If the smooth lines of the slinky Futiro Skype phones Skypegear reviewed last week don't fit in to your beautiful 19th century manor house's decor, what should you do? Well, of course there are already a few retro Skype phones and handsets available such as the Hulger P*Phone, but if you really want to go the whole hog, then the fantastic Instructables blog may have just the thing - a DIY Old Timey Skype Phone.

Yes with just the aid of an old phone-looking toy, computer headset, glue gun, soldering iron and hacksaw, you too could too could recreate the heydey of telecommunications.

Whilst you might not be able to get access to your Skype buddy list or Skype status direct from this handset, and it might not be the most portable handset we've seen, there's no denying this phone has a touch of class. So come on Skype hardware manufacturers, surely we can have one of these with built-in wifi??

And now for all of those who were wondering who the woman on the Skype call testing service was...allow me to introduce Skype's very own operator, Mabel....:)