit.
Ryan shared: “It was a new build so it was just a bare shell, no carpets or blinds or anything like that, it just had a kitchen and stuff like that.”
He added, “It took quite a while of saving to get to this position, but I’m quite pleased with what I managed to accomplish.”
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An IT professional has spent nearly a month transforming his home into a 1970s time capsule, despite family thinking he is ‘nuts’ (Image: Ryan Nicholson / SWNS)
The young man’s passion for yesteryear tech is longstanding. Ryan revealed, “I’ve always been drawn to old electronics, that’s always been one of my big interests, I’ve been into this stuff since I was like nine years old.”
His fascination has evolved over time “Back then I was into old gramophones and stuff like that, now it’s gone more towards 60s and 70s era, so a bit later.”
Despite being born two decades after the 70s, Ryan Nicholson is a full-blown devotee to the era. Nonetheless, he fuses vintage with modernity by having a contemporary £5,000 HiFi setup that allows him to record music streamed from the internet.
Ryan shared: “You can record on to audio cassette, 8-track, or Sony Elcaset which is a really rare format developed by Sony in the late 70s.
“Tapes are so difficult to find now, my machine came with 15 blanks so I was quite lucky, but they go for like £60 each on eBay now, prices since have gone ridiculous.”
However, Ryan managed to bag some bargains when it came to furnishing his place: “The sofa was £50, the sideboard was £25 and the corner unit was £50, I haven’t spent a lot on the furniture.”
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“It took quite a while of saving to get to this position, but I’m quite pleased with what I managed to accomplish.” (Image: Ryan Nicholson / SWNS)
He also revealed his parents’ bemusement: “My mum and dad think I’m a bit nuts, really, because they obviously lived through the 70s. A few people have called it ‘the decade that style forgot’.”
But the result has exceeded their expectations: “Since it’s been done, because I had the vision in my head of what it was going to look like, they said it looks a lot better than they imagined, it actually looks really smart.”
Aware that his style choice might not be universally accepted, he commented: “It’s not to everyone’s taste, I know that. A few people have said it looks like Del Boy’s apartment in Only Fools and Horses, but I really like it.”
Looking ahead, Ryan aims to take on a new project, reminiscing about his current kitchen’s modern vibe: “The kitchen is a brand new kitchen, I don’t really want to mess with it yet.
“When I get the funds I’d like to get a vintage kitchen, or something that looks a bit vintage.”
He jokingly concluded, expressing his view of the contemporary design: “At the minute it’s millennial grey, as I call it.
“A 70s kitchen, you still had your microwave and stuff like that, it’s more just an aesthetics thing really, I quite like greens, oranges, and browns – earthy colours. I’m not really in to greys and whites.”