No matter how old we are, we all feel nostalgic toward a certain decade – usually the one we spent most of our childhood in.
But one 23-year-old has taken their love for the 90s to a whole new level, as he has transformed his entire house into a perfectly preserved time capsule of the era.
Jack Walters was born in 1998, but he remembers the “cosiness” of his parents’ house from when he was a child, and finds comfort in the warm tones and chunky jumpers that were all the rage at the time.
The illustrator, from Bakewell, Derbyshire, has spent roughly £5,000 pursuing his passion for the last decade of the last millennium, and has decked his house out with dated IKEA furniture, telephone alarm clocks, a square laptop running Windows ’95, and a television straight from 1989.
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Jack believes the 90s had the “perfect balance of enough technology to keep us entertained, but not enough to feel like an overload” – but says people think he’s “mad” for not enjoying the present day.
And turning his house into a time capsule has earned him praise online, as he has more than 5,000 followers on his TikTok account – where he “pretends it’s the 90s”.
He said: "It started as me recreating my parents' house from when I was little, with the cosiness.
"I never really enjoyed modern decorating with all the greys. It didn't have the homey quality, and I wanted to replicate that.
"When we moved into this current house two years ago, it was super bland and white. Not much had changed in the house since 1995 except it'd had a lot of white paint and a laminate floor put in.”
Jack explained he bought most of his furnishings from charity shops – but his 1989 TV was his most pricey purchase, setting him back £155.
He added: "The house is the result of a lot of snooping around charity shops and eBay. I also get gifted things by people who know me. They'll see something and go 'Oh, Jack will enjoy that'.
"I'm probably at the charity shop once every two weeks, and I probably spend about £30 max.
"The most expensive item I've probably brought is my 1980s television in my living room. That was £155. Not that expensive really, but for an old TV, people think I'm mad. A friend told me I probably could have gotten one from the tip.”
Jack shares his house with his parents and his boyfriend Matthew Whiting, and admits they do still have a few modern appliances - including a dishwasher and a washing machine.
But the majority of their home is a 90s paradise, which has earned Jack huge praise online from other fans of the decade.
He said: "I decided to share my house on TikTok initially because I was bored in lockdown and wanted to have a bit of fun.
"Then I had a lot of people saying they remembered a lot of the items in my house, and that they feel the same way about the 90s.
"There was a nice feel to it too, knowing that I'm not a weird person and other people enjoy this stuff too.
"Because I grew up in a small town and I was the quiet gay kid, I always felt a bit like an outsider."
Jack says he loves sitting down to watch old TV programmes, and his favourite 90s item is the telephone in his bedroom which doubles as a radio and an alarm clock.
He said: "In the 1990s, we had enough technology to keep us entertained, but not enough to feel like an overload. Now we have so many different media outlets that it can get a little overwhelming. It's nice to have an escape from that.
"I have my old television hooked up to an Apple TV which is hidden around the back. I have loads of old taped TV programs on YouTube.
"But I also enjoy videos of series like Absolutely Fabulous, Men Behaving Badly and The Vicar Of Dibley.
"I love my home telephone. I live out in the sticks, so I get awful mobile phone signal. A home telephone works for me.
"At a push, I'd say my favourite item is probably my radio-alarm clock-telephone. It's very mundane, but I always feel a bit glam taking calls from my bedroom.
"It's an escape from the modern world. Some people go to the gym, some play video games, this is my thing.
"My partner is massively into video games, so he has all the original Nintendo consoles. We overlap in our interests there, so that's nice."
Jack’s taste gets mixed reactions depending on who visits his house – and he often has to explain what certain items are to his younger family members.
He added: "I usually get one of three reactions from people when they come around and see my house.
"There'll be some people who get nostalgic and remember things from my house from living through the 1990s.
"Then you get people like my niece. She's only young so it's all new to her and she didn't believe that my phone or telephone worked. I had to explain to her what a VHS was.
"And I get some people who walk in and don't get it at all. They think I'm mad, and they'll ask why I'm not enjoying what we have now.
"I'll have some people online who will tell me it's not accurate. They'll say 'That TV is from the 80s, it's not 90s'. I think people forget that back in the day, people bought things to last."
In videos that have gained hundreds of thousands of views, Jack shows off his cosy home to much acclaim from TikTok users.
One person wrote on one video: "Things felt warmer back then, everyone's house is grey now."
While another said: "Ok, but this is such a perfect aesthetic, nothing gimmicky or too much, it's literally the exact same way my mum decorated our kitchen at home."
And a third posted: "I thought it was a doll's house at first! So nostalgic and oddly comforting."
