If you know anything about Guinness, you’ll know they had a fabulous ad campaign back in the day.
Their first ad was published in 1794, their first tagline introduced in 1929. In the early 20th century, doctors thought the brew had medicinal properties and promoted strength. Until the 1950’s Irish mothers were told to drink Guinness after giving birth because of its iron content. Guinness is good for you! remained the slogan until a random trip to the circus drew inspiration from the performing zoo animals.
It’s these advertisements that became synonymous with the brand, and this collection of vintage coasters I found at an antique store.
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The perfect addition to the Barn Mahal man cave bar.
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There were even a few Christmas themed ads.
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And if you recognized the famous toucan on the bottom right….
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It might be because our original poster was one of the first things we ever hung in the man cave.
The husband came in the house the other day complaining his pool table felt was loose. You know, the extra expensive, special order, professional grade imported fabric he just had to have when we bought the table. Fearing this would be the usual Casa River nightmare… I was pleasantly surprised when after one call to the store of purchase the owner’s son was here to fix the problem the next afternoon. For free.
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Free is always my favorite word and to be honest I never even knew pool tables needed tune ups but apparently it’s quite common.
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And it isn’t a quick fix by any means.
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Rails must be removed, fabric must be loosened and peeled off the slate. The wax seal must be checked and smoothed.
And then tugging begins.
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Which of course the husband had to be in on.
Men. You do love a good tug.
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After a solid two hours of pulling and tugging and securing on this side, and then pulling and tugging and securing on that side, only to repeat the pulling, tugging and securing on the first side etc etc until I would have heaved the whole table out the door, it was done.
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Rails were replaced, stray threads were trimmed, felt was cleaned and no bill was presented. When I asked the young man how long the warranty on the table lasted… he floored me by saying forever. Granted the fabric will only have so many stretches in it, and because ours is thinner than normal felt it won’t last as long… but as far as normal maintenance goes we’re golden.
This happens so infrequently I was at a loss how to respond. So I pressed a big old tip into his hand to show our appreciation.
Too many antique stores, too little time. Not to mention money.
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Mantiques? That sounded like trouble…. and as soon as we walked through the door of the large converted barn I feared my checkbook might not survive.
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1939 Rockola Art Deco juke box with unusual pop up speaker? Fabulous! The husband drooled on behalf of the man cave, but I broke his heart and refused to fork over $9,995.00.
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You know it’s not your every day thrift store when you see things like this.
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Embalming pump? That’s a coffee table piece sure to spark scintillating conversations.
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Any ideas what that is…?
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Apparently pumps of all sorts are popular.
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I got a huge kick out of the price tag description on this item.
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Lock the kids in the sweat box. That’ll keep ‘em quiet.
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If a naked blonde doesn’t encourage Junior to save his pennies, nothing will.
Three full floors of amazing items later we almost made it out the door without purchasing anything and then…
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The husband fell in love.
A long conversation with the owner followed. Photos of the Barn Mahal were shared, placement of the item was discussed. Meanwhile, I sought the price tag…
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And while slightly less painful than the first jukebox, it was still a tad more than I planned on spending that day.
Husband eyes were flashing that “I have to own it!” look and yours truly had to do some quick thinking.
A jukebox.
From 1946?
It only played 78’s!
Perry Como, Doris Day, Mitch Miller, Bing Crosby? Not man cave music. Nope. Not even close.
There’s always something that needs to be repaired at Casa River, and sometimes that something is the Barn Mahal porch.
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For some reason ( read – crazy Maine weather, massive frost heaves and lack of gutters ) one section of the porch lifted over the years with the result being smashed and then rotted wood under the corner post.
A cousin was called to assist… as there was heavy lifting required and yours truly sucks at that.
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I also suck at not exclaiming WTF! when I go outside to check on the repair progress.
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I doubt that set up was OSHA approved… but it did the job and supported the roof while the post was removed.
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Rotted wood.
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Please note I am not standing on the porch to take pictures.
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Rotted wood replaced….
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Corner post cut and reseated.
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With a hammer, because fine tuning was required.
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And yes, it’s a bit crooked now.
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But my bat was rehung and the roof is still over our heads… so I’m calling it good.
The husband and I hit another antique store yesterday, but failed to find any appropriate vintage beer or whisky crates for my vinyl collection. (okay, I did see a Budweiser crate but even I have standards)
I’m afraid the search is proving fruitful in only one aspect.
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And that’s enlarging the number of albums I need to house in the first place. But I was happy to find 13 of the same records I lost decades ago. A few covers are in rough shape, but for $2 each I won’t complain.
And lest you think the husband came home empty handed, he found a treasure for the man cave as well.
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A wood bound mixed drink recipe book from 1941.
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It’s a hoot and has some interesting drawings.
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As with anything the husband purchases, he always tells me to look it up and see if he paid too much.
This was the first listing I saw.
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Yikes! I was impressed he only paid $15 until I saw a bunch of others ranging from $20-100.
Good luck wdan1351. If you manage to sell it for that price? Please let me know.
Of course it happened on the day we’d invited friends over for adult beverages and pool in the man cave. I’d gone out early to set up some tasty snacks and heard an awful noise coming from under the bar.
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My mini mixer fridge.
Oh, the horror!
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Frozen solid and ready to burn out the motor. I unplugged, emptied, laid down a towel and propped open the door to defrost. Thinking our not even two year old expensive appliance was ready to die, I did some research. Turns out over packing a mini fridge is common and once the air flow is blocked it freezes up.
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And yes, I was certainly guilty of that. Club soda, tonic, Coke, ginger ale, Sprite, Bloody Mary mix, Tom collins mix, premixed margaritas, cranberry juice, lemonade, lime juice, orange juice etc. I have a well stocked bar, I need a well stocked mixer fridge!
I’m happy to report the 24 hour defrost worked with no apparent damage. Fridge is back up and running though with considerably less inventory this time around.
Thankfully we have a much larger beer fridge for the overflow.
As you know, our cat Lord Dudley Mountcatten is spoiled. He is not however, ill mannered.. and never tries to jump on the dining room table during meals. But for those of you who have misbehaving felines? I offer a solution:
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You’re welcome.
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What do you do when a friend recommends a fabulous blueberry vodka but you have no space on your man cave bar shelves?
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You pack them a little tighter and hope the shelves are up for the extra weight.
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We seem to be down to three baby woodchucks from seven. I prefer to think this is a result of momma chuck kicking a few of the kids out of the den and not the result of predation. But this little guy?
He’s still trying to move in with us.
🙂
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Where there's only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.
River's world..... 