tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96841302024-03-12T18:42:35.824-07:00Tough Kitty PuffsLauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03724035115208472010noreply@blogger.comBlogger195125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-4108393511772783322021-12-16T15:46:00.007-08:002021-12-16T15:46:56.913-08:00Getting this workspace space ready<p>One thing we really wanted was a boat that we could work on at home. First of all, not having to pay dock fees or storage fees is a great way to save money, but also, the amount of time we have to work on this is somewhat limited by sunlight, work and available time. So not having to haul tools somewhere else, and set things up just to waste time with all that, we wanted to work on it in our own back yard. But we had a situation ---</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-KvCSjgxt4kY/YbvOLfjrY0I/AAAAAAADWkk/hALeH845qAo753yrFD_alT-TuG9fxxcxwCNcBGAsYHQ/IMG_1436.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2592" data-original-width="1936" height="343" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-KvCSjgxt4kY/YbvOLfjrY0I/AAAAAAADWkk/hALeH845qAo753yrFD_alT-TuG9fxxcxwCNcBGAsYHQ/w256-h343/IMG_1436.JPG" width="256" /></a></div>The cypress trees. We actually had 3 of them there at one time (when we first bought the house), but when we built our little Stardust vardo, we cut one down. These trees provide shade, which was nice, but every other quality about them was not good. They continually drop crap all over the yard and anything placed underneath, they restrict the light coming to our solar panels, and they are causing problems with the concrete. We didn't want to park our boat underneath them only to have to continuously clean the whole thing on a weekly basis. Dale's been campaigning to get rid of these trees ever since we bought the house, so now he's thrill they're gone.<p></p><p><br /></p><p>This is how it looked when we bought the house ---</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-32Vx17EugmU/YbvOctW_uXI/AAAAAAADWks/E1gIZlKL_WoPkH2M9lF2MeU5XH0sALP4gCNcBGAsYHQ/IMG_1873.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="294" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-32Vx17EugmU/YbvOctW_uXI/AAAAAAADWks/E1gIZlKL_WoPkH2M9lF2MeU5XH0sALP4gCNcBGAsYHQ/w392-h294/IMG_1873.JPG" width="392" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>they were so overgrown!<p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PXmzxQ971mM/YbvOj8KgrzI/AAAAAAADWkw/21DjzHAgLJ4_32KVAJ73LREt1I4IaTDjgCNcBGAsYHQ/IMG_2099.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" height="329" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PXmzxQ971mM/YbvOj8KgrzI/AAAAAAADWkw/21DjzHAgLJ4_32KVAJ73LREt1I4IaTDjgCNcBGAsYHQ/w247-h329/IMG_2099.JPG" width="247" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Then we had the first one taken down about 7 years ago, and trimmed back the others.<br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oqfxbPxbHks/YbvOuzBgk-I/AAAAAAADWk4/djAiJcGuRsIzFT5VeThU0QO4VOM1dE8_gCNcBGAsYHQ/IMG_0309.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="273" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oqfxbPxbHks/YbvOuzBgk-I/AAAAAAADWk4/djAiJcGuRsIzFT5VeThU0QO4VOM1dE8_gCNcBGAsYHQ/w364-h273/IMG_0309.JPG" width="364" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>So this was a VAST improvement. But then we were left with 2 more.....</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9CHOo2yyIVM/YbvO3gdLu8I/AAAAAAADWlA/HQqrzlruNj4srOn1Ue8L0PfV7-963O1zgCNcBGAsYHQ/IMG_3961.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="333" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9CHOo2yyIVM/YbvO3gdLu8I/AAAAAAADWlA/HQqrzlruNj4srOn1Ue8L0PfV7-963O1zgCNcBGAsYHQ/w250-h333/IMG_3961.JPG" width="250" /></a></div><br />Before.......<p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjfP8ccKze9x4K1FC6RxZjnZ88p4L6OdCQgH59PD6xtvxCBY3deAqujby89zvW5x3Swt5YA4kWOcUL_NPDGcJ-RShMtG2HwRO8t38x1a155RGqOTXUYgIZPmSooTveO35iKCCZxf9g7l4P9zDUK2tv28VK3wBjpL9nuCQqiTP8BbASofP4vzbk=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="441" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjfP8ccKze9x4K1FC6RxZjnZ88p4L6OdCQgH59PD6xtvxCBY3deAqujby89zvW5x3Swt5YA4kWOcUL_NPDGcJ-RShMtG2HwRO8t38x1a155RGqOTXUYgIZPmSooTveO35iKCCZxf9g7l4P9zDUK2tv28VK3wBjpL9nuCQqiTP8BbASofP4vzbk=w331-h441" width="331" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>During.......</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEikbXtUMM7qlbxTcVXqrYvOVMu_kuTHRCIBGqwcTjVPqQ5fOKjNApQJF-3e04P9_cR7mYOZsivYmxDvdexwUe3v_IpT13mpnu7Yi8Z5rWKlGbRgukMONwdf-DCcSs52KbB2Hx1zCPsbMJ3Fypdrvj6-8Uq8dJ1xnr9wImye3Ja0iCZ5BixMuug=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEikbXtUMM7qlbxTcVXqrYvOVMu_kuTHRCIBGqwcTjVPqQ5fOKjNApQJF-3e04P9_cR7mYOZsivYmxDvdexwUe3v_IpT13mpnu7Yi8Z5rWKlGbRgukMONwdf-DCcSs52KbB2Hx1zCPsbMJ3Fypdrvj6-8Uq8dJ1xnr9wImye3Ja0iCZ5BixMuug=w493-h370" width="493" /></a></div><br /><p>and </p><p>AFTER!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>now it's ready for a boat!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>It surprised me that Dale went ahead and backed the boat in right away, without waiting for me to "help" guide him in. Hmmm...probably on purpose. But now, we have our boat pulled in, and all our tools at hand!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhVNr0XRpko-f8AtBbt-8t_s3Aw1A36x2ZoHyGLwwYq7XIMzw3SX4b8RAASz62AjCN77Ux9L684Qu0qVSycMoYqgp4PN2SFI-E2ZLTgKatphZehLujAwtWv0yb4YYdt1f_-Wojn6i9xXn6NOROAbuhBohq46V6gNPEky4c2lKOXRwazNwalfm8=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhVNr0XRpko-f8AtBbt-8t_s3Aw1A36x2ZoHyGLwwYq7XIMzw3SX4b8RAASz62AjCN77Ux9L684Qu0qVSycMoYqgp4PN2SFI-E2ZLTgKatphZehLujAwtWv0yb4YYdt1f_-Wojn6i9xXn6NOROAbuhBohq46V6gNPEky4c2lKOXRwazNwalfm8=w576-h432" width="576" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;">Sanded, holes plugged, primed and ready for a coat of paint!</p>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242265350830189057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-61812859023254142362021-11-30T23:20:00.005-08:002021-12-16T15:49:23.732-08:00Boat Project<p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q4An3U-U_gU/YacfcOZCszI/AAAAAAADUfU/eqYcsrj505QyalCuN3S9WgCVcAkBpSNcQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1624/IMG_3844.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1624" data-original-width="884" height="557" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q4An3U-U_gU/YacfcOZCszI/AAAAAAADUfU/eqYcsrj505QyalCuN3S9WgCVcAkBpSNcQCLcBGAsYHQ/w303-h557/IMG_3844.JPG" width="303" /></a></div><p><br /></p>So we have decided to embark on a new project - we bought a 1976 Fiberform flybridge, 26' long. Here's our first pic as we drove it home from down by San Diego:<p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>We decided we would like to learn more about boats and originally were going to look for a boat at around 15K - 25K, but knowing that it was going to be a money pit at any level, decided that if we stuck below 10K for a project, we would feel OK if we ended up ditching the project. So when we saw this one on CL for 5K, we wnet out to look at it. What an ugly boat! all kinds of work to be done, but the engine appears good, and it's all workable. So we bargained and ended up with $4200 as a sales price, and we drove it off.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>We have a LOT of work to do on this, but we're excited to learn and get things fixed. I've started with the hull - the previous owners had painted a rubbery, horrible paint over lots of bad bondo, with an attempt to make it look better than it was. Which was fine, but first job is getting that nasty white rubbery paint off, sand, and repaint. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mI7RaIrVmfE/Yacgr7ZyIHI/AAAAAAADUfk/tJU__244aFwMZouIBERojfITaouUtbkhACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3985.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="412" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mI7RaIrVmfE/Yacgr7ZyIHI/AAAAAAADUfk/tJU__244aFwMZouIBERojfITaouUtbkhACLcBGAsYHQ/w309-h412/IMG_3985.JPG" width="309" /></a></div><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E9TMR1L9rf8/Yacgkyb0U2I/AAAAAAADUfc/KwIqrvvmc3kM5UeUNve3X5Tf8ubMNgxMgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3969.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="413" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E9TMR1L9rf8/Yacgkyb0U2I/AAAAAAADUfc/KwIqrvvmc3kM5UeUNve3X5Tf8ubMNgxMgCLcBGAsYHQ/w310-h413/IMG_3969.JPG" width="310" /></a>. <br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>I have half done-- and primed, ready for a background coat:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hPc6ThRUmUQ/Yacg5lIu-vI/AAAAAAADUfs/uXrX8Jf1tmsAaLbujVck9S1vmSnCwT7KwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_4005.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="368" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hPc6ThRUmUQ/Yacg5lIu-vI/AAAAAAADUfs/uXrX8Jf1tmsAaLbujVck9S1vmSnCwT7KwCLcBGAsYHQ/w490-h368/IMG_4005.JPG" width="490" /></a></div><div><br /></div>I've got a plan for this boat: essentially, if we "restore" this boat, we'll end up with a 45+ year old boat that won't be worth a lot, but if we give it a theme and make it more a novelty, we may get someone who really wants it as a party theme boat. So we're going for a tiki theme. This is one idea for the hull paint job:<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ovx0B8YlGLI/Yache6BFx6I/AAAAAAADUf4/X9_CvgDI9tEJrdIoFpL3rZ1R8IAS_cosQCLcBGAsYHQ/s4546/tiki%2Bplan%2Bcopy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="692" data-original-width="4546" height="97" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ovx0B8YlGLI/Yache6BFx6I/AAAAAAADUf4/X9_CvgDI9tEJrdIoFpL3rZ1R8IAS_cosQCLcBGAsYHQ/w633-h97/tiki%2Bplan%2Bcopy.jpg" width="633" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>So that's the plan! We are going to pretty much update every single part of this boat, learning about processes as we go. What we'd love to do is get a larger boat after retirement, with plans to live aboard and do the Grand Loop, so this is a learning project for us! We so far are considering this as the name:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r5CFuo9yCt4/YaciEZgPvqI/AAAAAAADUgA/oxPi0Wv2w-csL9qsQP_EWTbjwPqqubZBQCLcBGAsYHQ/s930/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-11-30%2Bat%2B11.19.17%2BPM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="274" data-original-width="930" height="125" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r5CFuo9yCt4/YaciEZgPvqI/AAAAAAADUgA/oxPi0Wv2w-csL9qsQP_EWTbjwPqqubZBQCLcBGAsYHQ/w427-h125/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-11-30%2Bat%2B11.19.17%2BPM.png" width="427" /></a></div><br /><div><div><p><br /></p></div></div>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242265350830189057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-29550354463483723552018-11-14T21:56:00.000-08:002018-11-14T21:56:17.914-08:00Reworking the garageThis summer we had a huge project to undertake - helping Leslie and her husband Clint (and the two grandkids, Parker and Beckham!) remodel and renovate a 31' airstream. Leslie and Clint wanted a change - they bought a vintage airstream and traveled to our place to remodel it. <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i8ucR4pJNJ8/W-z6gyqEoDI/AAAAAAAADc4/sljzyFZUCG8r76abZNafvZ8iyXhlw_wUQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_8411.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i8ucR4pJNJ8/W-z6gyqEoDI/AAAAAAAADc4/sljzyFZUCG8r76abZNafvZ8iyXhlw_wUQCK4BGAYYCw/s640/IMG_8411.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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The whole procedure is outlined on their blog: <a href="http://thereedfamilyadventure.com/airstream/" target="_blank"> http://thereedfamilyadventure.com/airstream/</a> check it out - the outcome is fantastic. In order to get ready to have the airstream in our backyard/garage, we had to get ready by clearing a bunch of stuff out, and remove the garage door (which was a pile of junk anyway, wobbly, heavy and ill-fitting). So we spent the summer getting the airstream ready to go, and they successfully launched on August 4.<br />
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And we decided to take advantage of most of our garage being in dissaray, and emptied the rest of it out. So we had a blank slate!<br />
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Our garage has never been empty - when we bought the house, there was a bunch of junk out there. We left some, sold some, and generally just packed more stuff in on top of it. And I hated that minty green color - made it look old and funky.<br />
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Tearing down the built-ins created a huge junk pile in the backyard, which we worked on every week to cut up and dispose of.<br />
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So we continued to empty things out of it, dismantled some of the built-ins and then painted the whole thing white. Which took gallons of paint!!<br />
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This whole process took weeks, because I was also teaching, and Dale had slipped yet another disk in his back. So the going was slow, but we were persistent!<br />
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Once we got it all white, we added some new shelves in overhead, to match the ones on the left. We used a lot of scrap that we had leftover from the airstream project, along with using new wood for the shelves under the overhang. <br />
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We painted the top shelves white and decided to create some sliding curtains to cover the shelves below, so they look neat even while we have a lot of things stashed on them. This is a pic of the top after we painted it, but before we made the curtains.<br />
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I need to take a good picture of the new workbench, which we moved to the opposite side of the garage (swapping sides with the freezer). We added in new electric on that side of the garage to accommodate our tools, and built an extensive shelf system above the space for the workbench.<br />
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We had an old red tool box that really was too small for all our tools, and we saw a great one on sale at Home Depot, so we used the two of them for the basis of our workbench.<br />
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We took the top toolbox off the red one, and created a new wooden top for that one, then added the black one to the right. We can roll those out for extra worktops, and they finally hold all our tools well. We also labeled all the drawers so we can remember where to put everything back. In this pic, you can see the curtains. We made those out of Harbor Freight drop cloths, added grommets and a wire stretched to serve as a curtain rod.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QMxqP47ZHeg/W-0GbaSeMhI/AAAAAAAADeY/RLe5knpU1YAv-e8m8rsc7perpuZQv7FJwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_8915.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QMxqP47ZHeg/W-0GbaSeMhI/AAAAAAAADeY/RLe5knpU1YAv-e8m8rsc7perpuZQv7FJwCK4BGAYYCw/s400/IMG_8915.JPG" width="300" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RlIPCOaQfmc/W-0GcR6zefI/AAAAAAAADeg/IE8L0gSHBdMbzQicVOyBREkZuxEVTQIAgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_8916.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RlIPCOaQfmc/W-0GcR6zefI/AAAAAAAADeg/IE8L0gSHBdMbzQicVOyBREkZuxEVTQIAgCK4BGAYYCw/s400/IMG_8916.JPG" width="300" /></a> <br />
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Here's what they look like open and closed. Most of the time they're open, but it's nice to neaten up and close them, especially when we are sawing or making some other kind of dust.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Tw5vnBLx9u4/W-0G2wWyoqI/AAAAAAAADes/0yfC5C9GCQ0b8duPwdAmSiy4sFMBqLNlACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_8918.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Tw5vnBLx9u4/W-0G2wWyoqI/AAAAAAAADes/0yfC5C9GCQ0b8duPwdAmSiy4sFMBqLNlACK4BGAYYCw/s400/IMG_8918.JPG" width="300" /></a><br />
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This is what the other side looks like. We still have several things we need to make some storage racks for: the large scaffolding that we use, along with some of our beach gear. <br />
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We did make some overhead storage for our ladders and smaller scaffolding.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kSBbrlP2cWA/W-0HSOalNmI/AAAAAAAADe4/pB62_iZSVGMnOyn3N1B84IqcSkjc8RebQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_8917.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kSBbrlP2cWA/W-0HSOalNmI/AAAAAAAADe4/pB62_iZSVGMnOyn3N1B84IqcSkjc8RebQCK4BGAYYCw/s400/IMG_8917.JPG" width="300" /></a><br />
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We relocated the flourescent lights so they align with the rafters. We might want to add some hanging fans, to get some ventilation. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--lB9HEkIplg/W-0JuaCKP9I/AAAAAAAADfc/gMSyIAeySuwKZgEjENRB4BL9jjI4VAe6ACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_8598.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--lB9HEkIplg/W-0JuaCKP9I/AAAAAAAADfc/gMSyIAeySuwKZgEjENRB4BL9jjI4VAe6ACK4BGAYYCw/s640/IMG_8598.jpg" width="360" /></a><br />
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We also build an extra large worktable - a full 4' x 8', on wheels, that we can roll out onto the drive if we need to work on something large.<br />
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This will come in handy for all kinds of projects! (if we can keep all the junk off it!).<br />
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But my absolute favorite part is the way we worked on the doors. We had picked up several sets of french doors on craigslist, intending to use them to replace our sliding doors in the living room. We've gone back and forth about that - on the one hand, the big sliders allow us a great view of the outside, and we don't really use the sliders often. So they've been sitting in the garage forever. So we decided we'd create a series of bifold doors with them. We had to create two 1/2 size side panels, and attach the hanging rail. I cleaned up the old doors, filling the doorknob holes, the hinge cutouts, and dings here and there, then sanded and hung them. They took about 5 coats of paint each - the originals were a dark greyish green, so I primed them twice with Kilz and then 2-3 coats of exterior semi-gloss.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kgoD4gzhm_I/W-0I_-LhE0I/AAAAAAAADfQ/LRggfv2zohsObd-FvdPiCk3DGQM3XWzJACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_8909.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="572" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kgoD4gzhm_I/W-0I_-LhE0I/AAAAAAAADfQ/LRggfv2zohsObd-FvdPiCk3DGQM3XWzJACK4BGAYYCw/s640/IMG_8909.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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I still have some top and bottom trim to finish - I have some brush weatherstripping ordered, and I have wood trim to install it with, and the bottom vinyl seal to keep the water out, but we're happy with how they came out! (I actually adjusted the two on the right after taking this picture, so they hang at the same height as the rest of them). We got the faux black hinges from Menards one winter, and they add a little nice touch! The doors open and fold back all the way so we can work out in nice weather, and working inside is nice and bright! And they look sooooo much better than the old rickety door that was impossible to lift, and it hung just at the right height for Dale to whack his head on about once a month. The best part is, they look fabulous from the house!Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03724035115208472010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-81848575241160101642018-11-12T16:35:00.000-08:002018-11-12T16:35:41.730-08:00Finishing the studio - new cabinets!Where does the year go? I just realized I left blogging last April, as if nothing else had been going on in our lives. We actually have completed multiple projects since then, and I am going to work on them one at a time. So since I left off after we started our central heating/air project (and we have loved our central air!), I am going to go through the rebuild there first.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HjxSfV3xjk4/W-oYaB6JjEI/AAAAAAAADa0/xZx82gUAUqMaeBgg9ElumXt2F9MIgnofQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_4652.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HjxSfV3xjk4/W-oYaB6JjEI/AAAAAAAADa0/xZx82gUAUqMaeBgg9ElumXt2F9MIgnofQCK4BGAYYCw/s400/IMG_4652.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />
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This is what the original closets looked like. We took those out, so we could better utilize the space.<br />
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We listed the doors and drawers on Craigslist for free, and someone came and took them away. I hate it when people throw things away, when someone else can use them! <br />
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So now we had a big open space. I knew I wanted to put a lot of my fabric bins in there, so we measured and figured out the size opening, and framed it in. We also painted the interior after repairing all the cracks/dents/crud.<br />
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We framed it out, installed the shelves, and .......<br />
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took off a year. LOL. We did other things, but nothing here. All my studio stuff sat in the garage in boxes, which gathered sawdust and other dust. We did this and that, and then my daughter said that they would be coming out in June of 2018, so in April (because we don't plan ahead so good), we started working on the plan that we had earlier, but now had a reason to get it don. We scraped the ceiling (which had water damage from when we put a new roof on - it RAINED during a drought on the ONE DAY we had no roof on, and some of the paint in this room bubbled.<br />
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So we scraped the old paint, fixed the bumpy ceiling, and Dale did a skim coat over the whole thing, which made it look FABULOUS. Then we installed a ceiling fan. Then we began work on the murphy bed:<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a3bSUppHobU/W-oafjPYquI/AAAAAAAADbw/0_z5GjJZx3YGTrtzvODVs1Md1ZwngTwKACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_7826.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a3bSUppHobU/W-oafjPYquI/AAAAAAAADbw/0_z5GjJZx3YGTrtzvODVs1Md1ZwngTwKACK4BGAYYCw/s640/IMG_7826.jpg" width="480" /></a><br />
I think I must have snap-chatted most of these pics, because this is all I have! We created a box, put in the murphy bed hardware, installed the box to the wall, then built shelves around it.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R8j5ypORI10/W-oa5GLYkzI/AAAAAAAADb8/Ea8NJa6PjngDTxGf-i4937I2CvguLPpjQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_7933.jpg" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vkr9KW4x-Kc/W-oa9O72JII/AAAAAAAADcE/QEZWrIFNBCo0TyrF_OqyhqgZAqJ5DYzxQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_7932.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="275" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vkr9KW4x-Kc/W-oa9O72JII/AAAAAAAADcE/QEZWrIFNBCo0TyrF_OqyhqgZAqJ5DYzxQCK4BGAYYCw/s400/IMG_7932.jpg" width="400" /></a><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R8j5ypORI10/W-oa5GLYkzI/AAAAAAAADb8/Ea8NJa6PjngDTxGf-i4937I2CvguLPpjQCK4BGAYYCw/s320/IMG_7933.jpg" width="240" /><br />
Then we applied 12,398 coats of white paint. Seriously, it felt like I was painting and painting and painting.....but finally got the wall all done, and it was awesome. Then we painted the walls a lovely shade of lavender.<br />
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In this picture, everything looks scrunched down by the one side of the room, because my daughter and her husband were coming to spend a couple of months while we all worked on renovating an airstream with them. So I pushed everything to one side since they'd have the bed down all the time for awhile. I don't know what those weird dark splotches are on the picture....hmmm. Anyway, here's a weird pano of the room:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wKH07RBKtK0/W-ob3FIsFUI/AAAAAAAADco/rEGpZk8VL6YRhpI9On3iAeHQ2S25ooeaACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_7951.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wKH07RBKtK0/W-ob3FIsFUI/AAAAAAAADco/rEGpZk8VL6YRhpI9On3iAeHQ2S25ooeaACK4BGAYYCw/s640/IMG_7951.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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I need to take some good pics of the room - I've added a couple of shelves for paints, etc over the desk, and a shelf for Dale's Smokey Bear collection. But right now it's not all that organized because I still need one more shelf but that got pushed to the side for some other projects....which I'll write about soon!Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03724035115208472010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-65550912045396729442017-04-15T12:13:00.001-07:002017-04-15T12:13:53.938-07:00Working on the house....It's been awhile since I posted anything! And it's not that we haven't been busy, I just needed to sit down and write some stuff down. So I'm going to just jump right in.<br />
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For the past few years, we've been living in a drought out here in sunny Southern California. Which has resulted in a lot of challenges, but one of the ones that has becoming a bigger issue for us is the increased heat of the summers. When we move out here to Long Beach, we had that great experience of year round nice weather, not too chilly in the winter, not too hot in the summer. But with the drought - and more likely, as part of climate change in general - it's been substantially hotter during the summer. We went from having a summer that had maybe 2 weeks in the summer where we wished we had air conditioning, and managed through that with a window air conditioner in the bedroom, to a situation where it's unbearably warm for extended weeks, and last year, nearly the whole summer. While that may lesson now that we seem to be out of the drought and back into a more "normal" cycle, realistically speaking, it's only going to be warmer, not cooler. So we have been giving serious thought to installing central heating and air.<br />
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In the first 4 years here, we haven't had to really rely on our sub-par heating system. When we bought the house, the inspector told us that really the heater needed to be replaced, as it wasn't heating enough. It's a radiant heater in the floor, in the wall between the hall and the living room. Not attractive, not functional. This is what it looked like when we bought the house.<br />
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When I built the bookcases, I actually built around the heater and installed metal grates in the doors to let the (insubstantial) heat radiate out. This is how it's looked for the last 3 years.<br />
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To get central air, we'd need to have ducts and a whole system installed. So in the fall, we got an estimate from a couple of companies, and it was more than we wanted to pay. So we thought about it, and this spring, we decided to see if we could do a little bargaining (use the lower estimate to get the company we liked better to price match, which they did, even going $500 below), and got it scheduled. <br />
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To get ready, Dale and I had to do 3 things: remove the old heater, and remove the water heater from its cabinet outside the house, so we could put the new furnace in there, and remove the catio so they could put the condenser unit. All these things needed follow up, and that's what I'm going to show here.<br />
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First, removing the heater. That was a chore! It involved Dale crawling under the house and disconnecting the gas, and removing some of the elements that he could reach from there, and then us removing the screws and parts and dragging it out. No pictures of this process, it was loud, exhausting and filthy - but at the end, we had our old heater all taken apart and ripped out.<br />
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Here it is, sitting on the curb waiting to be picked up by metal scrappers. It sat there for about an hour before someone loaded it up and took it away.<br />
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Then we were left with a hole to patch. Dale was cracking up because I was sure some critter was going to come up the hole, and every noise I heard I was sure was a raccoon or feral cat or squirrel or something coming up. <br />
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That's the dirt under the house, y'all. Gross. We actually put the grates back over it but they were just sitting there and I've seen raccoons in our neighborhood. Anyways....<br />
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Then we had to build this up, both in the hall here, but also within the cabinets. <br />
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I built new shelves inside, and replaced the metal grate panels with the original panels, which I had saved. Then I repainted and got everything all installed. That side looks good ---<br />
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Then we had to build out the other side, and patch the floors:<br />
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We had bought some flooring (unfinished) to match the original flooring, so I had to blend that in with the existing planks, after putting in a plywood subfloor. We insulated the space, and then added some cement board, and now Dale has to build out the wall and plaster it over, and you'll never even know it was there.<br />
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So -- the other thing we had to do was take out the water heater from it's closet:<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hs9Q1qkeuhk/WPJmya-ysXI/AAAAAAAA4XY/4eUNG_jnBs0-PsbBfmvX4FMGAkI9DL95wCLcB/s1600/IMG_4666.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hs9Q1qkeuhk/WPJmya-ysXI/AAAAAAAA4XY/4eUNG_jnBs0-PsbBfmvX4FMGAkI9DL95wCLcB/s400/IMG_4666.JPG" width="300" /></a><br />
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and install a tankless water heater on the outside. This was so they could put the furnace unit in that space. We ordered a tankless heater, and got started on the project, building a panel, getting the unit put on the wall -- and then......<br />
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We ran across 2 problems, just as the HVAC people came to get installation going. We were going to pull the water heater, we had it drained, ready to pull out, and the HVAC people looked at the cabinet and said, "we can't put the furnace in there." Not enough room in the attic for the plenum (air handler), and no route for an air return. Great. So we turned the water heater back on and refilled it, thinking, we can do the tankless thing in a day or two anyway, and then while we were looking at the tankless, it requires 3/4" gas lines, and we have 1/2". We call the gas company, who comes out and says, "you need an upgraded meter." Yay. <br />
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So we are STILL waiting on that (which is why the picture shows unconnected pipe), and using our old water heater. We'll get this connected as soon as we get our meter upgrade (any day now!).<br />
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The other problem needed more thought. We were not happy, our sales person had contacted the company and had done measurements before we signed our contract, and now they're saying, we have to put it elsewhere. They looked in the attic (too low, we have a low angled roof), maybe we'd have to use the guest room closet and move the closet into the water heater space (they are back to back), but they have to send a carpenter out to frame out the space and get it ready. And that should be in a week or so. So we were pretty frustrated. But, it gave us time to think, and we decided we'd rather put the furnace in a different space - right off the entry where we have a door to the bedroom that we use as a studio. This space, that open door (this is from a long time ago before I added a glass panel to the front door) :<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dJ_PzfZX49s/WPJt96BBacI/AAAAAAAA4X4/7uq2nvNZDxw81F-hkEEWi65RoXB169D7QCLcB/s1600/studio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dJ_PzfZX49s/WPJt96BBacI/AAAAAAAA4X4/7uq2nvNZDxw81F-hkEEWi65RoXB169D7QCLcB/s320/studio.jpg" width="320" /></a>Here's the space from inside the room. It was a little jog and the only purpose of it is to have a place for the door. it's about a 2.5 x 2.5 foot space that can't be used for anything, and if we close it off, it still leaves us one door into the room, from the hall.<br />
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It's kind of odd that this bedroom actually has two doors, one of them off the front hall. We'd talked about extending the hall closet to use more storage space there - we'd been to an open house in the neighborhood, and that's what had been done there, so it was something we'd thought of before. One of the problems with that room is that we always treat it as a hallway, and it was awkward, so closing off that space was a good use of the space. So by the time the HVAC carpenter came out, we had a new idea, and they thought it was ideal. So now it looks like this:<br />
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They moved the door forward, the door swings the other way, and the space has been insulated so it's quiet. The intake is on the living room side behind the small tables, not even noticeable.<br />
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The inside of the room now looks like this. we didn't ask them to smooth it out any further because we are building a bookcase unit over it. this room now has a closet (that we are removing) on the left side of the wall, and on the right side is what you see here, the closed off space. We are going to build a full wall of bookshelves and include a door to the closet and a murphy bed for our visitors. On the other wall, across from it, I used to have two bookshelves, which I just sold this morning. This is where I am going to move my desks. <br />
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So next, we are going to demo the old closet. We've removed the doors and drawers, and we'll clear it out and get shelves built in for storing fabric and larger items. Then we'll continue to build the walls out and then get some shelves and a bed built in. Next post, I'll outline the plans!<br />
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<br />Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242265350830189057noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-56226208948758769122016-11-28T08:45:00.003-08:002016-11-28T08:45:46.983-08:00Peg Doll HouseMy 3 year old grandson wanted a small doll house for his peg dolls. I built this small wooden house that fits his peg dolls and playmobil figures. It's gender neutral - so many doll house plans I found were for 12" fashion doll figures, or were very pink and feminine. <br />
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I started by buying 3 boards of 6" wide 1/2" poplar, each of them was 3' long. I cut two pieces of poplar 15" long, and edge glued and clamped them together to make an 11 x 15 panel. <br />
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While that was drying, I cut out all the other pieces from the 1/2 inch poplar, except the base, which I cut from 1/2" plywood. It was a little larger than the width of the boards I had, so I just used a scrap of plywood I already had.<br />
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I sanded all the pieces, rounding off the edges slightly so they weren't sharp for little hands. <br />
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To cut the doors and windows, I first drilled a hole and then used a jig saw to cut the shape out. For the front door, I cut the door out, and saved the piece, adding hinges so his peg dolls can go in and out the front door.<br />
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Once I had all the pieces cut out, it was pretty easy to put the basic house together. There were a few parts that were a little trickier: the balcony and the stairway. For the stairway, I cut 3 slots in a curved wall. I made these so the steps would fit tightly, cutting them the same size (or slightly tighter) than the width of the steps. For the balcony, the big challenge was lining up the holes that I drilled so the railing would line up. <br />
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I'm adding the plans here, in case anyone wants to make this. I took pictures of all the cut pieces:<br />
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And here are 2 documents to print out to trace the pieces. I used 13 slats cut from the poplar to finish the roof. Both of these files should print over multiple pages, then taped together. <br />
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<a href="http://coolclevername.weebly.com/uploads/5/9/2/6/5926741/parts1.pdf" target="_blank">parts to print 1</a><br />
<a href="http://coolclevername.weebly.com/uploads/5/9/2/6/5926741/parts2.pdf" target="_blank">parts to print 2</a><br />
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And here's an overall plan with dimensions:<br />
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So - hopefully on Christmas morning, Parker will love playing with his new peg doll house and all the peg dolls I am making him! I might have to make some little furniture pieces if I have time before we leave.</div>
<br />Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242265350830189057noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-30480344505787480402016-10-14T11:27:00.001-07:002016-10-14T11:27:36.029-07:00Some shots of the interiorWe've been putting "finishing touches" on the interior for awhile, and I realized I never posted any pictures that reflect that. So here are a couple:<br />
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We've had a few more good trips lately - the fall is here and it's a great time for us in SoCal to go camping - the temperature is a little more manageable and with any luck, we'll start to get some rain to green things up. We went last week to Blue Jay Campground in the Cleveland National Forest. For the first time, we could actually have a campfire! That was super nice. We also met a ton of really great folks and gave plenty of tours :)<br />
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We are trying to keep the names of all the places we've visited on the side of the vardo, but some place aren't really the type of place that has 'souvenirs' - so I improvised by painting a little logo (some made up) on the end to commemorate those places.<br />
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And a few shots from the campground at Blue Jay:<br />
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I think we're packing up today for another weekend jaunt!Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242265350830189057noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-68807532750171066232016-09-24T22:50:00.004-07:002016-09-24T22:50:59.217-07:00Camping Life!We've taken Stardust out a couple of times this fall, now that we have the interior feeling like home. Dale and I drove up to the Chico area to visit Lindsay and Andrea over the Labor Day weekend, staying at Woodson Bridge SRA. No hookups, so we used our water tanks and solar, and instead of using the fridge, we brought our cooler and it was just fine.<br />
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We had our pop up shade over the picnic table, and had a nice campfire in the fire pit! We had a lot of visitors who wanted to stop by and check out our place! On our last morning, we were laying in bed and all of a sudden we could hear someone outside taking pictures - we had to really stifle a giggle!<br />
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The park was super nice, and although Dale was hoping to go camping, we just enjoyed hanging out and going on walks with the dog. Just great to get away. <br />
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On our drive back, we stopped at a rest stop and got into a conversation with a couple who had their bus conversion, and chatted with them about some electrical questions - they gave Dale some ideas on how to get our inverter working better. He took their advice and fashioned some new hookups with a heavier gage wire, and now it seems to be working just fine ---<br />
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Last weekend, we took another trip and went to Silverwood Lake - a lot closer to home, only about 2 hours away. Dale was still determined to get out and go fishing, so he chose a lake site this time. Also this time, we got a site with hookups, so we had water and electrical hookups. We probably could have done without them, because it seems that the fridge is working just fine with the batteries and the solar, but we decided it wouldn't hurt to have it all.<br />
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This was really a pretty place to go. We were able to totally get relaxed with no agenda and we slept in, cooked on our portable stove, and just enjoyed our camper. Gave a ton of tours! Every park ranger came by and loved the camper.<br />
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Dale got to go fishing! bad news, he never got a single bite! But at least he had a chance to try!<br />
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Silverwood Lake is right along the Pacific Crest Trail. We didn't get as much hiking/walking in as we would have liked, I would have liked to go along the trail a bit, but since we plan to go out at least once a month, I know we'll get our chances.<br />
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We already have found our camp ground for next weekend -- we want to try out a lot of the southern California state parks - one nice thing is that due to Dale's disability status, we get 1/2 price on campsites, so trying all kinds of new places is an easy and inexpensive. I am looking forward to going some of the places that are winter only - Death Valley, the Mojave, and Joshua Tree will be great in December and January! There are also a number of campsites directly on the ocean, and I need to get those spots reserved early. So far, we've done everything kind of last minute, which is fine, but we need to look a little further on and make our plans early!Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14242265350830189057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-63152026740168532472016-07-22T10:27:00.002-07:002016-07-22T11:16:53.024-07:00More interiorsWe've come a long way with the interior --shortly after I posted the last update, we went on a "shakedown trip" - usually these are a short camping trip of a weekend to see how things work - ours ended up being 1024 miles with friends. But Stardust performed beautifully, and we found out a few things that we know we want to do.<br />
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First of all, we took the camper to get it weighed. We wanted to be sure we weren't overloading it - it came in at 1520#. I was hoping for 1200#, so a little heavier than I wanted. But I was also thinking that we had a limit of 1720, which our camper payload is listed at. Then I got reading, and realized that the trailer itself weighs around 270#, and our total can be closer to 2000# when you combine the payload + trailer weight. So we are closer to our 1200# than I thought. So all is good. Which was nice, because I still had things to add --<br />
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So in the time since we returned, I've wallpapered:<br />
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this was some 1990s wallpaper I got in Indiana at a thrift store. It's a dark hunter green, which works well with our general theme. It also keeps it from being overly bright inside -- since all the woodwork is a creamy off-white.<br />
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Then I built in some more cabinets. We realized that it's nice to have things back near the door, and the refrigerator counter was becoming a catch-all. Building in a shallower shelf there made sense, so I added that. When it came time to put the door on, I was concerned that it would: a. hit the curtain rod (that I haven't put up yet) and b. cause us to clear off the counter every time we needed to open the cabinet door. Dale suggested using a slide, which was a great idea. So that's what I did:<br />
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We had just changed out all the drawer slides under the sink - the wooden ones were not working well, even though we waxed them, they kept sticking, so we replaced them with drawer slides. So we were happy with the slide action, and the new cabinet door works great.<br />
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I also picked up some small shelves - one from my friend Stacy, pictured above -- that will hold small bottles of paint -- and the one over the sink, from a thrift store in Utah.<br />
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The sink area looks good - the shelf will hold hand soap, washcloths, other 'sink stuff" or anything else I can think of. I like the hooks also, for holding a variety of hats, towels, etc. <br />
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We also added a hook inside the door to hold keys for all the locks - the battery box, the "bee box" lock, the lock for the hitch, etc. This way, they're all right there inside the door. The door itself needs some detailing - I'm thinking of adding a couple of shallow long bins for misc. things that we can just reach over and get -- putting our phones in, things we don't want to climb all the way in for.<br />
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I got the doors under the bed made finally -- and now the cabinetry is pretty much complete. I still need to add knobs and touch up the paint. The benches are dirty from us climbing on them to get various bits painted, patched, nailed - they need another coat of paint. I picked up some foam to make seat cushions, and I got fabric this week so I can get those sewed up. The lids on both seats lift for more storage underneath. Under the bed we will be putting in our water tank - it's small, I think only 5 gallons, and then we'll run plumbing. Mostly, it will be used to store our major large items, like chairs, blankets, canopy, etc. I want to get a piece of carpet to fit the floor under there so things won't slide around too much. <br />
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The view from the doorway is looking good:<br />
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Still a bit to go. I have some shelves to make for over the back window and over each side of the bed, I need to paint the inside of the window frames and some trim around the back window I need to add curtains on this window as well, as well as make screens for all the windows. I also need to add a threshhold.<br />
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We also have more bits and pieces for the outside - I picked up bumper stickers at all of the places we've gone to so far, and they are above the electrical box outside. I think that'll be fun to add to as we go. I also picked up a carriage style lamp for the outside, and I have to get that wired for 12v.<br />
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And of course, I have a ton of flowers, butterflies, birds and other nature stuff to paint inside! Now that everything is all clean and white, it's my perfect blank canvas. The inside will get as decorated as the outside soon!<br />
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So the inside is coming along. I am looking forward to some trips with just Dale and I - it's really a great size for just the two of us! Another thing we want to do is have an 'open house' - our neighbors have been wondering what the heck we have been working on in the backyard, and I think having it open for a tour would be a lot of fun!Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03724035115208472010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-5300537024330994802016-06-04T22:04:00.000-07:002016-07-22T11:16:37.175-07:00Interior progressWe have several big projects in getting the interior going: getting the 'furniture' installed, getting the electrical working, and adding plumbing. We're trying to do all 3 things at once, and while nothing's completely done, we're making good progress on most of it!<br />
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I started working on getting the cabinets and walls done at the tail end while Dale worked on the electrical from the other end. That way we weren't tripping over each other. First, I cut down some of the furniture we had picked up free off craigslist and built around it --<br />
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On the left is a storage cabinet with shelves, and then there is a sink built into a cabinet. This is how I started off, then I got them mostly painted:<br />
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I started off with white primer, but the white looked a little too stark for me (Dale liked it, but he likes pretty bright colors), so I tinted the white more like an ivory, and I like it better.<br />
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I got a hand-painted Mexican sink on Craigslist for $25, and so I set that into the cabinet top. To run the plumbing, I ran the PVC pipes towards the rear of the cabinet and out the left side:<br />
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and then I cut down the top drawer so that it doesn't hit the piping.<br />
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on the other side of the vardo, I built in a box for our mini-fridge, which we'll be able to use if we're hooked up to 'shore' power -- plugged in at a RV site or campground:<br />
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The opening at the bottom is to help circulate air for the fridge - it will go into a storage compartment that will serve as a bench. You can see the part that is unpainted, it will be inside the bench. I have the parts cut, but I have to get the bed cabinet installed first, and then I'll get the two benches put in.<br />
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While I was working on woodworking, Dale was working on the electrical. We got 4 outlets put in the 110v system, which will work when we are hooked up to shore power, and then we got the lights, fan and water pump, along with some USB charging ports, hooked into the 12v system. We picked up a couple of 12v lights at IKEA - they came with a adapter for 110v, but we just threw that away and hard wired them into the panel. We also added a LED row of lights along the top of the skylight -- they are programmable to run different colors and effects, and they have a remote to turn them on and off.<br />
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Here's the fan, it works great. We had to modify the installation because it came in at an angle, but we made a nice adaptation, just needs a little caulk and it's complete. It'll make sleeping great with a nice breeze that will blow down on us. The outlet on the top left has a plug and 2 USB ports to charge our phones. We're going to add a shelf there, so that's why it's up so high. </div>
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So - that's where we are. We're working hard to get it ready for a trip next week!</div>
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The wiring is kind of all over the place, but we'll get it corralled before we get the bed cabinet done.<br />
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So I have a lot of caulking and painting to do -- the walls will remain plywood until later int he summer when I have more time to work - I have wallpaper for the walls, and I want to build a lot of shelves and other features, but right now, we're just getting it ready to get out on the road!Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03724035115208472010noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-85470594776047348352016-05-26T13:02:00.001-07:002016-07-22T11:17:14.977-07:00Back to the vardo -- and back to the garden!We are working on our vardo again - - now that the school year is finished, I am looking forward to summer and going out exploring, and I want our little vardo complete. We got the truck lights installed the other day, and this week I've been working on the outside, hoping to get the paint job finished and a few more outside details. But first, juts got this ladder done this morning:<br />
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This is where our name for the vardo - "Stardust" - comes from. It's a line from Joni Mitchell's song 'Woodstock' - and this is the refrain. I also have Hoagy Carmichael's song "Stardust" in mind, but this is the one I think of first.<br />
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Besides this little ladder that will help us get in, I also built a couple of pieces this week for storage, first, a battery box that looks like a barrel:<br />
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It has a shelf that you can't see, and the batteries fit inside easily. I want to get a couple of leather belts to make straps across the ends, and I've still got to get this one painted with some flowers and stencils, but it's good to go.<br />
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The other thing I made was a box on the deck for cooking supplies: it'll hold a propane camp stove, a couple of bottles of propane, and some skillets and utensils. Here's how that looks:<br />
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That one was made with leftover furniture parts. It will hold a lot.<br />
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After I got that done, I decided to work on the paint job on the outside, and also the back deck. Got that done this morning (the deck, the sides needs a couple more days). So it looks pretty spiffy from the back:<br />
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(Luna enjoys laying on the deck)</div>
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The sides still need work but they're getting there:</div>
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The green man on both sides looked a little stark, so I gave them a green glaze and now they fit in much better, but this picture I took before that. </div>
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So today, we begin working on the inside! I need to get us a nice comfy place to sleep!</div>
Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03724035115208472010noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-52575083141828953452016-04-12T00:54:00.000-07:002016-04-12T00:54:01.539-07:00Solar power!We've been just doing a ton of things around the house - no real big projects, mostly small maintenance things. But we are trying to focus on making life easier on us down the line when I retire, and so one thing we just finished (today!) was refinancing our house so we will have it paid off in 15 years. Got a fantastic interest rate - we feel good about that.<br />
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one other thing we looked at was installing solar panels on the roof. We looked at the leasing program, which is a no-money-down kind of thing. Actually, no money out of pocket, which is nice. But the downside to that is that you sign a 20 year lease with the solar company to pay a fixed rate for power to the solar company instead of the utility company. The 20 year lease doesn't sound good -- so we decided to do the purchase approach with another company.<br />
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First we had to take down most of the catio:<br />
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We stacked the panels and set them aside until we redo the tunnel off the catio. For now, they have the top section that they like the best anyways.<br />
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Then the solar company sent out workers to dig a trench. We have a set of panels on the garage as well as the house, so they needed to run wire connecting the two.<br />
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The trench is still uncovered (a week later) becuase Dale wants to run a second line out to the garage while they have it opened. While they were digging the trench, they hit the water line - oops! - but fixed it right away. <br />
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Then they came out and put the panels on ---<br />
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It took them 2 days to get it all set, and now we just have to wait until SCE (Southern California Edison, our power company) gives us the OK to switch it over. <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-V2dvpFTlbv0/VwylLpFyDmI/AAAAAAAADLM/OS5lLUDjCLAkqKV0Y0HycALIet_mmv7rQCK4B/s1600/IMG_0639.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-V2dvpFTlbv0/VwylLpFyDmI/AAAAAAAADLM/OS5lLUDjCLAkqKV0Y0HycALIet_mmv7rQCK4B/s640/IMG_0639.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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This is all the power hookups, the stuff we don't really understand! The meter on the far left is the two way meter that goes backwards when we are producing more power than we are using, which will pretty much be every day. At night, the meter will go the other day as we use power from the utility company.<br />
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We had an energy audit to see if we could make the panel count match as closely as possible the needs we have. So the number of panels (22) will produce somewhere between 98-103% of the power we currently use. <br />
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Because we wanted to know these things, I am going to talk about how much this all cost and what kind of benefits/cost that we incurred. I think it might be helpful to someone who is considering the switch to solar.<br />
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We used <a href="https://www.sunrun.com/" target="_blank">SunRun</a>, and we found out about them through Costco. We just got a membership earlier this spring, there was a great groupon deal that gave us a lot of rebates to get the upper level membership. We refinanced our house through the Costco program and got a fantastic rate and the cost was minimal, and included a $1250 bonus that they paid towards closing costs. With SunRun, we get a 2% cashback, which comes to $450, a $650 Costco card, and they give a discount on the equipment. Our 22 panels installed came to $22,250.00. We will get a 30% tax credit, which means a dollar for dollar refund of any taxes we owe. That's just over $7,000 - and we won't be able to use all that this year, so it will roll over to next year's taxes. That gives us a net cost of $14, 450 after all those rebates come into effect.<br />
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Our average monthly electric bill is $157 mo. That's average, some months (like this month), it might be as low as 68.00, and during the middle of summer with the AC going, or the middle of the winter with the space heaters going, it goes up to $230.00 per month. Our hot tub costs quite a bit. So - once this solar gets going, we anticipate a simple $10 per month bill from the utility company for the non-energy costs of lines, hookup, etc. So we will save an average of 147 a month, and over the course of the next 8 years and 3 months we will be paying this off. In less than 9 years, we will be fully paid off and basically paying ourselves. <br />
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Although we haven't got the meter going yet (it takes 2-5 weeks to get the utility to process the switch), we are extremely happy with the company. They were great about informing us all along the way, and answered all our questions and concerns really fast. So far, I would totally recommend them. I understand not all people have cash on hand to pay for something like this, but they offer a 15 year financing plan that never exceeds what you're actually paying for your current utility bills. In other words, if we had financed, our montly payment would have been 150 a month, still allowing us to be paying out less per month than we were paying for our electric bill. Which made it a no-brainer. I mean, you're already paying out the money each month, why not be buying something while you're doing it?<br />
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Anyway, I hope to keep more caught up on my blog this year. We want to get pictures of our vardo up and we have plans for the summer, of course!Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03724035115208472010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-66961331702850600842015-11-23T18:23:00.001-08:002015-11-23T18:45:14.650-08:00Just more detail work!So many things going on with work and life -- so we're just working on some of the bits and pieces. First, I was teaching a lesson in mosaics in one of my classes, so I got the little mosaic over the doorway finished:<br />
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Some fun travel things there, a couple of compasses, a route 66 magnet, a little hotwheels truck that I cut in half lengthwise with a grinder --<br />
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I also got the name of our little camper painted over the doorway -- we named it "Stardust" and I've got a little bird pulling a banner across:<br />
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a little sprinkling of stardust with some gold stenciled stars. Step back and you can see I started adding some scrollwork across the end.<br />
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Below the window, I want to add a box to house the propane tank or to use just for storage for cooking supplies, so I don't have any decorative painting going on in that section.<br />
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I also made shutters for the windows on the sides and the bow window, to close up while we're driving in order to keep the windows from getting chipped by flying rocks. I hope to get them hung this week, but at least they're built and painted:<br />
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These four are for the sides, a butterfly and a hummingbird for each window. The bow window across the back has five more, with butterflies on those windows. I haven't gotten the backsides of them painted yet, I want to see how they look installed before I do that. I still have some stenciling to do around the window frames as well, so I am just working on this a little at a time.<br />
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We also took all our free furniture apart -- breaking it down to the parts we are going to use, and setting aside the leftover wood to use for building other sections inside -- shelves, seats, etc. What I need to do is get a good floorplan with accurate sizes so I can write up a plan. We are busy thinking through the plumbing and electric before we get working on the interior, so for now I'm just focusing on the outside. I did come up with an idea for a slide-out set of steps. With Christmas coming and my busy time at work in full swing, it will probably be after the first of the year before we get working in any big manner. So it'll continue to be small decorative projects on the exterior -- which has a TON of area for me to paint on, so that's a good reason for me to just keep plugging away on that!Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03724035115208472010noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-16691331997985082082015-10-15T21:32:00.001-07:002016-07-22T11:38:25.514-07:00Detail paintingThis past couple of weeks I've been doing some small bits and pieces, but mostly doing detail painting on the vardo trim. I got the top borders painted<br />
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along with the soffit underneath. First, I made a set of stamps for the leaves:<br />
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so I went all around the vardo on my scaffolding, stamping the leaves arcross the black boards, then I added the rest of the flowers.<br />
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Finally, I gave it all a quick coat of clear acrylic. I had done that on the roof, and it makes it so much easier just to brush dirt off.<br />
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Then this past week, I decided to do the black part under the ledges as well. I started by stenciling in gold, then went through the same process with leaf stamps and flowers.<br />
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I finished this off with a quick coat of clear acrylic as well. I'm really happy with the way these came out. Subtle but at least there's something going on down in this area.<br />
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We also got the top windows installed, and got catches to hold them closed.<br />
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We moved it off the driveway in front of the garage to the backyard, because this week, we're having Parker coming to visit! He needs all that area for playing with his trucks, his train and his batman car!<br />
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Today, we went to the beach and went on a whale-watching cruise. We didn't see any whales, but we did have fun on the boat ride and also we saw a lot of dolphins! We all have sunburns now that our day is over, but we had a good time. Tomorrow it the San Diego Zoo!Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03724035115208472010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-42318665237617842102015-10-04T20:53:00.000-07:002015-10-04T20:53:03.393-07:00More details on the exterior<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-beV69TDJNsQ/VhHspSAHVGI/AAAAAAAADG0/V9BZFeQbf_8/s1600/IMG_2476.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-beV69TDJNsQ/VhHspSAHVGI/AAAAAAAADG0/V9BZFeQbf_8/s400/IMG_2476.jpg" width="220" /></a><br />
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We've almost got the shell completely closed in -- just have to add the top windows. I made them this weekend, but I need to get the paint cleaned off and just get them hinged up. <br />
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We decided to make these with plexi in them -- lightweight for the roof. We've been trying to focus on keeping the top as light as possible. <br />
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The other thing we needed to do was get the door mounted, and drill the door for a lockset. We have it keyed to match our housekey for simplicity. I got a pretty good deal on the hinges at this local place that believe it or not, has cheaper prices than Harbor Freight. I think the hinges were $1.89 each, and they look great:<br />
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The top hinge on the top half of the door had to be cut down - Dale used a grinder to round it off after he cut it down. It just lost the little arrow tip, which was fine. Drilling the lockset was a job - we got a kit from Lowes that had a guide and drill bits - but when we got to the part where we needed to drill a hole for the latch to go through - the drill bit was clearly off center, so we had to work out a solution. But we got it all done, it closes great, and now I just need to get the rounded stop mounted on the inside. We have a temporary piece of wood just screwed on the inside to keep the door from going in.<br />
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I missed a few other details in my last post -- I put the glass in the door next to the window (you can see it above), and I tested out some of my stencils on the trim.<br />
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I also added more details to the back window -- both along the trim with some stencils, then I also added some clouds to the scene, and made a stencil border.<br />
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I'm looking foward to making some shutters for this window and for the two side windows. This window will be a little tricky, since it has three sides to cover, but I have some ideas. We just need them for when we are traveling -- to keep rocks and other debris from hitting the windows. So mostly they'll be open but they will need to be able to latch shut.<br />
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I have been spending most of my time painting. Painting, painting, painting. I got one coat on the inside ceiling, and I'm in the middle of getting the underside to the porch roof and the little back overhang. I have one coat on each, and this week I'd like to get those done and then fix all the drips and splotches. The ends both need another coat of green and then I can get the decorative painting started.<br />
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In the meantime, we've picked up a few interesting free pieces of furniture on Craigslist. We're trying to use only recycled pieces for the interior, both to keep the cost down, but also because I think we can make things interesting in there that way. Here are the pieces we're going to start with:<br />
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The big china cabinet (on the left) we are planning to use the bottom half front for the part under the bed. We may use the drawers, but the two side panels are just doors that we will keep as doors to reach the storage area under the bed. We'll use some of the wood from the hutch top as the top rail and we'll use the backing for walls under the bed. The amoire in the center - I really liked the doors on the top half. We're going to be using those for a long thin storage cabinet, using the two doors, one up and one down something like this:<br />
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and then the bottom half of that cabinet we will use for our kitchen cabinet base. <br />
The little end table on the right will also be for lower cabinets.<br />
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All of these pieces are too heavy, so we'll be cutting away unnecessary wood and lightening up where possible. What I've been looking for is pieces with interesting details, like the door panels. The hutch is humongous, and should fit across the width of the vardo easily enough, with just some minimal filling in which we'll use the scraps from the doors on the china cabinet.<br />
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We'll also be using the wood on the sides and back by just cutting it into shape with our table saw. So we can use it to frame out our benches, etc. If we run out of lumber, we'll just keep our eyes out for some good donor furniture. There's always a bunch of free stuff out there. When we get it all built in, we'll be painting it, which will help unify the various styles somewhat, but we like the idea of eclectic pieces here and there.<br />
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<a href="http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NzE0WDEwMDA=/z/QCwAAOxy7S5R-8pd/$T2eC16JHJHUFFf8bE9JqBR-8pdWeqw~~60_57.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NzE0WDEwMDA=/z/QCwAAOxy7S5R-8pd/$T2eC16JHJHUFFf8bE9JqBR-8pdWeqw~~60_57.JPG" height="228" width="320" /></a>This week, we bought some jacks that we will have welded onto the four corners of the frame, so we'll be able to flip those down and level the vardo when we camp. Right now, we've been using car jacks onthe four corners, they're heavy and awkward and we don't want to have to try to carry them along with us. The ones we bought will fold up and tuck away under the frame.<br />
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We also picked up a water tank so when we go somewhere without available water, we'll have the ability to bring some with us. Water is really heavy, so we didn't get that big of a tank. Originally, I was thinking of getting a 20 gallon tank, but when I did the calculation on how much that would weigh, it was 166 pounds -- way too much to have sloshing around. So we bought a 10 gallon tank that hopefully we don't have to use often. It'll go in the storage area under the bed. <br />
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We're also looking at solar panels and that whole thing, we should be able to get 100 watts of solar easily and cheaply enough, and that should give us plenty of power for our off-grid trips. <br />
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So it's coming along! I really want to get some of the decorative painting started, as soon as the crazy work reports get done, I'll be able to start on that!<br />
<br />Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03724035115208472010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-34218013199163258122015-09-26T22:22:00.001-07:002015-09-26T22:22:50.574-07:00The roof on our vardoFor the past couple of weeks, we've been working off and on, getting the roof on our little vardo. First, we had filled the spaces between the rafters with rigid styrofoam, glueing it all down.<br />
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this is before we added the foam insulation <br />
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This is the insulation - it has foil on one side. The first layer we put in foil side down, the second layer, foil side up. This should keep it cool in summer, warm in winter.<br />
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Then we bent plywood over the roof on each side, attaching to the rafters with glue and nails.<br />
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After we got the sheets attached, we cut 2" wide strips of plywood and covered the seams, spreading glue and nailing to cover the seams. <br />
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Then came the part where we waterproofed it. We were using a technique called "poor man's fiberglass" - basically, you glue canvas down tightly to the wood, using Titebond II glue, which creates a water resistant seal. Then you spread glue over the canvas, then paint over it with several layers of exterior grade paint, making sure the canvas soaks up all the paint and fills the fibers in. I could tell as I was coating this that each layer will filling the spaces, and evening out the texture.<br />
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This is what it looked like after the canvas was glued down.<br />
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This is after one coat of house paint.<br />
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More layers of house paint -- a total of 5 layers.</div>
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The last layer was a light cream color, which was the background for my design of diamonds.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fz2TzFtImt0/Vgd8Qn-OzmI/AAAAAAAADGM/lveU0GQItIc/s1600/IMG_2456.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fz2TzFtImt0/Vgd8Qn-OzmI/AAAAAAAADGM/lveU0GQItIc/s320/IMG_2456.jpg" width="320" /></a>So, originally this pattern was going to be an all-over pattern of tan diamonds on a cream background. But I had some nice dark brown paint so I thought I'd use that - and then it seemed kind of stark. And I liked the way the straps stuck up, so I wanted to accent those. So then I decided to add some stencils over the whole thing. So it ended up with many more layers, but now I'm hapy with it. </div>
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I finished it all up with a coat of clear poly to help protect it, although it's had heavy dew on it each night, and in the morning when I come out, there is water dripping off the roof onto the ground, and everything is totally watertight. <br />
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So this took a lot longer than I expected, but that's how I work, so I'm used to it. Here's a shot of some of my stencils:<br />
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Some of them I bought, and some of them I cut. Can you tell I like a lot of pattern? <br />
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So now I can work on the windows to the skylight, and get the bands around the roof all painted. I got one coat of paint on them this afternoon, but they need two more. I feel like I've been painting and painting and painting -- because I have! But we will have this little vardo all weather tight pretty soon!Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03724035115208472010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-59599246228096044322015-09-12T13:56:00.003-07:002015-09-12T13:56:35.814-07:00Getting a new roof on the house -- and painting doorsThe news has been full of predictions for a "godzilla el nino" this year - hopefully meaning that we'll catch up on rain to end this drought we've been in out here in California. But that's also got a downside for us - we knew we needed a new roof, because we've got a leak right over the patio doors. Being that it doens't rain but maybe twice a year in the past year, it wasn't a big rush. But if we're looking at a lot of rain.....<br />
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So this week the roofers came. In preparation, we had to empty the garage (the slats on the roof have slight spaces between each slat, and when they take the roof off, it's gonna pour down a lot of dust and crumbs from the roof), and move the vardo. It's been in front of the garage, and that's where they need to dump all the roof they tear off. So we packed everything up out of the garage, and prepared to roll the vardo into the larger part of the background - only to find that the lemon tree was blocking us. So we had to cut that down. It was something we were going to do anyway, but we got that started. <br />
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In preparation for having no work to do on that for a week, I gave the door parts three coats of red paint. I bought a sample of a nice, vibrant red -- too red, actually, but I knew I'd be 'antiquing' it, so going a little bright is fine. My plan was to learn how to do "one stroke" flowers, and also figure out some stencil patterns, along with adding some birds. I love birds. <br />
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So here it is! This is after painting all the details, then giving it a coat of varnish to protect the paint, then giving it a coat of black paint, wiping off as I go so that it just collects in the corners and edges, and tones down the vibrant color. This is both pieces laid out together on the concrete so I could see how they work together.<br />
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The blank space above the windows is going to have a mosaic embedded in it -- I'm thinking it'll be buttons, which I have a ton of.<br />
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I cut a few stencils from some blank stencil plastic, and I also purchased a few different stencils. I'm going to be covering this whole thing with a ton of embellishment, so having a lot of choices was important.<br />
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Like I said, I like birds. I gave Dale two choices, he chose blue jay and cardinal, and I chose crow and seagull. The cardinal posed a little problem - the bird is about the same color red that I painted the doors, so I had to add a blue background. My favorite is the blue jay, it came out nice, and I really love crows, so that one makes me happy, too. Both of the stencils on this picture are ones I cut.<br />
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On the top, I practiced my flower skills. I have another large area that is going to have flowers, so I wanted to practice a bit on this. I watched some videos and looked at some how-tos online, and got painting. One night, it was so incredibly hot while I was painting (we had a mini-heat wave), and I was trying to keep a fan on me, but it was drying the paint out so fast. Anyway, I got that all done. After I antiqued the red, I gave it two coats of clear poly to protect it against weather and wear.</div>
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So I still need to drill for a doorknob and get the hinges on -- the hinges will cover some of the flowers and paint, but that's OK -- I wanted it pretty busy so it'll all work out fine!Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03724035115208472010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-30622086874768795672015-09-07T22:44:00.002-07:002015-09-07T22:44:38.509-07:00All painted -- well, at least the base coatI pretty much painted all week -- two coats of green, two coats of black, and I'm thinking of giving everything a third coat for added protection from the weather!<br />
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It looks so different with some paint! I am not liking how the black made the bottom completely disappear, but I've got some ideas of what to stencil and paint down there, not to mention every other surface on pretty much the whole thing. So right now it looks a little "goth-y", but with the decorative paint over it, it will brighten up. <br />
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Of course, little touches like this help make this seem more goth! We went to a cool lumber store, and they had a ton of these pressed wood appliques for a reasonable price - I think this one was something like 4.50. He's gonna look aweseome with some gold accents (when I can find my gold paint in the chaos that is my studio!)<br />
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<br />I also got that back window tidied up. I added a roof, some trim, and changed out the hinges to a hidden version. I like it so much better!<br />
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The beveled glass looks great, although I know I'm going to have to add curtains here!<br />
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We are getting a new roof on the house, so we had to pack up the tools and the trailer for a few days, but I've got some decorative accents to work on. The first one was a design for over this window: I found a clip art of a vintage-inspired sun & moon, cut them out of wood with my new jigsaw (oh my goodness can I say how much I love it!)<br />
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Then I painted it all, gave it 4-5 coats of marine varnish and then glued/nailed it to the bay window roof. I love it!<br />
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I still have more accent designs for around the edge, but this was a fun piece to work on. <br />
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I also painted the doors red - maybe a little TOO red!, but they'll get antiqued with some black to calm them down. I have smoe ideas for some paintings on the panels and edges. I'll post pics when I get those done, too.<br />
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We also got half the roof plywood curved and installed, added insulation to the walls, and installed the back window by the door, but I forgot to take pics. I'll add those next time! Pretty soon, we'll have the shell complete (with painting added), we can think about the insides!Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03724035115208472010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-75018967591104358632015-08-27T01:14:00.001-07:002016-07-22T11:32:12.077-07:00Lots of detailsThere are so many little details to go into this project! Dale does the big, major things (like building walls!) and I do all the smaller, precise things, like making trim that fits around the door:<br />
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To do this, I used 1/4" plywood, since the trim I cut elsewhere was about 3/8" (cut down from 1 x 3s), and I only had it 1.5" wide. This way, I could get the nice curve on top without having to piece it from a number of boards.<br />
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I also made a door:<br />
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I used regular dimensional lumber here. First, I built the window out of channels I cut from 1 x 2s with stained glass cut to fit. Then I built the rest of the door around it.<br />
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I also built up the window frames by adding trim to the outside, then using bondo to fill any gaps, sanding down so it's smooth. This will make a nice solid window frame.<br />
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I also added trim to the four corners and along the bottom edge.<br />
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You can also see the mollycroft (or trolley, or skylight) in this angle. It still needs a roof, but we'll get there. I also added the ceiling along the back rafters. I had to trim the front rafters, they've been bothering me because I felt they were too long, so I took them down a bit.<br />
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Today, I cut the curves on the final rafters, the decorative ones that will go on each side, but I need to get those sanded before I attach them.<br />
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Oh,and finally, I added the center panel to the bow window. But I still haven't got a fastener on the inside, so it's being held in place with a little wedge, which will disappear when I get the handle/hooks installed on the inside.<br />
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We also chose a color scheme -- which looks rather mundane, but there is going to be a LOT of decorative painting, so having a fairly subdued background will help. Green for the body, brown/black for the trim and cream for the ceiling and roof.<br />
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Now, I'm back at school so I can't work on it as much as I want, but we'll still make progress!<br />
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Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03724035115208472010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-89260791639823384292015-08-12T14:35:00.001-07:002015-08-12T14:35:08.358-07:00Vardo coming along<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So we've been working slowly but steadily on our little vardo camper. Last time I posted, we had just begun getting the two end panels on. Well, we've made a lot of progress since then:<br />
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We got both sides framed and added the rafters. These are notched into the tongue and groove ends for stability. We also got the sides skinned with beadboard paneling:<br />
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And I got the door and window on the back end cut. The "back end" is actually the front, but it's the end away from the trailer hitch. <br />
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I added a little detail around the window while Dale was doing the plywood attaching on the sides. For this window, I used the last remaining stained glass panel and had to cut/reassemble it -- here's what I had left:<br />
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Just a long skinny half. I cut that in half - you can see where I drew a line with sharpie above -- and then I cut the lead with a utility knife. Lead is super soft and cuts easily. Then I snapped it in half.<br />
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I cut off some of the extra lead, and then cleaned off the cement that is used to weather proof it. <br />
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<br />I removed the center rectangles from one piece, cleaned out the channel, then slid the two halves together.<br />
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Then all I had to do was further clean up the lead, solder the joints and cement the new joins. Then it was all ready to go!<br />
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So now I have a window for the door end of our little vardo! I didn't show it here, but I also cut down that wide outer edge of lead channel, so I didn't have so much to hide in the window frame.<br />
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The other thing I did this week is get the bow window for the other end
(mostly) finished. I still need to put the last window in, but I needed
to run out last night and pick up some hinges. We still are working on
ways to get it to prop open, but those are just little details to work
on later. Here's what it looks like so far:<br />
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I think I will make some kind of sloping roof for it -- it looks a little flat across the top. A sloping roof will probably also make it a little aerodynamic, since this is the "leading edge" when we are towing it. The window will be hinged at the top and open out from the bottom. We'll also have to make shutters for this window so that the glass is protected while we haul it. We're thinking something like this:<br />
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that, by the way is from a blog post here:<a href="http://paleotool.com/2012/03/12/travel-shutters/"> http://paleotool.com/2012/03/12/travel-shutters/</a><br />
There are a lot of great internet resources, including the blog above, instructables, other people's generous build journals and a wonderful site called <a href="http://www.tnttt.com/">Teardrops and Tiny Travel Trailers,</a> which has a ton of resources on building methods. We've gotten a lot of useful information there.<br />
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Finally, I also made frames for my two stained glass panels for the side windows:<br />
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These are ready to hang as well in their own window spaces, but I need to get the framing done around the holes before we hang them. <br />
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We picked up the materials for the roof, so that's our next job in this project!<br />
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<span id="goog_1883093281"></span><span id="goog_1883093282"></span>Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03724035115208472010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-14716397180930258742015-08-01T13:03:00.001-07:002015-08-12T13:58:53.101-07:00Progress on the vardoI thoroughly enjoyed teaching a workshop in Tennessee at the Tennessee Arts Academy - a first class job that was exciting and exhausting. When I finished up my week there, I rented a car and drove from Nashville to Indianapolis to teach at the Indianapolis Museum of Art and also to spend some time with my grandson Parker. We made lasagna:<br />
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He's such a lot of fun!<br />
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We got the basic box built for the vardo, and already we're altering our plans. Originally the ledge was going to be 12" -- but that looked large so we made it 10." We also had put up some basic wedges to hold the ledge in place, but decided to cut out some curved wedges. <br />
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We got the box built and also the back deck. This platform will help make a transition to entering, and also serve as a place to put our camp stove and any other equipment. We'll have to move the lights and license plate later.<br />
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We set it up on jacks so it's level and stable while we're climbing all over it. We are going to probably add some jacks welded on later but for now, these work fine.<br />
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After we got the basic box and ledge done we started on the back wall. This was exciting and kind of anxiety inducing -- all of a sudden, it seemed really huge! Luckily, one of the online forums I joined to learn more about building these was super helpful, and it turns out we're right on track. Right now the box and the one bar across the door are stabilizing until we get the sides put up. We have the back end up -- or at least 75% of it - it got dark before we could finish. It's cut, just need to get it attached.<br />
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We have a couple of things we want to splurge on, even as we try to keep costs/weight down. I bought two stained glass panels on wayfair.com for our side windows:<br />
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These were about $115 each, and I will build frames around them for our side windows. I also have a piece of leaded glass in the garage that I got off craigslist awhile back for about 10 dollars, and that will be the center of the bay window. I'll see what I can do for the front door and I think I want to add a small window next to the door as well.<br />
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So we're having fun -- but we're not in any rush. I'll get the stained glass this week and then we'll know what size holes to leave for windows. We're also rethinking some of the other parts -- maybe redesign the mollycroft so it blends more into the roof -- it's so tall, I don't want to have too much wind resistance! I ran across this plan and I think we can do this instead:<br />
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On top of all that, I had gallbladder surgery yesterday == ouch, but I'm glad that thing is gone! it was no fun dealing with that the past few months. Easy laproscopic surgery but I'll be sore a few days. We'll get back to business in no time, though!Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03724035115208472010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-46561980948780381952015-07-07T18:46:00.002-07:002015-07-07T18:46:59.272-07:00Our new project - a vardo!We really loved visiting Yosemite. Hard to believe some place that beautiful and breathtaking is so close to the busy city we live in - we're so fortunate! Every curve in the road gave us a new view of something incredibly stunning:<br />
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The hard part for us was driving back to our hotel each evening -- it's quite pricey to stay in the park hotels, and any hotels nearby are also really expensive, although we wish we had been able to get a room close! As it was, we stayed in a city about 1.5 hours away, so although the drive was nice enough, it meant we had to leave earlier than we would have liked to, and by the time we got back to our room, we were beat. <br />
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We want to go back, but next time, we'd like to be able to spend more time wandering and exploring, and with Dale's medical problems, he can't go for long periods of time - it would have been great to take a break part way through the day to stop and relax, before going back out to explore more. We talked about getting a travel trailer - I've loved the idea of campy, gypsy-style trailers and we helped my daughter work on hers (although it's not done, yet!). So we thought we'd look for a fixer, since we like a good project, and we're kind of picky about how we want things done. I wanted one small enough for just the two of us, but something we could pull with our truck and leave at a campsite. We started checking craigslist, but only found "fixers" for about $3000 -- we wanted to spend around $500 since we knew we'd be doing lots of modifications and changes. Dale had mentioned earlier that we should just build one (or more to the point, why don't we buy a junk one, tear it down and then just build it all over again?) -- so one morning a few weeks ago, I got looking at "home-made gypsy trailers" - and ran across a whole bunch of amazing photos and instructionals and tutorials, and oh dear, that did it!<br />
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The two main kind we liked were bow-top caravans like this:<br />
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(I love the over-the-top painting on this one! We plan on doing things like this for ours.)<br />
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and wagon-style vardos like this:<br />
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We decided to do something like this, but along the lines of a "ledge" style wagon -- it starts off with a small footprint, then has a ledge to expand the size -- <br />
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This is from an amazing project - the frame is welded 1x1 square tubing, which is beyond what we want to do - but the basic shape is what we like.<br />
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We also like the cupola on the top, or what gypsy wagons call a "mollycroft roof." It's a place to add some windows to brighten up the interior, which looks a little dark because of the small windows. In the picture to the right, the large opening is going to have a bay window inserted, which makes the opening appear much smaller when it's finished ---<br />
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These are built on a utility trailer. We started looking for one of those on Craigslist, and new they run around $1200 -- we still wanted to stick with our $500 starting price, knowing we'd be throwing all kinds of money at it in wood and other materials. So we looked at Harbor Freight trailers, read up on the pros and cons, and decided to go for it. The trailer was on sale at Harbor Freight for $369, and we had a 20% off coupon, so for under $300 we had our start.<br />
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We began by assembling the trailer -- which took us a couple of evenings. Crawling around on the floor is not so fun and neither one of us can do that well, but we got it put together.<br />
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A zillion bolts, wires, nuts and bars - it weighs about 250 pounds now that it's done. We are shooting for keeping it under 1500 lbs, the closer to 1000 the better.<br />
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I sprayed the frame black, so it won't have that Harbor Freight red/orange look. I didn't spray the center bars, since they'll be under the vardo and it would be pointless, but I got all the showing parts black. <br />
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This week, we worked on building a platform. We decided we'd extend the back side a little to add a 2' long deck, mostly for being able to get into it, and to set things on in camp. The bed of the trailer as it comes is 4 x 8, which is the size of a sheet of plywood, which seems really little when you think about putting a bed, a kitchen and a dinette in it! But it will grow fast enough.<br />
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I made a mock up cardboard model so we could talk about some of the features and have an idea on how to proceed:<br />
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I want a rounded top to the door, Dale wants the mollycroft, and you can see how small the deck will be. The outside will be covered with tongue and groove boards, and the inside will have smooth walls. Insulation is a necessary beast - both for keeping the camper warm in the winter, but also to keep it cool in the summer. so we insulated the platform before building on top of it:<br />
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We're using two layers of foil-backed styrofoam sheets, with one side facing up and one foil side facing down. the uninsulated part is what will be a deck. <br />
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Keeping in mind that all materials are adding weight, we're working our best to keep both costs and weight down. <br />
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We would love to get the basic box built this week, although I am leaving to teach in Tennessee on Friday, and then I'm off to Indiana for a week, so Dale will be on his own. I don't know if he'll be able to make any progress without a helper to hand him stuff and hold things in place, so we may not make much progress until the end of July when I return, but we're not in a big rush. It's fun to think of all the things we have to figure out -- the floor plan, the colors, the process -- we do love a good project. Hopefully, we'll make good progress!Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03724035115208472010noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-9643127530854024422015-06-14T19:17:00.003-07:002015-06-14T19:17:55.932-07:00HikingWe are getting ready to go on a short trip to Sequoia National Park and Yosemite, and one of the things we'll be packing is Dale's hiking stick. We got this last year when we were on our cross country national park tour with our friends Eric and Herbert. Dale is struggling with some back issues and found that it was easier to hike with a walking stick - we picked this one up at Grand Canyon in the tourist shops, it was plain pine with Grand Canyon burnt into it. Not the most thrilling thing. But I knew I'd bring it home and make it a little more fun later.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6HSe9PlthAU/VX4ziV84XUI/AAAAAAAADBs/dL2BNCx3j0M/s1600/IMG_1446.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6HSe9PlthAU/VX4ziV84XUI/AAAAAAAADBs/dL2BNCx3j0M/s1600/IMG_1446.jpg" /></a>I finally got to it over the winter, I used acrylic paints and painted bands of patterns up and down the entire stick. After I got it done, it looked a little too colorful, so I brought it out to the garage and toned it down with a coat of stain, which did the trick. Afterwards, I gave it a nice coat of poly so the colors wouldn't get rubbed off too easily.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PeFsfNY1i1Y/VX40Re4-D-I/AAAAAAAADB0/GOHI3uperkg/s1600/IMG_1450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PeFsfNY1i1Y/VX40Re4-D-I/AAAAAAAADB0/GOHI3uperkg/s400/IMG_1450.jpg" width="106" /></a>In most of the parks we visited last year, we picked up a small metal emblem that is made to hammer onto a walking stick. Somehow we managed to misplace a couple (yellowstone? where are you?), but they'll turn up eventually. The ones we do have are: <br />
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Death Valley. Dale and I went there over the winter when the weather was somewhat reasonable. Still hot, but not bad. <br />
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Arches National Park - this park was beautiful, but we ended up on a hike that was a little over our heads! It was super hot that day, but we eventually got back to the car and drank down all our water!<br />
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Antelope Island - this is in the Great Salt Lake in Utah, we saw bison and antelopes and went swimming in the lake, which was absolutely hilarious.<br />
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Bryce Canyon. Dale and I visited Bryce Canyon on our way home from Indiana this past Christmas. We only spent a day at the park, it was snow covered, we didn't want to go hiking in the snow, but we did enjoy doing sightseeing. We'll have to go back sometime!<br />
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Mount Rushmore -- this emblem's pretty fancy schmancy, but we did enjoy this historic site, too. We spent a full day there, doing the hikes and learning about the historical aspects. <br />
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So we'll add a couple of emblems to his walking stick this summer, and now he's got soemthing that's a little person and a lot more stylish!Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03724035115208472010noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-5364395468311587632015-06-12T23:35:00.000-07:002015-06-12T23:35:04.341-07:00Yard comparison - 2 years laterThis summer will be the second year our front yard has been growing -- and growing! We were doing some succulent trimming the other day - giving away starts and agave pups on CL Free -- and I knew I had pictures that showed how much some of the plants had grown. The agaves in particular. So I looked through the pictures so I could do some side-by-side comparisons.<br />
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This is the view from the driveway. You can see how full all the plants have gotten, especially the agaves. <br />
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This is the view from the front steps:<br />
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Again, the agave has gone nuts. The mexican feather grass gets cut back a couple times a year, but it grows fast! It's hard to tell here, but we only have one of the 3 palms left. We planted a couple of small ones to replace the ones we had to remove, but I still have a large sago palm I may put out there as well.<br />
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I need to take some pictures of the front parking strip as well - that section of the yard does not get any water at all, and still the plants out there are doing great! I also need a picture from the other side of the yard, I'll get that later!<br />
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<br />Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03724035115208472010noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9684130.post-41769345975398095182015-06-09T22:55:00.001-07:002015-06-09T22:55:20.328-07:00Roses get a new homeA couple of years ago, we bought a climbing rose, with the <a href="http://toughkittypuffs.blogspot.com/2012/08/back-at-work.html">intention of building an awesome trellis</a> over the garage door. Well, we never got around to that. And our rose got neglected a little, and died back somewhat, but revived itself over the winter and set out new shoots. But it wasn't until a year later that we realized the new shoots were actually from the root stock, and not from the grafted canes - so they bloomed with kind of average looking red blooms rather than the gorgeous pale pink ones that we had before. Nevertheless, we strung some wire (far cry from <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/79094537175220514/">that cute trellis we planned on</a>!) And the sad little red rose dutifully climbed up.<br />
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You can see it hanging out in the background here, in a pot with it's skinny little canes growing upwards.<br />
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One of the problems, though, was that we really intended to build it a nicer box - jackhammering away the useless sidewalk and building some kind of box/bed for it. Well -- that part we finally did this week!<br />
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First, Dale had to use the impact drill to drill a series of holes so we could punch through the sidewalk. Of course, we decided to do it on the hottest day we've had this spring. But that didn't take too long, then we had to whale away on it with a sledge hammer. I tried doing that part, but unfortunately, I can only use the smaller sledge hammer, so he had to smash it a couple of times with the larger one and it broke up nicely. Then I used the crowbar to pry all the concrete chunks out, and then dug a little tunnel under to the dirt in front so I could run the irrigation up into the box.<br />
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Then I laid out a pattern of bricks to see how many we'd need.<br />
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We finally got the last of the bricks pulled up from the hell strip, and although I tried giving them away on CL Free, I had a bunch of no-shows and one person who came and only took half. So I had plenty.<br />
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So we brought them to the back and tried out a nice sized rectangle. Then we had to wait for evening because by now it was really hot!<br />
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So around 6:30ish, we went out, mixed up a batch of cement (we were out of mortar, but since this is not going to be a perfect bricklaying effort, we just went with it).<br />
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I didn't take any in-progress pictures, because the cement dried pretty darn fast. We were just lucky to get it all somewhat nicely done. We certainly aren't going to get any jobs laying brick.<br />
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But it's tidy enough, and ready to go - it only took about an hour or so, and it had all night to set up. So this morning I got up and gave it a coat of paint. I had <a href="http://toughkittypuffs.blogspot.com/2013/08/hey-we-finished-project.html">painted the bricks in the front of the house,</a> and it looked so much nicer, so I knew I was going to do that here, too - especially since I had no delusions that it was going to look great without the paint!<br />
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After we spent so much effort getting this box built and all, we should go ahead and buy a new rose (we'll plant the other one somewhere else in the yard), since I really want white roses.<br />
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So this morning, after painting, I ran out to get some nice soil for the planter box and see if I could find an iceberg white climbing rose (I looked through Pinterest to see if I could find some good leads on what I wanted -- <a href="http://www.naturehills.com/rose-iceberg-climbing?">and the Iceberg is the one that fits the list</a>). And I actually found one - -not at the same place I bought the rose we previously had, although that's where I went first -- but I got a really gorgeous, healthy white Iceberg climber at Home Depot. Hmmm....<br />
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So here it all is, planted and tethered loosely to the wires. I underplanted it with some miniature iceplant that looks nice hanging down and has tiny pink flowers, and a lantana that I might move out later, after we see how well the rose blooms down low. I read up on how to train the long canes to encourage blooms, so we've got a plan, but climbers often get leggy and do well to have a bushy plant at the base to hide the skinny legs.<br />
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This year, this rose will spend most of its time growing long canes up the wires, all we have to do is make sure they criss-cross and stay healthy! <br />
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So - another project and this one actually kept up on! Maybe I'll get back in the blogging habit after all...<br />
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<br />Lauriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03724035115208472010noreply@blogger.com1