Basement Update - calling it done for Christmas!

After more time on my knees in this basement than I like to think about, I've gotten pretty close to finishing the main area with the bar, fireplace, and record player.  The aluminum tree is up and spinning, I've got a fire going, and I'm listening to vintage Christmas albums!  We had some good friends over for lunch and I just barely got things cleaned and straightened to make things presentable.  Still on my checklist: finishing with the floor trim, waxing the floor, adding curtains, adding a mirrored shadowbox for behind the bar, making some kind of panel backing for the R above the fireplace, restoring my Plycraft chair, and working on getting the other furniture fabrics to match up better (I'm thinking about having new covers made for the Z chairs). But for now, I'm pretty happy with the progress.   Have a look --

I'll probably blog again next weekend, if time allows.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Groovin with the new blonde - record player, that is!

I've got another blonde in my life, and she plays 45s and LPs, even 78s!  Luckily, Auntie Atom likes her too.

I've been collecting old LPs for years, focusing on TV-related records and old comedy records, with some old political and sports related records thrown into the collection.  Only problem was, I had nothing to play them with!  Lately I've been watching the local craigslist for a vintage console stereo, and I've been watching ebay for a smaller tabletop or portable record player.  So recently I landed on an auction for this beauty, and I bid aggressively and got it, and I'm glad I did.

It's a Sears Silvertone model 8247, blond walnut cabinet, with a 3-tube amp.  Check out that great logo and the flecked fabric on the front.  It's in great shape!!!

It's marked HiFi, but it plays only in mono, not stereo.  But it will play stereo records.

It's a beauty, and I could not be happier.  I just need to buff out some light scuffs on the top and wax the finish.  Right now I've got it beside the bar on one of our blonde end tables, because it's just a few inches too big to sit on my record storage rack.

I have some extra hairpin legs laying around, so I may try to build a table for it, or I may try to pick up some tapered spindle legs.  Anyway, now we can listen to these records.  Woo hoo!