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.

Shiny Progress

Here is the product of our paint stripping labors. She's starting to look so shiny. Now I'm not really sure if I want to paint her up again. I guess I'll just have to see how things develop.

Work Party

So Saturday the weather cooperated with cool cloudiness. This was a perfect day for a Work Party. My favorite plumber and electrician Jared and Craig Merkley came over to assess the work and begin replacing the hot water heater, fresh water tank, kitchen plumbing, electrical box, battery box, miscellaneous wiring and inverter. Ray began the carpentry work on the cabinets and the rest of us got to scraping more paint. We have now found 6 different colors in the layer after layer of scraping. We've sustained lots of stings from sweat in the eye and paint stripper on the skin. Ouch!!