Estate finds

First off sorry for no posts for awhile. My old laptop died and I was busy... anyways, I stopped by an estate sale yesterday. I picked up a piece of the Berlin Wall encased in lucite. A beautiful tweed suit that fits perfectly. I very nice overcoat. A set of prints from the 1940's. A framed print of the Hippocratic oath. And, a pair of suede dress shoes! Was a nice sale sadly all the Mid Century Modern was snagged up before we got there.. and there was a beautiful MCM danish cane couch and some beautiful furiture.. alas I still did well.

P.S. sorry for the crappy pics.. took em after being awake for 13 hours....

Wing Tips

So I've been changing my style lately, and part of that change is getting away from wearing sneakers all the time.. I have recently become enamored with vintage wing tips. You can score VERY nice leather soled wing tips pretty cheap if you look in the right places. I love old wing tips it's like wearing leather combat boots but with ALOT more style. This is what happens when an old punk starts dressing nicer.

Also, if you want to add a bit more personal style to your wing tips colored laces pop out like crazy and give them a not so formal feeling.

spoiled!

So I spoiled myself like crazy the past few weeks.. I bought some VERY nice suits.. I believe every man should own at least 2 very nice suits.. And by very nice suits, I mean suits that actually fit.. not just off the rack suits. You can do this a few ways.. find a nice suit and take it to a tailor to get it taken in, or you can visit sites like http://www.indochino.com/ that will custom make a suit for you.. there are as well other places that can be found on ebay that will make a suit for you VERY cheap..  Here are some ways to size a suit for yourself. Also I should note a few things about suits. First of 2 buttons is the way to go. Secondly, never button the bottom button. 

Another and easier way to size a suit is to goto a men's store or suit store and have them size it for ya! Also something to  keep in mind.. save the size.. memorize it.. it will make your  life easier.

See these two? One is a 1500 dollar Hugo Boss suit and the other is made by a tailor in the east.. and costs 70 bucks.. can you tell the difference? The only notable difference is the material used which up close does make a large difference. Now off to find some fitted french cuff shirts...

The art of the accessory

It seems that men have few accessories that aren't incredibly tacky now adays. Although, most men's fashion today seems tacky.. ala bedazzled jeans, sparkly tee shirts and orange tans. Now for some classy and affordable accesories for men. I have recently become fascinated, enamored, and obsessed with old wrist watches... specifically pre 1940's watches. You can goto many sites and find them or you can scour ebay to find them. I have amassed a nice little collection.. and if you find some that are missing straps, well, I have a fix for that too. They are called NATO straps. Little canvas straps that are elegant and affordable and breathe new life into any old watch. Well anyways here are some of my watches I have recently acquired.. 

This is an example of a NATO strap on a 1943 Pobeda saucepan watch. Ah! Just look at it breathe new life into this old classic watch.

Another Nato strap on a 1951 Doxa.. Nato straps come in all kinds of colors and patterns.

This is an example of an older watch that has been refurbished. 

Now you may think that old classic watches are damned expensive.. But in all reality you can acquire a classic watch for as little at 50 dollars which beats buying a new watch with no style or class for a couple hundred. Also you can the wonderful feeling of winding and setting your watch.. Also, you get to hear the wonderful noise of the click click click of the watch as it runs.. Just setting the watch turns into a mediatative act..

Iowa

So, me and the girl went to Iowa to visit the girl's family for thanksgiving.. Was nice to get out of town for a bit.. But, the best part was the BEAUTIFUL house the parents bought up there.. This house is gorgeous although it makes me sad that they have no MCM furniture or decorations for the house.. but what can ya do? Anyways this house was build mid 60's and I have no idea who the architect was.. anyways enjoy some of the beautiful woody loveliness.

This was built into the house.. gorgeous wall clock

love the globe lamp, although the torch thing has to go!

The windows opened via this lever and it locked into place, it was kinda odd the screens were 

inside, the glass outside.. 

below the stairway, a little storage door with beautiful lighting

the office with built in desk and bookshelves

some of the beautiful fixtures in the house

The door knob is AMAZING!

more of the beautiful pendant lighting.

Expensive Frames?

HA! I think not.. I am a huge fan of finding all my frames in thrift stores for my art.. Don't like the color of the frame? Nothing a can of Krylon can't fix.. Take it apart, paint it, re-assemble it VOILA! beautiful frames for your house.. Also while on the topic, if you need canvases for art and can't afford em cuz they are so damned expensive cheap thrift store art on canvases can also be repainted as well!!

Anyways on to the post.. this is a before and after of a frame I found on the side of the road while walking home from the convenient store. A can of krylon flat black, some much better art and VOILA!

Adjust

So thought about this post after I already completed the project and forgot to take pics.. Simply put it is a how to on how to change the length of of a metal wristwatch band.

First off avoid buying any tools.. ya don't need em.

Secondly what you do need is a 1) a pair of pliers 2) a hammer 3) a few thumb tacks

Third take the tack place it on the pin on the wristwatch band and place something underneath it.. take your hammer and tap and tap until the pin becomes dislodged.

Fourth take your pliers and pull the pin out..

Fifth repeat the 3rd step on the additional links..

Sixth take the pin you pulled out and place it into the new connections ya want and VOILA' how to change the length on your metal wristwatch band.. it's easy I promise!!