So Far, So Good

It is far too cold to work in the garage lately, but the last dinette cushion arrived earlier this month.  I'm in love with how nice it all looks.  I'm still waiting on the sofa cushion covers but the fabric for that was delivered last week; it'll likely be a few weeks before that's completed.  I'm somewhat nervous about purchasing fabric without having seen it in person.  I went with Crypton performance fabric.  It is stain, odor, and moisture resistant as well as being planet-friendly.  I'm not affiliated with them in any way; it's just the fabric I chose and why I chose it.  

I've slowly been acquiring items for our "everyday" life in the camper: unbreakable glasses, bamboo dinnerware, nesting bowls... all of which will have to wait for a different post.  The bed ends are slowly coming together as well, but since I can't really set up both ends in the garage right now, those will have to be saved for later, too. 

What I've done so far:

• painted the cabinets
• painted the T-trim
• painted the stove cover
• painted the table support
• painted the steps
• covered the counters and tabletop
• covered the bed end trim
• made privacy curtains for the bed ends
• cut and reinforced the dinette area rug for the table support

What I have left to do:

• cushion/insulate bed end bases
• repair mattress cover
• find a storage container that will fit under the sofa
• find storage containers that will fit under all benches
• cabinet organizers
• figure out the refrigeration situation (look into the professional repair of the fridge)
• replace camper brakes

This is what the Apache looks like so far:

This is what the Apache looked like in October 2019:

We're getting there.

Holiday Break

I hope everyone had a great holiday.  I was so busy during the break, but I did manage to relax a fair bit.  Christmas day was spent with my family and the rest of the week I was in and out of the garage.  We've had unseasonably warm weather!  I did get some gift cards and of course, spent them all on getting the remainder of the decorating work done in the Apache.  I don't know how people apply countertop vinyl without actively going insane.  I must have pulled up and adhered the paper over the galley countertop about 4 times before it is to where I'm just giving up on it and leaving it as it is:  not perfect and definitely with some minor imperfections that will bother no one but me.  

I cannot destroy this air bubble for the life of me
Yes, I poked it with a pin first

I DID manage to get this wrinkle out and cover that exposed part at the top of the sink

I also realized that once you remove T-trim it is impossible to get it back to its original dimensions, so the trim around the swing counter is about 1/2 inch shorter.  Does this bother me?  No.  Okay, a little, but mostly no.  Not enough to drop fifty bucks on new T-trim to cover an area that won't come into contact with anything.  

See what I'm talking about?

Otherwise, things are moving along quite well.  I spray painted the table support because I'm just not a fan of the original stainless when the whole thing is set up because it looks too cold, but it's still drying so that'll have to wait.

I cut a hole in the rug that goes under the table so that the table support can go through, mostly because I wanted a long rug there. I initially purchased a smaller rug but it just got lost when the table was set up.  Now that there's a hole in it though, I have to figure out a way to keep the rest of it from unraveling.  I have a solution which will be implemented this week.  Four more months until camping season!

Cover Me!

The covers for the dinette cushions arrived and I couldn't be happier.  They're simply beautiful.  I chose an outdoor fabric for the covers for their ability to withstand some abuse, as well as their ability to shed some water if one of us spills something on them. Waverly's Sun n Shade Ulla Charcoal.  

Ulla Charcoal

As I mentioned before, I had an upholsterer sew the cushion covers from measurements that I provided.  There was a snafu that was completely my fault; I must have measured one of the smaller cushions twice, and then completely NOT THINKING, I sent those measurements to her.  Without double-checking.  You know what they say:  Measure twice, cut once.  I totally didn't do that and while another larger seat cushion cover is on its way, I've learned my lesson when it comes to being hasty.   

Love it!

I'm so pleased with how the Apache is turning out.  I received an early gift for the holidays, so I've been picking up little things here and there--mostly dining stuff.  All of that will be revealed in good time.  

It Ain't Over 'til it's Oversprayed

As much as I love the light and airy look from the last post, with its white cabinets, rug, and off white cushions, we get dirty when we're camping.  If we just sat around for a week and took a leisurely stroll on paved campground roadways I'd be slathering some white paint on every surface of the Apache.  When I say we get dirty, I mean it.  We wander off on 4-hour hikes and more often than not, Garrett is laying on a bed of mulched forest floor (or mud) taking macro photos of fungi.  I have a penchant for taking breaks on fallen trees and mossy rocks.  Sometimes we're canoeing through a bog and we've got those small flecks of "swamp things" on our clothes from getting inadvertently wet.  Sometimes it's as simple as soot from the fire getting on our clothes.  Do I want to transfer that to pristine white cabinetry?  Heck no.  

My canoe bow in the Barnum Bog, Paul Smith's VIC, New York

I mentioned before that the cabinets have the appearance of wood, but are metal.  Over the past few weekends, I've been painting the cabinets without removing them first.  Actually, I've been spray painting everything that is brown, with the exception of the couch under-storage area, which no one will really see anyway.  

I've been using Rustoleum's Universal All-Surface spray paint in Gloss Black for

the cabinets, and for the furnace, which needs a more specialized paint, Rustoleum's Ultra High Heat paint in Black.  I used the same Ultra High Heat in White for the stove lid. 

I taped off, put some paper on the floor in the dining area, and I taped the old grey curtains together and used them as a drop cloth since they were the best way to cover the entire floor without having to cut my usual drop cloth.  The weirdly-shaped items that needed to be covered were protected with aluminum foil.  I could only paint for about 15 minutes at a time, taking the rest of the day off.  The roof of the Apache is taller than the track of my garage door, so ventilation was not as good as I would have liked.  I did manage to open the door a couple of feet, and I left the entry door to the garage open as well.  

Despite laying down the drop cloth, The first time I painted I did not anticipate that the tiny paint particles would make everything sticky.  So as I worked backward, I was unaware that part of the drop cloth stuck to my shoe!  The result?  Areas of flooring where those tiny particles settled.  The fix?  A light sanding with 220 grit sandpaper buffed the noticeable discoloration away!  There was one corner that really got hit with a blast of paint, but that also sanded off tolerably well.  Here are the befores:

That's gonna leave a mark

 

That's not a shadow; it's overspray

Once the weather climbs back into the 40s, I'll finish sanding the floor.  For now though, back to seemingly neverending snowfall and prepping for the holidays.

The Leisure Seekers

Our title today refers to a wonderfully poignant movie with Donald Sutherland and Helen Mirren.  Helen's character busts her husband out of the nursing home and they set off on an adventure in their family's ancient RV to Ernest Hemingway's house in the Florida Keys.  

When we're in the woods, I often sit quietly and just absorb the nature around us.  At Buck Pond, we listened to loons call each other for hours until we fell asleep.  In the Smokies, we enjoyed our morning coffee with a herd of deer and several titmice.  We try to get a campsite next to water if possible and are completely spoiled when we wake up to views like this:

Minister Creek Campground
Allegheny National Forest

I don't want the interior of the camper to compete with the views outside the windows, but I don't want it to be basic either.  I've seen more than a few remodels on Pinterest that I like a lot but won't translate well in a small space.  So, I'm focusing on a simple aesthetic on a very tiny budget.  Our biggest expense will be recovering the cushions and we're going with an upholsterer for that because we want them to be in the hands of someone that knows what they're doing with upholstery weight fabric (aka. not me).  

Since the Apache is straight out of the 70s, I wanted to honor that with what is probably the most popular DIY craft of that decade: macrame!  I found a tutorial on Pinterest, spent $5 in supplies, and learned how to tie a square knot.  

Am I seriously going to put a plant hanger in the camper?  Unlikely, but I like the idea of it and it kept me busy before I brought the camper home, so it's a win-win.  I ended up with an unspent gift card leftover from my birthday and did a little shopping, coming up with this:

Not bad for an initial idea

I quickly changed my mind on the peel-and-stick paper there, and while I love the gold metallic spray paint I don't think there are a ton of accents that I can spray paint gold.  

I love this.
Snagged from Pinterest that redirected to a sketchy not-original-post site
so I have no idea who to credit it to.

This is gorgeous.  I love how airy it all looks, but there's too much white for the amount of dirt that our kind of camping and hiking generates.  I have white kitchen cabinets now and it seems impossible to keep them really clean.  But overall, I love the vibe that this gives off.  Simple, understated, restful.

There are four more months before our next camping trip.  

Let's Do the Time Warp

The interior of the camper as I mentioned before, is straight out of 1975, except for the previous owner's application of Contact paper to the cabinet fronts and the frame above the bed ends.  I would like, if I may, to take you on a strange journey...

Let's start with the cushions.

Woah.  The photo of the cushion detail really doesn't do it justice.  It was nighttime in my garage and let's just say that the only benefit of the cover of darkness is the muted effect it had on the green and yellow.  Step back and appreciate this for all its worth.

Where to begin?

Okay, that isn't much better light-wise.  This was taken when I went to look at the Apache for the very first time on a bright October day.  While I may appreciate the light-blocking effects of dark grey curtains at five in the morning in the summer, I'm a firm believer in things being light and airy when it comes to window dressing.  The curtains are now long gone, but just appreciate the sheer visual cacophony of the plaid mixed with buffalo check mixed with tile.  While it looks like there are holes where the light leaks through on the bed end I can assure you that this puppy is tight as a drum.  Onward to the other side:

The bags are filled with the original curtains. 
The weird grey lump is a sofa.

I think the photos make this look smaller than it actually is.  The beds are full-size beds, and that sofa is six feet (2 meters) long.  The cushions on that are also the same green and yellow plaid, but they were covered by a fuzzy grey sheet.  An improvement, but I think we can do better for the long term. The little countertop that you see on the left of the screen folds down, and there are a stovetop and sink as well.

I don't know what color the counters are, officially.
They're a bit yellowy beige.

This photo gives you a taste of just how visually stimulating everything is at once.  It nearly gave me a headache.  The doors on the cabinet slide to either side but aren't a storage option since the sink guts are behind it.  Here's what it looks like with the doors removed.  

There is a piece of foam board in the back (that white thing in front of the vent)

 So, there's the furnace.  I don't know if we'll actually use it very often, but it does work and keeps everything toasty.  It would have been welcome this past April when we woke up to temps in the high 30s.  The open cabinet with the particleboard shelf was where the previous owner removed the original refrigerator because it wasn't working and made a platform for an air conditioner.  I think we're going to install a 12v/110w refrigerator as I hate having to drain and restock the cooler a couple of times a day when we're camping.  We even have one of those coolers that are supposed to keep ice for 5 days, but I'm sure that would be accurate as long as it remains unopened.  I also hate it when my carefully prepared food items get waterlogged. 

The stove lid is visible here.  Sort of visible.

 The original stovetop is pastel yellow.  I don't love it, but I don't hate it.  The stovetop lid is yellow.  While I don't mind yellow, I don't appreciate shades of yellow on the same appliance.  Changes are planned.

Cabinet next to the dinette, and the laminate flooring

This little storage area is nice and roomy but has a single shelf inside.  I'm researching the best options for organizing it so I can fit dinnerware, utensils, cleaning supplies, pots, pans, a mixing bowl, French press, food, fire extinguisher, and everything else we'll need to be functional and safe.   Also, I love the new flooring.  

There are storage areas under the benches of the sofa and dinette as well as a storage lid with a hole in it which I assume is for a composting toilet.  We try to get a site as close to facilities as possible so it'll probably end up as easy access for a storage container that will reside beneath it.

All of the wood-appearing cabinetry/frames are metal, which is lightweight compared to wood but also poses a challenge for redecorating.  I usually spray paint metal, but I'm not sure that using spray paint in an enclosed area is a good idea.  We'll have to see.

I'll be posting my mood board tomorrow, but I'll leave you with a photo from this summer's trip to Buck Pond State Park in the Adirondacks (NY).  It started raining soon after this was taken and didn't stop for days.  We loved this park and hope to visit it again.

It's Been a While

Three and a half years have flown by.  I was completely unable to keep up with the blog and home projects for the simple fact that all I did was work, sleep, and take care of the girls.  That said, things have settled into a good rhythm.  The house is pretty much the same as I left the blog a few years ago, which is quite comfortable on my end.  The eldest child is halfway through university, the middle child is in high school, and the youngest is trudging through her last year of middle school.

As they do, some of the young trees in the orchard died over their first winter, and one was senselessly massacred by deer when I didn't notice that the cage around it had popped open on one end.  At least they had a good snack on the apricot tree.  We lost the apricot, plum, and mulberry trees, as well as the Northern Spy and Calville apple trees.  We've planted a Yellow Transparent apple tree which is thriving.  On this spring's agenda is to replace the Calville, Spy, the mulberries and the apricot.  I have a herd of 4-5 deer at any given evening in my yard, so the battle rages on.  They eat everything that isn't covered or caged!

I had a few great gardening years, but between this year and last year, we totaled two tomatoes.  Two.  I've tried everything but nothing can really remedy really wet summers.

I grew up foraging with my mother and aunts and the past two years I've really honed in on wild mushrooms and fungi in general.  We've done a lot of camping and hiking:  we've enjoyed the Great Smoky Mountains and the Adirondacks, and so many small forests!  I've come across more rattlesnakes than I'd like, more bears than I'm comfortable with, and more narrow hiking paths than you can shake a stick at, but I wouldn't trade any of it!  

Our camping adventures really made me realize that while I love the great outdoors, I hate sleeping in cold puddles when there's a downpour.   In the Smokies, there was such a deluge that my 14-year-old tent's rainfly sprung its first leak--or should I say leaks?  We couldn't escape dripping water and it was that night that I pledged to save enough money to buy a camper.  

So, that's exactly what I did a couple of months ago.  We had admired an Apache pop up camper that was in the site next to us while we were in Tennessee.  It had zero canvas and I had never seen another like it.  We lusted after an Oliver travel trailer, but those start at a price that is way, WAY out of my budget.  A used pop up was in the budget, but I didn't want the headache of having to make sure the canvas ends were dried out completely before storing it for any length of time, and the "for sale" listings were littered with pop-ups that had to have their canvases replaced or patched.  I wanted something solid, so we started looking for an Apache, only to find that they're not made anymore.  They had a heyday in the 1970s, but did I really want a 40-something-year-old trailer?  As fate would have it, I did.

I had a notification on Craigslist that a 1975 Apache Royal was about an hour away.  I messaged the seller and scooped it up the next day.  While the previous owner did a lot of work on the mechanical aspects of the camper, very little was done to the interior.  The details on that will have to wait just a little bit longer, but here is what it looks like from the outside.

1975 Apache Royal

It looks complicated to put up, but it's not!

Late Spring Updates

We've been busy!  So busy that finding time to blog lately has taken a back seat to actually getting things done.  I'll do my best to stay current, so here's what you've missed:

The chickens live in the garage for the time being, at least at night.  Unfortunately, the garden shed that was being converted into their coop heaved when the snow melted.  I have an 9-inch gap between the ground and the bottom of the shed on one side, and the other side has sunken into the ground enough to make it impossible to open the door on that side.  My trusty landscape guy is going to shore it up, and figured that the previous owners never put down gravel before the concrete, which caused it to heave.  Lesson learned on taking shortcuts!

Cue running around like a fool

With the help of my friend, Reilly, I got the raised beds in last weekend.  I'm just now waiting for trusty landscape guy to deliver my topsoil, which will hopefully happen this weekend.

The kitchen backsplash has been complete for a few weeks, delayed by a miscalculation on my part when I ran out of grout and only had about 8 inches of tile spacing to finish.  It looks amazing, though, and I've decided on my days off that involve rain, that I can work on getting the kitchen cabinets painted and the countertop done.

The back porch walls have been painted.  I picked up some Sherwin Williams' porch enamel so that I can paint the floor next week.  Once that is done, I'll be moving furniture in and making it a usable space.

What's left?  So much!  Here's the list of projects that still need to be tackled:

• Paint both of the girls' rooms.  
• Paint Evie and Emily's bunk beds
• Finish removing glue from the entry and paint that.
• Paint the master bedroom.
• Decorate all of the above.
• Install a pea gravel patio in the back yard.
• Finish chicken coop and chicken run.
• Paint porch floor; decorate porch.
• Plant the gardens.
• Paint kitchen cabinets and swap out hardware.
• Resurface kitchen counters.
• Remodel bathroom.
• Add some curb appeal to the front door.

I'm sure I'll find more to add to the list.  For now, I'm just going to be exhausted for a bit.

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Ruler!

Someone, somewhere on Pinterest printed out a load of Instagram photos, framed them, and made a rather fabulous photo wall with them.  I set out to do the same, only I didn't want to have to use a tape measure or a ruler to evenly space my frames.  The whole thing just screams of tediousness, and I'm not about that.  I wanted an easy, foolproof way to hang my photos.  I had my photos printed through Snapfish, but I've also used PostalPix.  Just use whichever printing service you like, as long as you can get good quality 4x4 prints.

Here's what I used:

• Tiny Mighty Frames - I ordered these from Amazon in the 20-frame package.  It may look pricey at first, but once you tally up ordering twenty 4x4 wall frames individually, it's actually much less expensive.
• 3M Command Strips - I used a value package of 4 medium and 6 large, then cut them all in half.
• Graphing paper - I have a strange affinity for the stuff
• Frog Tape or other painters tape
• A level
• A pencil

Lay out your frames on the floor before you hang them on the wall.  

The first thing I did was apply a vertical line of tape to the wall, making sure it was level.  Then I laid out the filled frames on the floor until I liked the composition.  I tried to make sure that I didn't have clusters of pictures that had either one or two people in them; I wanted to spread that out so that the image as a whole would look balanced.

This is what the wall should look like when you hang your first photo

Taking out my trusty graphing paper, I laid a sheet over the frames on the floor.  The spacing I had was about 4 blocks around each frame.  I traced a frame onto the graphing paper, moved it over 4 blocks, then traced another.  All four of the frames don't fit on the paper, but what you really need to take away from it is the idea that you're just graphing the spaces between the frames.  I had a space to the side of my frames due to the margin on the paper.  In hindsight, I could've just cut them off and aligned the frames with the tape.  Then I simply cut out the squares that the frames made and gave them to Emily to use for drawing paper.  I taped the graphed grid to the wall, making sure to line up the side of the paper with the tape line.  After level-checking the top of the graphing paper, I stuck a Command strip to the back of the first frame, lined it up with the opening in the graph paper, and stuck it on the wall.  I worked in blocks of 4, so that I had two frames over two frames before I moved the graphing paper.  

When your first block is done, move the graphing paper.
Realign it to the taped section and the frames above/beside.

Stand back every few rounds to make sure you're not off track, or that you don't have an off-kilter frame.  When you're done, stand back and admire!  I love that the photos can be switched out and changed by season, or holiday, or by whatever you feel like just by changing out a Command strip.

Here are a few views of what it looks like:

I posted this on Instagram the other day.
Lily was begging Liz for her coffee!

The view from the couch.  Art3mis seems to know whenever I'm trying to take a photo.
My pets are definitely hams!

View from the kitchen and dining room.
I like that I can see it from different rooms.
Also, we have plenty of amazing ideas, just no chalk at present!

Shut the Front Door!

Apparently, curb appeal is the difference that sells nearly half of the homes on the market, according to Zillow.com.  Remember my whining about how my house has seriously started lacking just that?

My front door has been bothering me for about a year now.  It was natural wood.  It disappeared completely in light of the purple+magenta (purgenta?) door on the front porch that is 40 shades of disappointing.  It looked like this:

The plate under the doorknob has rubbed the finish from the door when a screw was loose.  That crack on the bottom right is a seam that bothered me as well.  None of the detail of the door could truly be appreciated.  I took all of the hardware off of the door and set out to paint.

But first... primer!

After applying 3 coats of Zinsser Bullseye 3-2-1 primer, the stain in the wood was locked in nicely.  See how the door is a yellow-ivory color compared to the siding? That was after the second coat.

on the floor to the left is a wooden shingle that came off of the house...
and on the right is our "emergency" backpack

I really liked having the front door white.  It completely blended into the siding, but *sigh* I just love how great things look when painted white.  Until I saw the color it was meant to be, that is.

I had a quart of Glidden Peacock Blue mixed in a Behr Paint + Primer high-gloss base, then cut in the first coat.  

I'm only 5 foot 4.. stepladders are all over my house

 The first coat was pretty uneventful, as was the second:

I ended up putting 3 coats of paint on the door over the course of a week to really give it an opportunity to dry well between coats.  I took the hardware off and painted everything, including screw heads, with Rust-Oleum's Universal All Surface Spray Paint in Oil Rubbed Bronze Metallic.  I had taken photos of the entire process, but due to an unforeseen error, they didn't save on my camera's SD card.  I have ordered a new one, but the rest of the photos were taken with my phone, via Instagram.

The rain started and the door seemed to be a bit sticky, so I didn't want to attach the knobs just yet.  I found a burlap wreath pin on Pinterest, saved some change here and there, and picked up supplies to make it using Stone Gable's burlap wreath tutorial.  I found that working with burlap made me sneeze a whole lot (even with allergy medicine!) but it was super easy and cost roughly $15 to make.  Lastly, I applied a very friendly "hello." from PreciousEmma on Etsy.  

This is how it turned out!

Well, it looked great, but I still wasn't done.  I screwed the hardware back in and started a little Halloween decorating a bit early.  This does have an Instagram filter on it, but this is a good representation of what the door looks like at night (and completely dry).  

I can't tell you how much I love it!  It has definitely upped the curb appeal of the house by instantly transforming the blah wooden door to a friendly, inviting, cozy sort of door.  In Dutch, those feelings are called "gezellig," which connotes a feeling of belonging and welcoming and quaint and, well, an entire cascade of feelings that make you smile.  

Even though winter is coming ("You know nothing, Jon Snow!"), I'm still slowly working on a sleeping porch.  I don't imagine I'll have much more free time this semester to work on it, but my biggest priority for it is finding a screw that will fit the bed frame.  Eventually.  When I can both have my wallet and time to set foot in a hardware store.  I'll leave you with this work in progress, though:

so much painting to do!  

Until we meet again, friends!

*while a lot of brands were mentioned,

I was not compensated or affiliated with

any of them in any way.

I did send PreciousEmma a photo

as an appreciation, and she made it

the photograph to represent her listing

with my permission.

It's All In How You Mix The Two

A dear friend of mine and I decided long ago that a person should have more than one theme song that covers different aspects of their lives.  There's nothing better than just hanging out with your good friend, not doing anything in particular-- wasting the best kind of time together.  One of our mutual theme songs is Blue and Yellow by The Used.  I thought it appropriate for the styling of the desk in the entry.

Speaking of themes, notice a recurring one?

COLOR!!!  

Since my tuition bill is looming, I have to style the entry on the cheap.  The least expensive way to decorate? Shop in your own house!  I snagged the yellow painting I made ages ago, took the Mae Chevrette print from the front porch, the green glass teardrop vase from my office, and an adorable photo of Lily.  

The whole setup still needed a bit of something.  I thought I had a sparkly silver photo frame tucked away, but it is no where to be found.  I needed a bowl for my keys or pocket change, since I didn't want to tuck it in the drawer.  I like knowing they're where I can see them and one of the kids (Emily!) hasn't wandered off with them.  

Off to the local Goodwill store to see what treasures I could dig up.  Sadly, there wasn't much by way of vases or decorative bits.  I did find a small, pressed glass bowl for a very reasonable 99 cents, so I snagged it.  Later in the week, I had to go to Walmart for garden stakes (the grapes need to be trained on wire) and they were in clearance for $1.50 each.  Right beside them was a glass cylinder vase for 97 cents and a mango-scented candle for $1.50.  Mine!  The last thing I picked up was a bouquet of flowers for $3.97.  

I had enamel craft paint, Frog Tape, and some Krylon Looking Glass (mirror) spray paint already, so it was just a matter of taping off the new vase, painting the outside with the enamel paint, and the inside with the spray paint.  

The hardest part is making sure the tape is even!

I would highly recommend spray painting before putting the enamel on.  I did it in the reverse and needed to wipe it from the outside.  Spray the paint in, and allow the excess to run out onto a drop cloth or (in this case) scrap paper.  I only did one coat of paint, but I think two might be necessary.  I brushed the enamel on, and I really love the texture it gives the finished vase.  

So, putting it all together, the desk looks like this now

I still think I'm far from finished, but this is definitely far more pleasant to look at than the naked "before" photo:

There is still a ton of work to be done in here.  I'm compiling a wish list of things I'd like to get and a to-do list of what needs to be done (like ripping out carpet sometime in the next year).  For now, I'll just have to baby-step it until I can save enough pennies to accomplish what I'd like to do.

I'm going to leave you with a gratuitous pic of Lily, because she has snored through the writing of this entire blog post.