(Sorry this a bit of an afterthought,seeing everything is sold except for the stool, I'm a lazy blogger)
"This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time."
If for a second you're thinking I'm copying an IKEA catalog, you're wrong, it's Fight Club dude. 1999 man, it was another 2-3 years before I even heard about this thing called IKEA. Another 1-2 years before my smoking hot wife and I filled our first apartment with their cheap particle board whatnot.
When was this layout original and fresh? Am I fresh?
Anyways, I like it. The folks on Craigslist couldn't get enough, got a bunch of replies just for the pictures.
"Only after disaster can we be resurrected."
"Hey, you created me. I didn't create some loser alter-ego to make myself feel better. Take some responsibility!"
I might of been obsessed with everything Chuck Palahniuk back in the day. good times.
I will definitely be offering this again, think about it, maybe even posting a whole room on Craigslist. The possibilities...
Unfortunately, things are not going to work out between us. I am so sorry for rushing into a relationship.
Before meeting you, I only dreamed about machines like you. When we first met I found you irresistible, hip, and that chrome trim made my knees shake.
You were always so eager to hand me a beer. Remember when I first put eggs in your rack? Golly you have an amazing rack.
Trust me baby; when I say it’s not you, it’s me. I should change for you, but I can’t. I need someone who can handle all of me; I’ve got too much baggage baby. Move on.
I will never forget when I first touched your curves, or laid eyes on your mint green interior.
After the Vintage Heaven sale in Wicker Park Jayson and I did some serious evaluating of our friendship up to this point, you know like; do you like my new glasses? You owe me twenty dollars? I can’t stop thinking about your wife, is this going to be a problem? Do you think we should start selling clothes?
Well the answer to the last question is yes, Manly Vintage will start having men’s clothes available, at least at the next Vintage Heaven and Vintage Bazaar. Nothing against chicks selling men’s clothing if done right, but from what I’ve seen it has been poor selection and quality; we had one seller admit at Vintage Heaven she literally grabs stuff for guys without even looking. You know, and damn it, those fashion obsessed male hipsters deserve better than that.
I don’t know what will happen in our individual online shops, and I have tried to sell some clothes before with little success, there are some guidelines I’m going to stick to. Like modeling the clothes myself, or one of the other hot married dudes I know. Also to never look like those virgin douche bags modeling men’s clothes on sites like Etsy…I guess that’s it. So lets review 1) model the clothes, no shirt on a hanger, on a wall 2) model in a way that does not suggest I go home at night to a bottle of lotion, but to a wife who has dinner ready when I get home.
The two hot dudes from Manly Vintage will be pushing vintage goods this Saturday at the Heaven Gallery in Wicker Park...wait a minute...THAT'S US! Come on by and buy some antique razors, throw some high fives, and step outside with us for a smoke.
We're gonna be trying some crazy new ideas this time around, our first vintage market experience at the Vintage Bazaar was somewhat of a serious systems malfunction, so we're doing things different, LIKE HAVING PRICE TAGS! I'm also setting up at home beforehand so I don't have full boxes of crap underneath the tables, and I will eat breakfast and have coffee before I head out Saturday. Did I say crap? I meant recycled treasures. ha.
I know it’s 11pm Friday, and this is too little too late, but HOLY COW!! This weekend is becoming the junk picking, vintage digging, antique swiping, knee slapping best weekend I’ve ever had. Dude. everywhere. garage sales, yard sales, alley sales, street sales, estate sales, sidewalk sales; I feel like those handful of times on The Simpsons when Homer is dancing in a field of “something”, I can definitely remember the field of toilets and the field of chocolates. You need to go to here. 1,2,3,4. If your head is stuck in the 1930s and 1940s like mine, this is where the party's at. Oh, and there's a couple block sales in my new hood Berwyn.
Just a heads up, if you're heading to Summit aka. Scummit, for the antique butchers block, don't bother, it's mine. Muhahaha.
Sorry for the lacking of pictures, like I said, it's 11pm.
*edit. "Here's a picture for your post, Morgan. This is why God invented friends."-Jayson
The second annual Gagne/Franklin trip to the farm is fast approaching, I had thought I shared some pictures before, but it turns out just one, in this post.
I can't wait for all the small town antique shops, shooting bottles with the .38 Special, watching the kids catch lightning bugs, and building massive bonfires. Well here are some more photos, I was obsessing over learning Photoshop vintage effect at the time.
Oh, and a quick recap about the farm: been in Jayson’s family since 1863, nothing on the property dates later than the 1960s (except the foosball table), literally filled to the brim with antiques circa 1860s-1930s, two barns, one chicken coop, back country awesomeness.
In the last two weeks I’ve added two pretty spectacular fans to my collection, a Kenmore 124.8055 and a Westinghouse 16SD4. The Kenmore is a little floor fan with a industrial art deco get up, that reminds me of something from Batman: The Animated Series.
I was pondering a couple days back how I would depict my home décor taste, and I came up with something I’d like to share. My home decor tastes are as follows: primitive Americana with a shot of Wisconsin basement chic, and a shotgun blast of the film noir- art deco- atomic age styling of Batman: The Animated Series. God I love that show, love like, I bought all the seasons on DVD, and make my kids watch it with me. Anyways back to the fans.
The second fan, the Westinghouse, is the first fan I’ve owned that is truthfully silent. If you have the occasion, go find an antique fan forum, and at least one thread will be a bunch of dudes in disagreement about just how silent is which and what model. It’s actually a little frightening how noiseless it is, you feel the gust throughout the room, the overhead light is swaying, and pictures frames are lifting off the wall, all in complete silence; they don’t make em’ like they use to.
You may have noticed the Westinghouse is taken apart a bit, it still needs some more cleaning, and I’m going to be painting the cage and the blades. I’m going to keep the cage white, and maybe a light blue for the blades? What color would you do? Please tell.
Ha, and when I say collection I mean stock, just about everything in my life is for sale right now, the Kenmore will be hitting my Etsy shop tonight.
My wife and I got a call yesterday from our loan agent, he told us we’re closing on our bungalow in two weeks and already I’m getting melancholy over the conclusion of my life in apartments. I might give my Dad a call and ask him for all the addresses, perhaps drive around and document with some pictures my previous abodes; you know, for closure.
Early childhood will be easy because we lived on Troy right off Kedzie, starting around 55th and moved up and down Troy as cheaper apartments opened up. Then 65th and Sacramento for few years, couple blocks off Marquette Park; that was a grand apartment. Sigh…
It was awhile before the next apartment; there was Canada, then Africa, back from Africa. Ma and Dad purchased a home in Oak Lawn.
Right after high school had an apartment with a friend at 65th and Mobile, while falling in love with my wife who lived in an apartment on Archer and Narragansett.
Got hitched and moved into a place in Riverside at 31st and Des Plaines. What. A. Crap. Hole.
Almost five years ago we moved to our current place at 32nd and Harlem, still in Riverside, spacious one bedroom and had three kids!
I’ll be processing all of this for at least an additional week, so anticipate more posts on the weird comfort of constantly hearing sirens, listening to your neighbors fighting, and my daughters yelling at people walking by our windows.
I know I’ve left out some basic info like, where the heck are you moving?? Answers will come; I will answer one question. No, this won’t become a cute couple renovation blog, namely because Jayson and I ain't a cute couple. Just two straight dudes who like to antique together. What?
My four-year-old daughter and I are about to put together some puzzles I picked up this past weekend at an estate sale. We have here a Captain America, Fantastic Four, and a Spider-man all in brand new condition.
I normally wouldn’t buy old puzzles of so many pieces but the former owner impressed me, his home was meticulously organized. He had hand built about twenty or so different scenes from the Civil War in his basement using old school GI-JOES; he had handmade period clothing for each of them. It qualified as breathtaking; I don’t suspect I’ll see anything like it ever again…
Everything, from basement A to attic Z, perfectly ordered and grouped, I definitely sensed a kindred spirit and deep appreciation for his zeal towards a well maintained home. He also may have been a bit of a white supremacists, but who am I to judge the dead?
So when I saw these puzzles labeled “all pieces”, I believed him. We’ll see.
The item is a vintage industrial task lamp, perfect for the manly workspace or the not so manly. Keep it. Sell it. Whatever you wanna do with it is fine with us, we just want to give it to you; yes you.
To qualify you need a drill...
and to retweet this blog post. That's it! If you'd like to tells us what you love about our shops, follow us on twitter, send fan mail, or whisper sweet nothings in our ears that's all great, but not necessary. Lets go over what you need to do:
1. Tell your mama and your papa by clicking the retweet button on the top right on this blog post.
That's it. Quick, simple, and a easy way to keep track of all entries.
Here's some hot pics of the spec-task-cular lamp. This cheap as free opportunity will end this Tuesday, April 13th, at 12 noon.
UPDATE: If you still live in the stone age and do not have a twitter account, comments below will suffice. rock on!
I am a collector. I amass just about anything that I find two of.
I’ve collected stuff that I don’t even like just because someone gave me two of something, or gave me an item which paired with something I had, and two makes a collection- so I’d designate a box, or a corner of my dresser drawer, and start looking for more. Here’s a list off the top of my head of collections that I’ve had in this lifetime.
Stickers
Rocks
Arrowheads
Marbles
Sports cards (mostly baseball and basketball)
Pocket Knives
Postcards
Stamps
Coins
GI Joes
Animal skins
Buttons??
Bulls gear (what kid in 90’s Chicago didn’t have a ton of Bulls stuff? Nerds. That’s who.)
Sling shots
Posters
Pogs. I hated this one, but my grandma bought me some so I kept getting more.
Coffee cups with wolves on them.
Pictures of people I’d find in photo frames/albums at the thrift store. I lost this one somewhere around when I got married. I regret it everyday.
I’m going to stop there… the above is all pre high school collections, (I know I missed some too) and I’m embarrassed to go into my hoarding since getting married. I have recently started a new collection though, for someone I am exceedingly proud of; meet my son.
Levi Ulysses was born March 25th at 1:24 in the afternoon, weighing 8lbs 5 oz. He grabbed one of the doctor’s tools on the way out and would not let go, and he peed all over everybody just like his old man; well done son, well done.
Where do you go to find the value of an item you’ve never seen before and nothing online truly compares? To the readers!
Help me price this sign ya’ll. I picked it up at an estate in Lyons yesterday and have already posted it on Craigslist for $275. It’s a staggering twelve foot long vintage ticket sign in superb condition for age. $275…crazy low, crazy high, or crazy right around there; let me know?
I’ve grown to be pretty mechanical in my buying and selling of vintage merchandise; I’ll make a swift walk in, assess the situation, narrow in on what catches my eye, acquire it, get the pictures completed, list it, and stockpile it in the many places around the apartment or in storage.
Also thanks to this blog and the painful art of listing, my knack for some creative writing is slowly returning. Listing on Etsy has become a cinch, and lately I’ll have an entire post in my head as early as walking up to check the price tag on something. This whole process just happened this past Saturday at a church flea market in Lyons when I spotted this 1950’s-60’s typewriter.
“Mid-Century typewriter- excellent condition. Only $5, would be an easy flip.”
Then I saw the “Made in Bulgaria”, which gave me all I needed for my ridiculous one-liners that have been accompanying my Etsy listings. “1950’s Bulgaria. Commies. The perfect typewriter to hole up in your attic and write some subversive literature- Yeah that’ll work. Easy $40 or more”
Then at home while taking measurements, weight, and checking for any flaws worth mentioning I came across this sheet of paper located in the convenient paper slot inside the typewriter case . (ink is faint, click to super size!)
Then this.
“Oh man Laura Neumann you communist SOB.”
Then. Vintage Euphoria.
Occasionally an item itself will floor you, but often it’s the weird things; the receipts, to do lists, the notes to themselves or their children. While you would never purchase these little things themselves, when found become far more valuable than the purchase or even the resale value of the item. The things they would never want anyone, especially the FBI, to see.
This is why I go through other peoples crap on my free time. Priceless.
Now is the time for for all good men to come to the aid of their party.
Now is the time for for all good men to come to the aid of their party.
Now is the time for for all good men to come to the aid of their party.
UPDATE!!!: Well it turns out the phrase above was a popular typing phrase alongside “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”. It originated in 1867 in some podunk town in Wisconsin. Still interesting...and...Laura Neumann is still a communist SOB.
Jayson and I had just got off the phone discussing trying to push the blog into something useful for our readers and not just Etsy shop nonsense when this wonderful idea popped into my head: lets have the readers pick my next item title.
What a more perfect item and LOL funny then this vintage Schlitz beer pitcher. Let the voting BEGIN!
What should be the title for my next Etsy listing?
You're probably full of Schlitz (72%, 13 Votes)
I was up all night with the Schlitz (17%, 3 Votes)
Manly Vintage - This blog is dedicated to the manly and the vintage. We want to challenge the notion that 'manly men' don't care about design, style, fashion, and taste. With a focus on emphasizing the power of vintage style and finds, we intend to discuss and categorize the creature comforts of men.more →
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listening to The Ghost Inside by Broken Bells on @Grooveshark: http://tinysong.com/rLiK #musicmonday #nowplaying
Vintage Beehive Seltzer Bottle by vintageonthemake on Etsy http://bit.ly/almSIA