Goodbye to the World's Coolest Basement

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This week got a l'il emotional as I bid goodbye to my grandparent's home. Even though they both had passed a while back, my whole family was a bit attached to their place and it took some time to finally decide to let it go.


For me, the hardest part about it was that it was a perfect time capsule complete with wood paneling, funky carpets and even rotary phones (which now reside in my home). It was like stepping into my childhood every time i went there:

I played with my Mike Power: Atomic Man in this corner, wrote my first post college resume on that desk and more recently filmed the Brick Mantooth toy commerical here.

The house was built in the mid 1960s and honestly I think they stopped decorating around 1972. They kept everything perfect so it was museum quality and it was also filled with weird "high tech" items like electric space heaters and intercoms in every room!

Seriously, what kid wouldn't play with this for hours? It was like living in the Venture compound!

This house will forever remind me of catalogs (my grandmother kept them for years, so yeah I got it from her), the Lawrence Welk show (which I hated then but now think is hypnotic) and Dean Martin records. I'm sorry to see it pass but I'm also taking all of those things with me, so it's never truly left has it?

Speaking of "taking it with me" I did manage to inherit something, somehow my siblings, parents and even nephew didn't fight me from getting what was truly mine.

Yes, this magnificent belt massage device works and it's all mine! Those fools just let me have it.

Thanks for reading, have a terrific weekend!

For more Fashion Mockery and 70's toy love visit us at Plaid Stallions.com


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[Werewolf]

Wowzers! That is a beautiful basement with absolutely glorious woodgrain. Thank you for sharing this.

[thunderbolt]

wow, I hope the new owners bought it to keep it hip and retro. It'd be sad to see it remodeled.

[Brown Bear]

What's neato place. Hope you took LOTS of pics.
Certainly not on the same scale, but my childhood home was on the market a few years back and I hadn't lived there since I was in junior high, so I pretended to be an interested buyer just to get a tour one last time. Glad I did. The memories are awesome, much like playing with Atomic Man in a particular corner. I know exactly what you mean.
Happy yer walking away with some keepsakes.

[Hedji]

Wonderful share. The pictures of the room empty are a bit melancholy given the context of your goodbye, but it's easy to imagine it full of life and happy times. I love the wall panel unit (thermostat? intercom?) It reminds me of a U.S.S. Enterprise wall comm unit.

Great that you filmed the commercial there. I almost want to go in and put up a bunch of old superhero posters, and shelves of vintage toys and do a photoshoot.

[Earth 2 Chris]

That's glorious Brian. I can totally see the appeal of stepping back into time every time you walked down the steps. And it's a classy kind of kitsch, so I do hope the next owners recognize that and keep that going.

Hey, our collectibles room in our house still has wood paneling and some very 70s low-nap carpet. I was so anxious to fill that room with my stuff and finally let it breathe, I never even thought of updating it, and just started building shelves, etc. So feel free to stop by any time!

[boss]

That's cool. I'm imagining the rug burns you got from that carpet.

[Ranger 3]

This might be the best post on this forum ever. I get and feel every word you said. I still have dreams about my grandparents house. I had understood that their house was torn down when the property was bought years ago, and only recently found out that the house still stands. I cried.

M

[Allie Fox]

This might be the best post on this forum ever. I get and feel every word you said.

This.

Looking at these photos, you can almost see the ghosts of the past moving about the room. I would love to see some pics of this room when it was alive (if they haven't been posted somewhere already).

[jwyblejr]

That is a thing of beauty. Anyone who changes it should be slapped.

[Goblin19]

On a related note, when my grandma passed, I bought her house so her wood paneled basement goodness is all mine. The wood paneled bar area is now my toy room. It seemed appropriate.

[palitoy]

This rules.

On a related note, when my grandma passed, I bought her house so her wood paneled basement goodness is all mine. The wood paneled bar area is now my toy room. It seemed appropriate.

[GlobalObserver]

It's like every single strand of 1970's DNA still lives in that basement.

Seeing that room brings back so many fond memories and I never even set foot in there.

[TrekStar]

The intercom thing is very cool, right out of a Star Trek episode, (deck three to engineering)

[Iron Mego]

Hope you kept that desk!