Painting the Camper and Other Woes

One of the best things about the camper has been the countless inspiration for projects. And what better way to experiment than with a beat up camper?

Like this penny tile floor. I've probably spent hours drooling over Pinterest boards with these kinds of things, and then decided I should spend hours making one of my own in the camper bathroom- I thought it would look kind of fun with the white paint and yellow toilet and sink. I decided to make a diamond herringbone inspired sort of look with alternating pennies of shiny/very new to old/dark. I also built in a game for my kids using some green pennies and ones with special backs, otherwise, they are mostly heads-up facing the same direction for the most part. This is a great project if you're an OCD type, like me, or if you just enjoy gluing things.

Hours later .....

I used a basic Elmer's glue to tack them down, then a box of clear epoxy to seal it in and creat the grout. If you do this project, be sure to do lots of research on using the epoxy. I'm glad I went to great lengths to make sure the camper was warm enough inside so it wouldn't create a cloudy finish.

Since husband and I tried to save as much original touches as we could, we took down the rolled screens, spray painted them white, but kept the ochre trim.

 Another great learning opportunity and bucket list project was wallpaper. This cool tile looks great on the ceiling to make the space feel bigger and lighter. (It's also paintable.) I need a lot more practice with my wallpapering skills, Y'all!

I'm obsessed with beadboard because I think it looks so classy and is less time and expense than when using plywood or drywall and texturizer and paint. We had to cut it twice, though. Call me old-fashioned, but those "beads" must be vertical!

Right about the time we went all in into this, somewhere between building a custom dinette and installing cedar in the closet, we found that the seals on all the windows were cracked and leaking. When the steering column went out simultaneously with one of the gas tanks, we made the difficult decision to finish the interior and sell our sweet little bumble bee to someone who wants to use it as a parked guest or live in unit. My heart broke over this, but we really want something for our family to cruise around in, a beach camper at the very least, and our DIY skills can't improve the safety of this baby. I'm determined to finish it out, though!

These wall lamps may not have been worth saving, but they had cute little shades with the delightful yellow/ochre 70s color scheme, so I couldn't resist and spray painted it white, too. I may have to stop with rewiring. You can see how this little "fixer upper" camper project kind of turned into a monster...

It's been bittersweet to see all the challenges of this mobile money pit, and also so gratifying to push our skills!

Will have a future post with all the unveiled, completed projects! 

See post 1 here.

See post 2 here.

The Campervan of Inspiration

Welcome to our photo album chronicling our adventure fixing up a '77 Dodge Robinhood. It's been burly, but boy, have we had fun rolling our sleeves up and making improvements.

When we purchased the camper in the spring of 2017, the bones seemed pretty good, but we knew we wanted to basically give the whole thing a facelift. It's been a little more than cosmetic, but here's a basic list.

- reseal roof
-reseal damaged corner of cab over
-wallpaper ceiling
-paint entire indoors white (to make it feel more spacious!) This was by far, the biggest job because there is so much detail
-install cedar closet (this has been on my bucket list, and I need a practice run before attempting on my bedroom closet)
-tile bathroom floor (see next post!)
-custom built dinette/bed, including refinishing existing table top
-install beadboard paneling on walls
-new curtains
-repurpose existing twin bed to couch
-new interior light switches and A/C unit
-exterior turn signal plates
-new steering panel
-new insulation/replace rotten wood and finish paneling on cab over bed

... So just a few things to keep us busy! Here's a tour of all the works in progress. With a 24 foot camper, pretty much any project takes over the entire space, so you'll see lots happening simultaneously.

Above is the living room area where the beadboard will be added and the existing twin bed will be converted to a bench/bed with storage.

The kitchen has all its appliances in working order. You can see the vinyl wallpaper and existing paint need to go!

We actually like the mustard yellow bathroom color scheme, and plan to bring it out with clean, white paint. And a fancy tiled floor!

The living room is primed for paint. We used the Kilz brand for our tough-to-paint laminated surfaces.

The custom built dinette is starting to come together. I am refinishing the table top with a removable marine stand so we can go from table to bed when needed.

The beadboard starts to clean things up dramatically! Bye-bye horrible, dark, 70s fake wood!

And leaks are getting sealed (like the one that mysteriously appeared days after we brought the camper home, even when we inspected on a rainy day)!

See more progress in the next post!

Happy Campers

Almost two years ago, we did something a little crazy ....

 ... We got a camper! (And yes, it would have been much more dramatic, if I had posted the news two years ago when it actually happened.)

But here she is, our little old RV bumblebee. We found her parked outside my daughter's school, and it had been inhabited by a hippie crone looking for the right people to claim it. We could feel the love she put into it and hope to continue renovating it!

It's a '77 Dodge Robinhood, just three years younger than my husband! But like him, it's got good bones.

We love the bamboo floors, and plan to embellish the rest of the interior, and stretch our DIY skills to the limit. Our style is to preserve as many of the original details as possible, and repurpose as much as we can.

The next few posts will show the last two years putting our hearts into this baby, and creating some memories with our family. We hope to inspire other DIYers to getting out of the comfort zone and tackling some projects of your own! Thanks for reading.

Mount Saint Helens or Bust

After cruising along the Columbia River Gorge and heading into Washington state on our way to my aunt and uncle's house, a mysterious mountain loomed ahead.

Actually, we had to exit and drive a ways first, but then we saw it ... Mount Saint Helens, the stuff from geology class made of legends from the 80s.

It's been over 30 years, and the treeline is still barely starting to recover from the famous volcanic blast.

Here you can see the once snow-capped mountain that blew its top in a nine hour stew of gases and ash. Well, the build up to it lasted much longer, as you can imagine.

Eight foot diameter trees were snapped off their roots and the sound barrier was smothered for 30 miles around. My uncle remembers his apple farm getting covered in ash over 100 miles away, and a visitor from Ohio told me that ash snowed into her pool from that fateful day.

That's one mountain I think I'll skip climbing.

Bob's Red Mill and Multnomah Falls

Before we left our brief introductory visit to Portland, there was something I had to do.

 

See Bob's Red Mill. Aka a baking pilgrimage of sorts. A paradise of organic bulked goods and health food products for bakers and gluten intolerants.

My one bit of advice before going here, because you simply must someday, is to make a plan! I had no shopping or wish list beforehand, so I was a bit overwhelmed when I got there. This usually leads to 1) shopping with zero restraint whatsoever or 2) becoming paralyzed by indefinite options and buying basically nothing.

I spent a little over $6 and got two dog biscuits, 4 pounds of sea salt, a little over a pound of mixed soup beans, some black Hawaiian sea salt and some snackie sesame sticks. When I got to the car I thought 1) is that all I got? and 2) geez, I am boring.

Next time I will do things differently, include go to the production warehouse for the mill tour and not just the flagship store.

Still, seeing the store was thrilling and had some lovely surprises, like antique flour milling stones and an instant nut butter making machine.

If I see the real Bob playing piano next time, I will have died and gone to heaven. And I will want this to be my tombstone.

After my dad calmed me down from my breakfast sandwich on sprouted wheat and side of grits, we regained our focus and headed back on the road. We had a date with a massive year round waterfall less than 20 miles away.

Welcome to Multnomah Falls, the second highest waterfall in the country after Yosemite Falls.

And this is during the dry season. A picturesque lodge waits at the bottom, greeting hundreds of tourists throughout the day looking straight past it up to the mesmerizing falls.

There is nothing like starting a week with sensory overload.

Crossing State Lines

I'm on the road exploring the Pacific Northwest with my dad for the next week or so. Road trip! Adventure! I look forward to all this fall has to bring.

My first photographic specimen is of Roosevelt elk as we entered Redwood National Park. Around this time of year, a bull will gather with his own personal harem of a dozen or more lady elks. Here they gathered right off the roadside and didn't seem particularly camera shy.

But they are quick. Or my camera is slow. I just barely got the tips of this bull's antlers as he ducked behind the brush.

And this one got his head chopped off completely. I guess I'm not ready for National Geographic just yet.

At Redwood National Park, not to be confused with Humboldt Redwood State Park, trees grow under the most unusual conditions (or should I say, around?).

A short stroll left us feeling dwarfed- and we're not easy to impress with redwoods. Even with visits to Avenue of the Giants and Sequoia National Park, and Muir and Armstrong Woods in my backyard, this is easily the highest concentration of huge trees altogether.

Big Tree didn't seem that much bigger than all the other ones we passed.

Redwoods love sharing the same roots- this one base has grown three different trees.

We continued heading north and came to this funny tourist trap, "Trees of Mystery" just before we hit Oregon. My dad remembered seeing it as a kid, so I voted we pull over.

Hey, I thought this guy was from Wisconsin.

By evening, we arrived safely in Oregon and had a lovely seafood dinner at Gold Coast. Tomorrow, Portland and beyond!