I need some help to suprise my husband

You said hes on the Hamb alot find a nice bucket seat for his computer work maybe a t-bucket bed for a computer desk,signs,lights,got to have a mini fridge and if he loves you as much as you love him I know he"d rather see some nice ***y pictures of you on the wall.instead of ******* stuff.You got a lucky old man.

 

if you want to suprise him why don't you invite your best friend over and be naked when he shows up.I would like that better.

 

A pin up model.

 

Some art from George Trosley
georgetrosley.com

 

Of course, I know you're not my wife but sure wish that you were !
Recommendations:
a set of tools, based on his shop tools yet smaller
like a bench top drill press, mini lathe, workbench with a vise, clamps, drill bits, precision screwdrivers (eyegl***/watchmaker size) .
Nice job, I appreciate what you are doing and who you are asking for help. Lucky guy he is..
Dale K
Cleveland OH

 

WOW! Did he marry the right girl or what? I'd stay away from the **** - the room should be a place where he wouldn't be ashamed to take anybody. The old repro signs and car pics sound llike a good thing. You'll be surprised that once you get things started, the rest will magically ac***ulate.

 

Lucky guy! Check posts by Denise, aka hotrodladycruzr. You will find several ideas, and she always posts excellent pictures.

 

Honey, the best thing you can do for me is install a lock on the inside of the shop door.

 

Truefullly, being that supportive of this p***ion for old tin, make sure you put your photo in the middle of what ever you do. That will be his most admired photo on the wall. Just my 2c's

 

Honey?...is that you? Oh...nope. Darn.

Couple of ideas:
There may be ways to avoid having to spend an awful lot of money. Do some searching on ebay, craigslist, etc. for some of this stuff. You might get some good deals. As far as posters go, consider having particular ones printed for you from pictures you've found on the internet, whether here or elsewhere. Check these threads for some wonderful old photos.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=428585
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=422177
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=430894
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=425454&highlight=period+correct
Those are all the threads I can think of right now that have cool old pics, though I imagine you'd find all you need in these. Any of you guys know of more?...please list them. Anyway, if you've got a good printer, print the photos you like, and take them to a print shop to be enlarged. On second thought, if the print-shop can work with digital images, it might be best to simply download them to a flash-drive or portable hard-drive or disc. With any picture you consider, you might want to enlarge it on your monitor first, to see that it's sufficiently high-definition to blow-up without getting "grainy" looking. If you wanna really get crazy, I believe you can even have images transferred to wallpaper.
Somebody mentioned getting him a model of his first car. Good idea. How about the car that you two dated in? That would hold some significance for sure.
Having a fridge has been mentioned. Seems a lot of us like the old roundish models, and like to give them custom paint-jobs, or cover 'em with race-stickers. Gotta find one in good working order though.
Speaking of racer-stickers...do an online search...there are suppliers that have reproductions of race-stickers from days gone by...very cool.
Or...you could simply do what unclescooby here did...went and bought himself a completely self-contained stainless and neon diner!
Check it out: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=465149&highlight=stainless+neon+diner
Also take a look at the picture-gallery of hamb-member Sir Woosh. He's got some pictures of a section of his home that he and his wife converted to an authentic '50s-style diner...very nice. Here is a link to his gallery: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/album.php?albumid=3970
Entertainment is important. Others have previously mentioned large-screen TVs, music, and internet access. It'd be cool for him to be able to enjoy the H.A.M.B. from his loft. I'm sure you're aware of the possibilities in TV. As far as music goes though, do you guys download music from the internet? There are quite a few P2P (peer to peer) sites where you can download thousands of tunes for free. Try Frostwire. Once you've downloaded hundreds of your favorites, you can transfer them to an Ipod. Then take the Ipod out to the loft, and plug it in with a cord to a stereo-system. This is probably the least expensive way to collect and play all your favorite oldies tunes.
Again, don't overlook used items. As far as furniture goes, you might rather find some old-style used pieces as opposed to spending big $ on new car-shaped couches and such. (Those are cool too though.) Stop by your local Salvation Army outlet...you'd be surprised at some of the cool old furniture they sometimes have. My wife and I have actually furnished some of our home this way. We like the old-fashioned "lived-in" look it lends to the place, and prices are quite reasonable. If you don't see anything you like, be sure to revisit them the next week or so. They're always getting in new old stuff. Antique shops are of course always a possible source, but you'll pay much more. You might want to go to a couple estate-sales or auctions as well...especially out in the country...really especially if it's a farm. Farmers seem to never throw anything away, and sometimes the same family has inhabited the place for a very very long time. You can find some extremely cool old furnishings this way. Be careful though...you'll end up wanting to keep some of the neater stuff for yourself and the house! LOL.
Good luck...I know you're gonna have fun doing this. Your husband is gonna love the room and the fact that you went to such great effort to please him. I know I like nothing better than when my wife contributes to my hobby...as I do to hers. (mostly yard stuff...flowering bushes, bird-feeders, chimes, etc.) So cool to share and enjoy each other's interests. I have no doubt that sometimes the both of you will enjoy retreating to "the loft". Don't feel the need to totally complete the room. He probably has some items he'd like to add as well. Maybe leave some room for that.

I imagine after you get this thing together, he's gonna start a thread en***led "Look what my wife did for me!"...and we're all gonna reply, "Yeah, we know!" LOL.

So thoughtful of you to do this for him. You're awesome.

 

You guys are wonderful! Except maybe those of you who suggested ****. I love all these ideas! I appreciate all the links and I will be sure to have my husband post pictures of it when he finds out. Any other ideas just keep 'em coming! Thank you so much!

 

I am really not mature enough to leave a non-***ual oriented recomendation.

 

Contact Guiseart here on the HAMB & have him do a etching of his favorite car &/or lady.

 

This guy makes some real nice posters for framing, great quality, priced right, and a HAMB member too.

http://www.car-n-art.com/

 

Here's another link T.L. Awesome junkyard pics.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=390611&highlight=gd+philosopher+rickybop

A thought: Posters absolutely need to be framed and covered. If they're not, they start curling and getting dusty, etc. But I don't think you need to buy expensive frames. Anyone with a little bit of skill can make frames from wooden wall-moulding and a simple thin plywood backing. A gl*** or plexigl*** cover will ensure that they remain in good condition for a long time, and make them easy to clean. I believe gl*** will be actually less expensive than plexigl***.

 

She needs to get in to keep the fridge full and the grilled cheese sandwiches coming.

My request would be a compfy chair, the above mentioned full fridge, stereo and a new laptop with the H.A.M.B. as my homepage. Nice idea but I'd leave the decorating to him or it'll never be "his" space.

 

Get some cool parts for his project car that he can hang on the wall until he needs to put them on his car, like a steering wheel, grille, etc.

Cool parts make great wall decor, even if they WONT work on his project....

 

I love the old junkyard pictures and all the other threads you have sent me to look at. Have any of you tried to print these off? I uploaded them to snapfish and they are saying the resolution is not good enough to re-print. I figured with how old they are the resolution won't be great but just didn't want to waste the money if they come back completely blurry! Any suggestions?

 

My thoughts exactly! She has some cool ideas!

P.S you have any sisters?

 

Actually not, over on our sister site www.garagejournal.com a wife of a Deployed Marine logged on to help do a remodel of her hubbies garage to have ready when he returned. Damn cool.

 

Keep in mind, that the old pictures were taken with film, and don't have definition or resolution issues in their original form. It all depends on the how high the definition was when they were changed to digital. Some will be of a higher definition than others. You can get a pretty good idea by bringing the resolution way up on your computer while viewing the pic. (Make the picture bigger.) If it's high definition, you'll be able to enlarge it on your screen, without it becoming "grainy" looking. As far as printing the pics, I just copy them to my picture-file first, then I can do what I want with them...print them, transfer them to a flash-drive or hard-drive or disk. Then take that to the printer. Contact them to ask the format they prefer. Also...a picture that has been anlarged and becomes diffused or grainy-looking is not always such a bad thing...you've seen large pics like that, and it can produce kind of an "artsy" look to them. Besides...if they are viewed from across the room, it looks fine. Depends on the effect you're after.


P.S. - Just remembered...you can right click on any picture, and click on "properties", and it will tell you what what level of definition it is. I don't have any specific numbers as to what a good definition level is for enlarging. Experiment a little. Possibly ask some of these questions of the printer...they'll know. Good luck.

 

Car related furniture is a good bet. We made this chair from a pair of old Model T fenders, some s**** metal tubing and a piece of wood sign that was laying around. Not saying that he has model T fenders laying around, just showing what can be done with a little creativity. One of his friends could do the welding, if you don't already know how, and you can cover the seat yourself.

I had a picture of a car's front end as a desk but can't seem to find it now. It's a HAMB'ers desk if I remember correct.

 

Well Tman, that is why I try to use careful wording such as "one of the coolest things" as opposed to the coolest most amazing thing that no one will ever top thing........ of all time. Less feathers ruffled that way. Still that must have been a great welcome home for that Service Man. Either way you look at it the end result is the product of a very thoughtful spouse and the input of the H.A.M.B community. Being an FNG I am always surprised by both, the many uses for this forum, as well as the sense of community created by its members. It's a cool thing to be apart of!

 

Might already be posted, but a HAMB Alliance membership would be nice!

 

I'd go for old tools, especially old commercial test equipment. Its cheap (for the most part) useful, and cool as heck. I'd second the Comfy chair so he can admire his work, and the beer fridge to foster creativity. The downside is you may never get him out of the garage.

 

I would buy him a cool vintage drop tank. See my cl***ified ad.

 

I'd say......If it's his "Man cave"....LEAVE IT ALONE !......If you put something in there that he doesn't like, he'll have to live with it forever because you were trying to be sweet.....Let him fill the space exactly the way HE wants it.....He knows what he wants more than anybody.......I know your heart is in the right place, but probably the best thing you could do is let him have his space and be supportive......I'm sure you have your way with the house............

 

Closed circuit TV cameras watching the stairs and proximity alarm to warn him of incoming people. Hey even paranoid people need security.

 

Silly canucks! I am sure he will like it the way she does it up, if not i am sure he can change it around without her getting upset. don't forget the black and white checker board floor!

 

I'm guessing she picked out every stick of furniture in the house and all the decorations, which is fine....but I'm also guessing he built this space above the garage so he could have HIS OWN SPACE the way HE wants it.....I still say leave it alone, and let him have his space....let him do what he wants with it without interfering......Buy him a case of beer for when his buddies come over to check out his new pad.....