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There is nothing worse than creating a wonderfully authentic living room, only to plonk your big TV and computer on top of all your fine work. From bank statements to makeup, here are a few handy tips to discretely store your modern items in a sympathetic way to your vintage style!

The first is your television. Unless you have a tiny one in the wooden cabinet of a 40’s or 50’s model, this is usually out and proud; playing fisty-cuffs with your antique furnishings and snarling at your original lace doillies. Why not stash it away in a sideboard! It took me a while to find the right size admittedly. My first idea was to use a Tall Boy so that I had storage for the DVD player also, but it was far too small and now houses part of my DVD collection instead!

Kitten von Mew’s Art Deco sideboard housing a TV

This Art Deco sideboard was bought at a carboot fair for £15 and as the inside wasn’t in a great condition, I had no worries in making a hole in the back board for the plugs and wires. I actually do not have a stand on this 28″ television set, it is resting on an old wooden drawer with no movement at all. The great thing is that you can shut it away when not in use and you wouldn’t know it was there at all! We also use it to play CD’s through the speakers, which is great when you don’t want the blue screen of the TV glaring at you! I stripped some of the dark varnish from the doors as it looked very dull and picked out the odd detail with gold paint. I recently painted the sunburst on the inside of the doors, which gives it more of a cinema feel when you are watching a film! We also store some of our more frequently watched DVD’s in a big vintage suitcase underneath the sideboard for easy access.

The second (and our favourite!) is the fishtank! Having aquired a 50’s wooden television cabinet, there were no gubbins and whatsits to tear out, which was fabulous. Our fishtank is actually larger than it looks in the set and sits on bricks so that we can pull away the cabinet easily for feeding and changing the water. By placing in WWII themed ornaments, it almost looks like you are watching a movie and keeps us transfixed for hours. Fish are wonderful pets for reenactors as they don’t need quite as much looking after as any other!

Our 1952 television fish tank!

So what about paperwork, bills and unsorted mail? Well I am a huge fan of Manor Bindery who have everything from false book doors to lever arch files that look like antiquarian books! All handmade in the UK with amazing workmanship, you can just imagine a set of them on a bookshelf. Visit them at www.manorbindery.co.uk!

Old book style lever arch files

And finally makeup and hair products. Before becoming a vintage model I had a brush and a black eyeliner pencil to my name. Now I could set up my own shop! I have found that a great way of storing such items is a sewing table with lift up lid or these Cream Metal Office Boxes from Dotcomgiftshop! Another great idea is a small vintage suitcase of which you could always stick a mirror inside. The brilliant thing about any of these is that you can have your suitcase, tin boxes or sewing table in your livingroom or bedroom and they wouldn’t look out of place!

Vintage style storage tins from Dotcomgiftshop