Curtains and Shades

We're getting closer to being done. At least the interior will be beautiful even if I can't get it out of the driveway or use the bathroom. Ray hung the curtain rods and shades, which were all on clearance. Yea, I love Target!! I got the curtains up (thank you Kylie for hemming them). I transformed the 54" shades into 20" shades and they look so cute. I'm loving it. I can't believe how this trailer has made herself what she wants to be.

Plumbing Woes

I was so excited when Jared, our plumber, decided to come finish the plumbing. It was the final step to getting ready to go on my first trip. The fresh water tank, hot water heater and water pump were already in. Now for the undercarriage plumbing. This is the unglamorous part of the redo. He worked for two days, made several trips to CampinWorld, Home Depot and the local plumbers supply. When he finally said ok, let's turn on the water, fill the water tank and get her running. I was a "happy camper", yes, pun intended.
But alas, we had not vented the water tank properly and so water did NOT run into the tank as expected. We were also anxious to test the water pump, as some little muggle had come along and flipped the battery switch one night, running my pump all night without water. ARGH!!!. So Jared gave up on the water tank and moved on to filling the toilet and testing the blackwater tank. The minute we filled the toilet, water began running everywhere out the base of the toilet !@#$$%%. Then we filled the black water tank, guess what. There's a big crack in that too. Apparently, the trailer plumbing was not drained after a freeze and most everything was damaged. It all needed replacement as the old lead pipes were completely corroded, full of rust and also extremely heavy.
Final chapter to the plumbing saga. We were frustrated and grumpy about the whole thing and just ready for the day to be over. So we hooked the trailer up to move it back to its parking place, backed it up and SCRAAAAAPE!!! The plumbing drags the ground. !@(#%)$(%^)_$%(

So now, I am advised that we need to flip the leaf springs to raise the body of the trailer about 3-4 inches and that will fix it all. Needless to say. I am very over plumbing right now.

My lovely, lovely tile

When I first saw my tile at Home Depot, I knew I wanted to put it somewhere. Little did I know it would be in a restored 1959 trailer. But once I brought the trailer home, it was one of the first things I bought. I was so excited to finally get it up. Thanks Rob for such a great job.

A wave of destruction...

Well my favorite plumber and tile/countertop guys came. The old counter and tile are now officially out. My plumber recommended a new sink. I've been trying hard not to tear out or replace anything original. However, when Jared offered a brand new bar sink and faucet for less than $100, I had to say "yes". We still aren't sure if the stove works, but that's another day.

Out with the old, in with the new!

I was really hoping my old butter yellow, gas/electric refrigerator would fire right up once it had electricity to it. Of course not! So, out she goes. I'm not really sure how we got it out the door cuz it measured 1/8th inch bigger than the door opening. But hubby worked his magic and ta-da. It is out. So we cleaned 50 years of who knows what from the fridge space and now we have to build a little floor for the new little stainless steel fridge. Little by little she comes together!

Here's my little are piece I created for My Sanctuary. I found these really great table cards a few weeks ago when I was out to lunch. The pictures were so beautiful and the colors were just right I took a few hoping to find a way to use them in the trailer. Last week Audrey, my daughter, found these little frames for $2 a piece. Perfect fit. So now I will attach a ribbon to the back and have a sweet little art piece for $6.

CEILING CONUNDRUM

So we started the ceiling panel replacement. First the cabinet had to come off to get the panel off. Screws came out and there that dang cabinet still hung! Really is nothing simple? It's glued to the dang wall. So once again, we tried to fix something but found we had to tear something else up to do so. Argh!!! So the damaged panel is staying up, getting cleaned and tung oiled and awaiting something creative to come to mind to cover those holes that the last owner thought was so important to poke into the ceiling. :{

ANY CREATIVE IDEAS?

Work is slowing

Well there is still much work to do. However, most of it requires the experts. The electrical is all finished. Power on!! The plumbing is almost complete. Should see the end of that by the weekend...I hope. Still cabinet work to complete. I'm finishing the last of the sanding and oiling, putting on the newly refinished hardware and hanging them back up. Still 100+ degrees so working mostly in the early morning. Darn last bits of stubborn paint is resistant to the paint stripper. Ray says we gotta use the stuff they use on the big commercial jets. Where in the heck to you get that stuff? The airplane store??? Really so done with the pain stripping thing. I want to wash her one final time to get the residue off and than polish her til she shines. We'll probably get complaints from the neighbors due to the glow from the driveway.

Work Day Saturday #4

Well Saturday was hot and muggy. The rain has been wonderful but the days are not so wonderful. I woke up at 5am and proceded to try to get the last of the paint stripped. I worked for a couple of hours until I was dripping wet. More removed, but still not done. That last layer is so stubborn. We've been through 12 cans of stripper, 3 sets of brushes and uncountable gloves. I'm looking forward to the polishing days ahead.

I had not really thought we would have any other work done today and then much to my pleasure and surprise, our beloved plumber, Jared Merkley called to say he would be over in the afternoon to get the plumbing going!! Yea!!!

So he worked out there in that awful muggy heat and got the fresh water tank installed, the water lines run, the hot water heater and water pump installed and discovered that the shower valves were cracked. Apparently, this happened when water froze in the lines. Huh??? Desert rats have no idea what this is about :). Thank you Jared for getting all this work done!!

Did I mention I have a brand new electric box too. Who would have thought that this would be an exciting event!!!

I was able to finish laying the flooring down too. Yea!! I'm starting to see the big picture come together.

A new Sister on the Fly?

So LeAnn took some time to sit in My Sanctuary and I gave her the Sisters on the Fly book to peruse. She loved it. Maybe we have a new sister...

WASPS!!! Yikes!!

Did I mention what we found in the hot water heater closet...Big, luckily old, wasp nests. It was filled with them. Wow, how could anyone have lived like that. Look at these things!!! We will be sure to seal every nook and cranny with silicone. We don't want these hitchhikers on any trips!!

Saturday Work Day #3

I love Saturdays, cuz that means a whole day of work on My Sanctuary. Today was another electrician day. What a surprise though, my dear friend and electrician's wife LeAnn came to work too. They stayed until late afternoon, worked with us and we had lunch together. What a rare treat! Nearly all the electrical is done and we actually had exterior lights today!!! The interior paneling was stained and lovingly hand oiled by my sweety as a 26th anniversary gift. We stripped of some of the last bits of paint too. My designer, Kylie Smith Tingey, came by and measured for the curtains. So much in one day. What a great day. Thanks everyone!!

Here Comes the Floor!

So I am near the end of paint scraping and other jobs I can do by myself. The flooring needs to be put down, some wall panels need to be replaced, electrical and plumbing finished, countertop and tile backsplash completed. All of these need the experts. Sooooo, I decided to try the flooring by myself. Yea...I did the whole first row of tile and it looks pretty good. The chairs are my bargain of the week. I found these a local thrift store for just $28.00. I was going to buy a leather chair and table and chairs. But true to this "old girl", the trailer keeps telling me how she wants to look. Those old chairs came from the Marriott and sat in front of the thrift store for a week. I drove by them several times, barely noticing them, but last Friday morning, I woke up and one of them called to me..."come and check me out". So I did and the colors match the curtains and appliances, they are well taken care of and best of all, smell nice. So I brought one home. Once the chair was in, I realized the table/chairs idea was not going to work. So what to do? Well, I woke up the next morning and chair #2 was calling to me. Now there they are, two chair sisters waiting to go on "sister adventures".

Work Day #2

I've been getting up every morning to strip paint for an hour or so while the temperature is < 100 degrees. I was eagerly waiting for this Saturday as our plumber was coming to work on the water tank and lines, sink plumbing and hot water heater. But alas, he was called out of town. Soooo, we asked our electrician to come instead. So Saturday was an early morning paint stripping, electrical, aluminum polishing, cabinet repair and countertop cutting work day. I am ever amazed at everyone's willingness to voluntarily help out.

My Design Helpers

Here are some of my little helpers, off on their first day of school. My granddaughters want to play in the trailer whenever they come over! Future Sisters on the Fly!

Cabinet Fun!

Well, Ray has convinced me to sand all of the cabinet doors to give them a better luster. So that is what we're doing. Sanded and sanded for the last two days, oiled and oiled and oiled. Very thirsty wood! I couldn't find just the right cabinet hardware and I didn't want to keep the copper look soooo...I spray painted them a brushed nickel color. Thank you HGTV for all those design lessons.

More shiny!

Well we're just about to the end of the paint stripping. Yea! About 8 gallons of stripper later. We've definitely got the technique down. Once we're done, we'll use the residue remover, wash the entire exterior and then begin the buffing process. I'm looking forward to watching her shine. I'm pretty sure, after all that, I don't want to repaint her just yet.