Hey guys....it's been a minute since I came on here, but I wanted to show one of my current projects. A couple of months ago I had to put down my 14+ year old pitbull. It was not easy, but it was definitely time for her. Anything longer would have just been extending her misery. Everything was getting difficult for her, and the past few weeks she was eating only sporadically. I put some much into her that I even had a dedicated bedroom for her to use as a bathroom. I put down a large piece of leftover vinyl flooring over the ratty berber carpeting that was already in that room when I bought the house. I had been using the room for storage, and even painted some of my project toolboxes and whatnot in there. I told my girlfriend that when Spooky (my dog) was gone, we'd turn that room into a walk in closet. We did all of the work ourselves, which included ripping out vinyl and old berber carpeting, then using Nature's Miracle on the particle board subfloor where urine had soaked through. Let me tell you, that stuff is AMAZING! Once the subfloor was treated with that and it dried completely, I put 2 coats of Zinsser BIN shellac primer on the subfloor, then we bought and installed vinyl plank flooring. The original owners just had 1x4 material as molding along the floor. I used a bit in my router table to give that a nice top edge and not look so blocky. I also patched all the walls and painted them. The original owner had created this room by encroaching on the original garage, then built a full 2 car garage onto the existing garage. Kind of wonky but it worked. They didn't however have any ceiling mounted lighting, choosing rather to mount some wall sconces on the one wall which were inadequate and pretty redneck to me. I re-routed those wires up into the attic and then drilled holes into the plasterboard ceiling for ceiling mounted lights. To explain the ceiling situation.....there is a drop ceiling they installed, that's about 2" below what used to be the old garage platerboard ceiling. The drop ceiling is only 6'8" tall, and because of the limited height and limited options, I went with some very slim LED panel lights that I managed to wrestle into the drop ceiling grid (that was not a super fun part of the job). The lights are adjustable for light color (3.5k, 4k, or 5k) and have 3 different lumes settings. That was the basic shell of the room.

Since my last visits here, I've gotten a TON of new stuff from estate sales, mostly art but some clothes and shoes as well. These two pair are from this weekend's haul. A pair of Florsheim loafers and a pair of Bruno Magli wingtips, with seude and leather. I polished both of these since buying. The Florsheim's were pretty much like new, but the Bruno's were pretty beat. They still have some character marks, but they are certainly wearable still. Pretty unique too. ($15 for both pair)

I picked up this sweater at Duluth this weekend. At one of the very few (only?) outlet stores that they have. $90 retail, got it for $32. I get some great deals there - it's roughly an hour from my house. I coupled it with jeans, magnanni boots, and a Bulova marine star watch.

These boots are easy to scuff and scratch. I gave them a coat of mink oil. Although it darkens the leather, at least they are consistent and I'm not sure there are too many options with these besides some sort of oil.

I did a search to see if this article had been discussed. Didn't see anything but then, how do you get the search to show the newest results first? That said, have the younger crowd ditched sneakers and rediscovered loafers as stylish? "The Loafer’s Big Generational Shift" https://www.esquire.com/style/mens-fashion/a70333866/loafer-generational-shift-trend-2026/ "“About 18 months ago we noticed the big fashion brands started to delete sneakers from their runway shows.” he (British shoemaker Tim Little) told me (the author of the article Nick Sullivan) over a steak au poivre at our seasonal and very unfashionable haunt in Bastille one night. “At the same time, we started hearing from our retailers that our youngest customers were bypassing sneakers in growing numbers and asking what they could get for their budget that—specifically—wasn’t sneakers.” Trends have their lifespan, of course. For Little this was something else. “I think it’s also partly fatigue” he told me. “As if that younger generation has grown tired of the endless drop culture in sneakers and maybe even a sense of nostalgia for a time—at least in their minds—when style wasn’t constantly being shilled at them. Buying shoes that will last past six months is an appealing way to escape that endless fast-fashion cycle.” --- I haven't bought a pair yet, but they are on my radar in the thrift store runs.