The Great Reorganization: Step 18: Redoing the "Man Cave"

Summer is always a busy time for me, though usually it's busy because of lots of fun activities.  This year, I've certainly had my share of fun activities thus far...as well as a healthy amount of work for next year's classes that I'm teaching (including teaching Calculus III for the first time which means I need to make a ton of new lessons and homework assignments).  In addition, I finished up a group break a couple of days ago...and I am all but finally recovered from this terrible head cold that has plagued me for about a week or so.

And you know what?  That's not all.  My other big project (actually, I should say "our" other big project because my wife has definitely done most of the work) is that we decided to redo our basement (aka "the man cave").  Redoing it meant tearing down a big chunk of a built in wood entertainment stand, ripping off some of the most hideous wallpaper you've ever seen, and spackling/painting the entire basement.  In addition, we are having new lights installed soon (next week hopefully) and we had a little bit of plumbing stuff taken care of.  

On the fun side of things, by ripping apart the old entertainment stand, I was able to go out and purchase a brand new TV for my digs - and a new sound bar.  I also redid my LEGO area with a brand new table set-up...but that's still mostly a work in progress given that I need the electrician to do his thing before I start getting too crazy with LEGO.

I was, however, able to start hanging up a bunch of my card/baseball themed stuff in the man cave.  Ever since we moved in our new house (about a year and a half ago), I wasn't able to hang most of the stuff because it would get "lost" in the hideously loud and busy wallpaper.  However, now that I have nice white walls, things are looking good!

As part of my effort to chronicle my complete reorganization of my collection, I would say that a massive overhaul of the man cave deserves at least one post (and probably a second post once the electrician is gone and I can put away the rest of the stuff)!

That said, how about a quick tour of some of my newly hung items?

First, the one poster that I did have hanging up before - a reproduction of the 1889 Allen & Ginter American Fishes set - a set that I'm still working on to this day.  At the moment, I currently own 44 of the 50 cards in the set (88%) which I think is pretty good for a set that was released in 1889!

Next, although technically not hanging up, I have a couple of things that might be of interest to some people.

The Robinson was a gift from a fellow blogger a few years back - and that Allen & Ginter fish album?  That's a brand new purchase from eBay!  I'll hopefully have more on the album in an upcoming post!

Moving on to another item that isn't hung up (but only because of the electrical work that needs to be done - it will be hung up as soon as the electrician leaves)...

Do you know where those felt circles are from?  They are from the 2007 Topps Heritage hobby boxes...they were awesome box toppers back then!  I managed to collect the entire box topper set - and now thanks to quite a bit of help from my artistic wife, I have an awesome display of "old timey" team logos!

Next, a couple of fake old timey things - both metal signs of sorts.

I grabbed the Topps' sign at the Baseball Hall of Fame a couple of years ago.  The Ted's Root Beer came from a store in Vermont last year.  I think they look good together - and I still have room for one more sign up above if I ever find a third design that I like.

And finally, more box toppers!

Those pennants are from the 2005 Upper Deck Past Time Pennants hobby boxes.  I only own two of them currently...but I'm watching a couple on eBay that I might put in some bids on.  If, by chance, you have any unwanted pennants from this set let me know!  The set has a bunch of different Reds' banners in it...I really need to acquire at least one of them plus a couple more cool pennants to complete the man cave!

That's it on the progress for now - it's been a lot of work but definitely worth it!  Of course, I can't wait for everything to be finished so that I can get things back in order - but for now, I'll happily stare at my walls and enjoy all my baseball-centric surroundings!