I don't know what the heck you'd call my decor vision. Grumpy old man chic. Nothing makes me happy.

My wife won some wallpaper on Ebay that just recently arrived at our house. The wallpaper is cute and lovely, of course, and she excitedly told me her idea about having a accent wall in our dining room. An accent wall? First, what the heck is a accent wall? Second, what the heck would it do in my sparsely furnished viking lodge of a dining room? I gave her that look, you know that look that men do that makes a woman's blood boil?

The problem is I really can't defend my decor choices, all her criticism is of course spot on. Depressing junk is about right.

I think I've stretched myself a little thin in bringing home an over all style for our house. I'm not home all that much to put it all together, so real solid pieces or ideas just sit in different corners of the house, and well, everything just looks unfinished.

My wife and I have been talking a lot about the kind of husband I am, and stubborn and self-centered are at the top of my flaw list. I know dealing with these sins via home decor may sound flippant, but you gotta start somewhere. So here we go.

I give up. She wins. I'll do whatever makes her happy. I'd be lost without her, and I know she'll put together a home that makes us both proud. If that means birds and clouds in every room, whatever man.

AND. Lets not get too crazy. I do have a finished basement she only goes down to do laundry, it's all mine baby. First on the list, a manly vintage workshop. I've got tools up the ying yang with nowhere to go.

I'm thinking a cast-iron inspired, dark but well lit, industrial dungeon of home improvement. Definitely a project for the deep Chicago cold after the new year.

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 .

My old lady wasn't a fan of my name pick. Apparently, she enjoys naming animals classic male names that were popular a couple generations ago. What the heck do I know? She likes Russell. Whatever you want baby.

I'm a total sucker for classic manly decor from just about any era, what man doesn't want the head of something dead hanging over where he eats. Like seriously.

Oh, cool story from last night. I almost hit a real deer on Route 66 while on the way to look at this guy. Talk about the circle of life, so intense.

On a different note, I'm having a total love affair with the Beermosa right now. I never tried until a few weeks back when a good friend of mine was in town for a Saturday morning.  We always drink and talk theology together, so what do you bring over at 8am. Dude. PBR and orange juice. Finally, the hipster culture is good for something.

The Beatles wish they wrote this song.

Here's the listing.

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.

When: Sat July 3rd, noon-6 p.m.

Where: Heaven Gallery, 1550 N. Milwaukee Ave., b/t Damen Ave. & Honore St. Info online at vintageheavenchicago.blogspot.com.

What: Our booth will consist of mostly pre-1960s, barware, home decor,  some depression glass, lamps, razors, and household items.

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.

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.

Read more >> Options >>

Primitive furniture on the other hand I've become smitten and awash with love. So am I saying I want a house minimally decorated with each room centered on a gnarly, rustic, my-entire-brood-couldn't-destroy-it, piece of wooden awesomeness? Yes. Yes I am, that and rows and rows of  Globe-Wernicke bookcases. (My wife will never let this happen)

These objects are very pricey if you're a sucker and purchase from a dealer (I'm not and I won't) and rare to come by in these parts (Chi-town). Also and a BIG also, I'm split on the issue of spending money on distressed pieces of furnishings all together!

Isn't some of the fun watching your furniture going from new (always a little used in my case) to charmingly beat up? Particularly the family man that I am, when my kids are on their own and I sit those final years on deaths door, wouldn't furniture covered with 20+ yrs of damage I told my wiener kids never to do my stuff just warm my old saggy gray heart?

So what is the point of the blog post? I think a to-do list is in order.

1. Keep going to sales/junk stores/alleyways, maybe, just maybe.
2. Take a trip down south with a van?
3. Seriously consider begin investing in space (purchase of my own Chicago bungalow is in the works) and tools to make my own damn furniture.
4. Does anyone know of a blog about this kind of stuff?

Oh and duh, the whole reason I started this post was because I found this chair last week, worst-blogger-ever. $15 yo.

Read more >> Options >>

Butter churns?? ha