Sometimes I'm in the mood for this:
And other times I'm in the mood for this:
But I can definitely appreciate both.
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Don’t rain on my Bulls on Parade
Categories: Inspiration Folder.
Melmac Winner Announcement + Bonus Contest Announcement
Here's how I picked the winner.
1. I put everyone's name in a txt file and numbered it 1-18
2. Went to random.org and had it spit out a random number between 1 & 18
Click "continued" see the wiNNar and get more information about the "Secret Contest"
Categories: Contests & Giveaways.
The Vintage Bazaar: Black Friday Edition
You probably don't remember, but after the second Bazaar at the Congress Theater, I wrote this:
The J-Dog and I are pretty much pros at this now, but there are a couple things we're gonna do different next time.
1. Bigger is better. Lets just say, we're sick of selling items, we want to sell rooms. Rooms baby! So maybe this WILL become a cute couple interior design blog. harharhar.
The last Bazaar, Jayson and I left the theater that night vowing to never get a small vendor space again. We wanted the furniture, the room for styling and presentation, the dizzying highs! The crushing lows! We want it all.
Well our dreams have been answered! Manly Vintage is one of the five sellers that will be keeping it real at the next Vintage Bazaar in a Logan Square store front. A FLIPPING STORE FRONT!!! Info here here and here.
Jayson and I are gonna have some killer sleepovers as we set up and stage beforehand in my basement. Oh it's gonna be manly alright.
It's gonna be zoppity .
Categories: Uncategorized.
Wut? I found ANOTHER mid century bench at my Church. Insane.
So, do you remember last week's post about the amazing bertoia bench that I found at my Church's rummage sale? Well, I'll be honest, I was worried it wouldn't even be there for me to pick up. No need to worry, as everything went better than expected.
I woke up this morning frazzled, as usual having fallen asleep in the guest bedroom with my son Ambrose, and slept in WAAY too late. Sundays are always rushed in the morning for the Franklins. We usually try to make the 9:00am mass, and Evelyn has CCD at 10:00am. Everyone sleeps all over the house on Saturday nights. Ruby was asleep in the basement, Evelyn in her bed, Sarah and Fern upstairs, and Ambrose and I were in the guest bedroom on the first floor. Finding the kids when we wakeup some Sunday mornings can be a challenge in and of itself.
"Has anyone seen Ruby?"
As I rushed to get ready and get Evelyn out the door to CCD....Oh, did I mention that we weren't going to make 9:00am Mass? We're bums. So as I rushed to get Evelyn out the door, I was actually NERVOUS about the Bertoia Bench that I was going to pick up in the basement of church. I bought it for insanely cheap last Sunday and needed to come back and pick it up when I had room.
"What if someone steals it out from under me?"
I was slightly consoled with the idea that the purple post-it note that said, "sold" on the bench was well secured. I dropped Evelyn off at CCD, made my way to the rummage sale, and started to freak out a little, because, of course, I couldn't find it. WHERE IS IT! My heart was pounding. But the pounding from freaking out increased when I saw this bad boy:
Could it be? Could it be? I don't know a lot about mid century design but I did know that it looked awfully close to a George Nelson designed, Herman Miller Bench.
WTF.
How could this be? You don't even want to know what the price was. Insanely low. And in the corner, my original Bertoia bench waiting for me. I promptly paid the lady, tried to contain my joy, and took both home to my doting wife.
What does this mean?
Or to put it better, what are the chances? It truly was a "Moment of Manly Zen".
Categories: Moment of Manly Zen.
You must go to Third Sunday Antique Market
Do you like the click bait? I love thinking up fun titles that will suck in all of our readers and drive the hordes of Google searchers into our vortex of vintage love.
Anywho. Sarah and I took a long hall to Blommington Illinois' Third Sunday Antique Market. It was a longer drive than we expected, but turned out to be more than worth it. For six dollars you get access to over 400 antique and vintage vendors from the surrounding area. The sellers are a good mix of junkers, furniture dealers, classic antique dealers, and flea market esque vendors. We were only there for about 2 hours, as it closes at 4:00 and we didn't even get there until 2.
It was well worth it. Morgan and I are definitely going to hit it up next time it comes around. We have a few pro tips in order to help us out.
Pro-Tips
- Its technically open on the 3rd Saturday. Show up at 11:00am with $25 and you can snag stuff straight off the vendor's trucks.
- Make sure you take lots of cash, the atm wasn't working when we were there
- A cart or wagon is a good idea. You're gonna find lots of things you like.
- They have fair food. Brats, funnel cakes, bb-q, and walking tacos. Prices are SUPER expensive for such a rural area. Hit up the Steak and Shake on your way in or out of town.
- The junkers are on the the outside, the semi serious vendors are under the pole barns, and the serious and expensive antiquers keep their merch indoors. If you get there early, head outdoors first.
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My best score of the day: This green and white industrial cabinet. Its completely modular, hot, and sexy.
Categories: Reviews.
Patience is king
WARNING: Usually I take pictures specifically for each blog post, or a blog post comes from pictures I've taken. In this particular case I have none. You will be mercilessly subjected to my stinking cute kids.
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Last week over at the new TVB blog, Libby posted about hating her dining room and doing something about it...
Wait.
You guys read this blog, right? It's basically a super-blog. While Libby and Katherine still have their individual blogs, Alexander Salvage and BackGarage, the two co-creators of The Vintage Bazaar are putting the pedal to the metal hand in hand.
Wait.
...Oh, man. Right now I'm listening to Shrinebuilder, which among others, include metal god Scott Kelly of Neurosis(possibly my favorite band of all time) and Dale Crover of The Melvins, easily making them a super-group. The Vintage Bazaar is super-blog. Therefore, The Vintage Bazaar is Shrinebuilder. whoa.
Sorry about that, I enjoy breaking life down to its most purest form, hardcore/ metal bands.
So, anyways, I commented(on Libby's post) that patience is king, and baby, in this vintage business, it's the truth.
We can all agree, for the most part, money is the biggest factor. I guess in a perfect world I'd drive my Cadillac Escalade with rims to the swankiest boutique on the northside and buy whatever leather couch I wanted. Unfortunately, this is real life, the democrats control the White House, so not gonna happen.
Even if I had money to burn, I'd still be hitting strangers homes to rummage threw their earthly possessions. For all the reasons that estate sales( or all secondhand living for that matter) are wicked awesome, catalog-like predictability is not on the list.
Patience is king. Not only do you need to find that perfect "something". You need excellent condition, good timing, and a damn good fair price. At least in my experience, finding the perfect, whatever, is not that hard. It's finding the perfect of something you're actually looking for.
So we wait. My wife and I have been looking for a leather couch for almost two years. Our current couch below is great, and vinyl is the best there ever was with three little rascals running around.
But! If I could get it in red leather, cushioned arms, and one more spot wide, oh baby...baby, baby, oh.
The hunt continues.
Categories: Howto.
A Very Sexy Giveaway: 20 Piece Pink Melmac, N.I.B.
Ladies. You know you want it. Gentlemen. you know your ladies want it. Here's how you can get it, for free.
We started a Manly Vintage Facebook group like, a few weeks ago, invited a handful of people we know and right now only have 52 followers. What the heck! I mean, I'm fresh outta ideas readers... Though I do have an attic full of stuff I'll never get around to selling, so how about give some away?! Is it desperate? Of course. We're used to being desperate.
Welcome to Manly Vintage's first ever desperate-attempt-to-get-Facebook-followers blog giveaway. That's right folks, this is real life.
Here are the rules.
1) If not already a follower on Bookface, follow, AND leave a friendly comment on our wall.
2) If you already follow, leave a extra friendly comment on our wall.
THIS IS IMPORTANT!! You must leave a comment. We will gather the names off the wall to pick the winners. Did I say winners?
The name will be picked randomly, multiple comments does not mean multiple entries.Contest closes Friday 8pm CST. LET THE GREAT EXPERIMENT BEGIN!!
Categories: Contests & Giveaways.
Found at my own church’s rummage sale: Bertoia Slat Bench by Knoll
I didn't even know what a Bertoia Slat Bench was until today.
I haven't been able to even take it home yet, as I had a car full of four kids at the time. This ridiculous piece of furniture only cost me $30 and I actually got it from my own church's rummage sale. When I first saw it, I was interested, but unsure. I looked underneath for a marking, and the Knoll tag made my heart flutter. But I'm so ignorant about mid-century furniture I still had to text my pal Michael from Flatout Design and ask if it was worth. When I sent him the picture via sms asking if it was worth $30, his response was, "Where's the church? Is there anything else good there?"
I thought it might be worth around 150 or so, but upon further research, it may be worth more than that if I fix it up. If I sell it for something ridiculous, I'll give a portion of the profitback to my church. Its going to need to be refinished, but it'll be amazing once I do.
Categories: Uncategorized.
Real America
Today after church I'm taking the family to Indiana for apple pickin', pumpkin kicking, and for donuts that melt in your mouth. Up yours Osama bin Laden.
Categories: Moment of Manly Zen.
My Vintage Dad
I constantly need to remind myself to listen and learn from my Dad. He has served and loved the same woman for over 26 years. He is a praying man, and I know I'll be in his prayers till the day he dies. He is steadfast, which I can't even fathom someone describing me as that.
Here's a handful of pictures of a younger him. The last one includes yours truly.
Categories: Uncategorized.
Essential Tools for Any Workshop
When I got my first house, I got a store bought set of tools for Christmas. They sat on a shelf in the basement for about a year until I figured I needed to fix a door knob instead of having Sarah hire a handyman. But did I have all the tools I needed? The 1956-1957 Handyman Ideas magazine by Better Homes and Gardens gives the vintage man a concise rundown of essential tools for any vintage handyman.
A good workshop starts with a carefully planned selection of quality tools.
Buy the best you can, even if it means that your selection will build up slowly. You'll find that the cheap tools won't do the job you expect of them, and they will be damaged or worn out before a good tool is really "broken in".
The basic equipment shown below will handle most routine construction and repair jobs around the house. Undoubtedly, you have some of these tools."
One way to add more tools to your collection is to buy a new one as you approach a job where you'll need it. The tools below can be added that way.
However, once your tool board is well stocked, its a good idea to add a few pieces of equipment and materials that you may need in an emergency. This includes items like the plumbing supplies and electrical equipment shown below.
When you're that far into handyman activities, you'll want to set aside part of your basement or garage for a shop.
Categories: Howto, Moment of Manly Zen, The Vintage Handyman.
What is Dazzle?
From Wikipedia:
"Dazzle camouflage, also known as Razzle Dazzle or Dazzle painting, was a camouflage paint scheme used on ships, extensively during World War I and to a lesser extent in World War II. Credited to artist Norman Wilkinson, it consisted of a complex pattern of geometric shapes in contrasting colors, interrupting and intersecting each other."
The RMS Mauretania also served as a troopship with dazzle paint
HMS Argus displaying a coat of dazzle camouflage in 1918
Painting of Dazzle-ships in Drydock at Liverpool, by Edward Wadsworth, 1919
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Razzle Dazzle enthusiast have a blog here. Prints of the original plans are being sold here. Definitely something to keep in mind the next time you're sprucing up the home office or your son's room.
Categories: Uncategorized.
Your Industrial Office
I can't even begin to tell you how frigging ridiculous Urban Remains Chicago is. After I had already picked two items for the industrial office from their online catalogue, I went looking for some industrial filing units on ebay. I didn't even realize that the one that I chose happened to coincidentally be from Urban Remains. I guess they sell on ebay. Who knew?
- Vintage Orange Metal Task Lamp, Etsy.
- multi-drawer factory benchtop cabinet, Urban Remains
- Rustic Shop Work Station, Agent Gallery
- Hand Painted Tin Sign, Urban Remains
- Shoe Factory Rack, State Street Salvage
- Switchboard Operator Swivel Stool, Urban Remains
- iMac, Apple
Categories: jayson best of, Moment of Manly Zen.
Have I gone too far?
Heck no! I've languished without art in my life for far too long. While I'm not gonna be holing myself in my attic with my oil paints anytime soon, Manly Vintage's Etsy shop will be pulling no punches. Personally, I need to try and have the best pictures on Etsy. If taking pictures of one typewriter takes 3 hours, so be it. Good art always takes a long time.
I've always been competitive. I was a jock up until high school, when my competitive nature in a team setting hit a brick wall in an indoor soccer league sophomore year. When I started drawing and painting vigorously Junior year, I regularly destroyed my past work cause it didn't add up with whatever artist I was obsessing with at the moment.
Then my stint in college, forget about it. I took over the painting studio, spending literally open till close, putting thick layers of paint on just about everything in the 20' radius of my canvas. What finally tamed this monster? The love of a good women. I got married, dropped all my classes, pack my supplies in storage, got a job, had three kids. Do I have regrets? Hm, no. But man, every time I see my easel just sitting there, I want to put my fist through a wall. I have a feeling holing up in the attic with my oil paints may just happen in the near future after all.
In the mean time, I hope you all enjoy my pictures.
Categories: Moment of Manly Zen, Morgan best of.
Weekend Find: Portrait of a German Couple from the 1800s
Original frame in the back. Its hand drawn, not a photograph. I know I know it looks exactly like something that Sue over at Estrogen Rescue Squad would love, but I'm no hater when it comes to antiques. Morgan is planning on decorating his son's room with antique pictures of men with beards and mustaches. I think this might fit right in. The person I bought it from was related to the couple. Sad she didn't want to keep it. That's life.
Categories: Uncategorized.
Manly Vintage Relaunch!
A lot of talking and no action has finally evolved into a shift of epic proportions. Manly Vintage's Etsy shop is finally open!
Manly Vintage is a combination of our vintage shops Vintageonthemake and Chicagoish. There will be some similarities, but bigger and better is name of the game this time around. As our tastes and decor sensibilities have matured, we have come to loathe a lot of the vintage we sold in the past. Manly Vintage will be refined, masculine, and leaning towards higher-end items.
Refined: We don't want to sell individual items, we want to sell our own decor aspirations to an adoring public. Each piece should fit into a larger picture of how your home should look.
Masculine: No more pyrex. No more owls. No more kitschy crap. While not everything has to be dripping with testosterone, we will lean towards vintage and antiques that graced the poker room, the study, the warehouse, and the auto body shop of bygone eras.
Higher-end: We are both done cluster f-ing our homes and shops with smalls and misc. We hope you do the same. Our focus will be serious pieces for serious decorators. This will also include refurbished and (hopefully) handmade furniture.
So basically, think 80s DC hardcore, you got Minor Threat and Rites of Spring; life changing bands on their own. Life happens and those bands end, but outta that, comes Fugazi. Manly Vintage is Fugazi. Well... maybe not that epic. We did add Chicago at the end to help in the epic department. You know like, "wait, is there a Manly Vintage London too?" Ha. More like Manly Vintage Joliet.
What do you guys think of our newish layout and banner? Here's our thought evolution.
We wanted black and white, and our first font choice made us think Russian propaganda poster.
Maybe black background? Hmm, we decided the font wasn't readable enough.
Here's what we went with, using a bastardized Helvetica. A nod to another 80s punk great, Black Flag, and our beloved Chicago skyline.
And finally the avatar to match. Check out our new shop here. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for shop/blog updates and random nonsense.
Categories: Moment of Manly Zen.
Manly Review: Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Roosevelt gets off easy. BEST PRESIDENT EVER? No. That's reserved for Grover Cleveland. Was he manly?
HELL YES.
This guy couldn't walk and tricked the entire country into thinking he was ambulatory. That's amazing. Cause you know, we're really hard to trick. He was strong. Apparently, when he gave speeches, he would hold himself up on the podium with the power of his own resolve, summoning forces known only to him, and later, Simon Birch. His words were so powerful, they knocked Civil War veterans out of their wooden legs. At the beginning of his presidency, he reminded us that we only had to fear fear thereby trapping millions of Americans in an infinite mind-fuck. We still haven't recovered from that one. WTF!
| FDR | |
|---|---|
| Childhood |   |
| This limpin' pimpin president was born in 1882 in the great state of New York into wealth and privilege. He did the whole Harvard thing, yadi yadi. His early life seems kinda boring. COME ON WIKIPEDIA MAKE THIS FUN FOR ME! | |
| Appearance | |
| Dude smoked a big cigarette, drove around in fancy cars, and wore hats. Other than that all we really know was that he was crippled by Polio. Did I mention he was crippled? That damn Polio virus doesn't give two flying f-bombs about your boarding school credentials and strikes down even the richest of East Coast elites. But the dude STRUGGLED through that. Held his head up high, kept his pimp hand strong, remained relatively sober. | |
| Actions | |
| He fought and won WWII which seems pretty cool and all. I mean the nazis did suck, right? But the thing is, I know this dude on facebook who normally is pretty legit. He has nothing but good information on Politics and he ALWAYS hooks me up when I'm playing Farmville. Anyways, he says that Roosevelt totally freaking knew about Pearl Harbor. Come on Roosevelt, that's a shitty thing to do. So disappointed in you, man. | |
| Overall |  |
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| Overall Manliness: 3.5 out of 5 stars. | |
Categories: Moment of Manly Zen, Reviews.
Typewriter graveyard?
Photographer Jan Banning remarks,
This photo was made in the Old Secretariat in Patna, Bihar, India….
When I entered, of the dozen or so people in the room, two or three were snoring. Others had their feet on the desk and were comfortably…dozing away. One man was actually doing what I naively thought they were all supposed to do: typing.
When asked why they kept this “typewriter graveyard,” he answered: “This is not a graveyard! These typewriters are awaiting new personnel. We’re 40% understaffed.”
(via)
Categories: Uncategorized.
Inspiration Folder: Brutalist Architecture
Particular tastes change over time, and styles that once made us all a flutter will eventually seem childish. This applies to taste, though, and not beauty. Architecture and design is truly an art form, and the most complete expressions of art are able to capture something absolutely timeless and even possibly universal.
I used to hate Brutalist architecture. Being a libertarian minded person, its drab concrete facades has always evoked Soviet Russia. But just as the hipster sports the ironic mustache and geeky glasses, I too, am reveling in the irony of embracing a style of Architecture that evokes totalitarian functionalism.
I'm starting to see the timeless in some of these creations.
Categories: Inspiration Folder, Moment of Manly Zen.
To the finish line
Here's a helpful tip to all you young first time home buyers, or more like; all you young first time home buyers w/three kids in tow. In those first couple weeks after you close on your house, when friends and family are super helpful, GET AS MUCH DONE AS POSSIBLE. For example, five months after closing, people aren't as understanding about your need to unload your kids because you finally decided on a color for your living room.
Saying my wife and I took it slow with some of our choices in our first house would be an understatement. Ah, choices, therein lies what was and is our downfall. When you're renters, your choices all pretty much fall in the arrangement category. Like, "where the hell is my fish tank gonna go?” or "should the kitchen table go along or come out from the wall?” Also the overwhelming feeling of wanting your first home to be perfect, I mean, forget about it.
There's also the dramatic increase in living space that can put former renters mind on a metaphysical stump to sit and watch the cars go by. When my dad and I took our first walk through together and he said it would take a lot of work, in the back of my mind I was thinking, "whatev, Tami and I painted and redecorated our whole apartment in two days, and this won't take much longer". Yes, our 4-room apartment vs. a 14-room house, what was I thinking?
We moved in and life happened and not much got done.
So now we’re back! Ready to take this house to the mat, get our hands dirty, and try new things. One room at a time baby, do it right, to the finish line.
First up.
1. Living Room
Next post will go into details and plans.
Categories: Howto.
Store Profile: Urban Remains Chicago
Holy crap Urban Remains is awesome.
Located on Grand Ave in West Town, This is not your average antique or "vintage" store, but a collection of salvaged industrial and historical curioso. The owner, Eric Nordstrom, makes it his mission to reclaim "american antique architectural artifacts found among commercial and industrial buildings or residential structures." The storefront is actually only one of the places you can go and see the amazing collection of salvaged goods. There is a Warehouse located at 410 N. Paulina, and apparently also an artifact museum called, "Building 51".
Inside the shop you'll find an amazing collection of porcelain signs, unique architectural pieces, vintage and antique consumer goods, lighting, folk art, and other furnishings suitable for home decor. I love vintage lighting and their selection of industrial task lighting is truly unique.
After the taste I got today, I'll be visiting the warehouse sometime in the future.
Categories: Moment of Manly Zen, Reviews.
Am I right or am I right
Much needed autumn weather + Samuel Adams Oktoberfest Beer + Power tools = Finishing my living room makes for a pretty damn good Saturday
Categories: Moment of Manly Zen.
Things that would be lost to time Volume 1
Morgan mocks me but I absolutely love old and weird magazines and books. Today at a completely bunk rummage sale, I found the 1976 volume 3, issue 8 of "Shipmates", which was "published quarterly by the Ninth Coast Guard District Public Affairs Office in Cleveland Ohio."
This is real life, folks.
Highlights include reporting on MISS COAST GUARD 1976
Updated grooming standards for 1976
And some strange picture on the back of the magazine. There's absolutely no explanation for it. Its just there. Creepy.
2 Comments
Categories: Things that would be lost to time.
Tags: does anyone read these, friend with coast guard benefits, If you tell me you read these tags in the comment I'll send you something free., link bait is my friend, manly coast guard, tags that make no sense with the context of the post