Man About the House : Home Improvement Hell from the 50s and 60s

The recent boom in home improvement is actually a recurrent national obsession as these magazine covers of the late 50s and 60s testify.

This was the era of the white heat of technology and the new classless consumers obsessed with the cool of the modern.

These oh-so-inspirational magazines guaranteed they'd make your home state of the art and beautiful beyond belief.

Top tips include: making your own murals in lino, installing door chimes, building an attractive cocktail bar, fitting metal windows, making a fold-away breakfast bar, creating a hi-fi unit, projects with concrete blocks, erecting a carport, plastic double-glazing, wooden wall panelling, reeded glass for your porch and building that must-have kidney-shaped dressing table.

Feel smugly superior at images of smiling couples enacting yesteryear's refurbishment "faux pas" as, blissfully unaware, you make tomorrow's design nightmares today.

This collection has 30 classic pull-out picture postcard images selected from the Advertising Archives - the largest and most comprehensive publishing and advertising image library in Europe, with over a million ads and magazine covers dating as far back as 1850.