Art And Accessories For The Trailer

Which do you like better the mountains or the beach? 

The beach does terrible things to my hair so I prefer the mountains.

 However, I am terrified of road trips through the mountains.
We discovered this on our first trip up to Estes Park, Colorado.
I was in the back of the Suburban with a blanket on my head. My four year old was patting my head and saying, "It's okay, Mommy."
I'd never had a panic attach before. No fun.
If I do the driving, though, I am fine.
We have had some great vacations in the mountains and I wanted that sort of feel for the trailer.
I didn't want it too lodge looking, if that makes sense.

My first painting was white mountains on a stained board.

I stained the board and then let it dry. 

The stain is from Minwax. 

I painted snowy looking triangles once the stain was dry.

I saw one like this on Pinterest.
Cute, cute, cute.

For the second project, I printed out a photo that I took on a train ride up through British Colombia during our trip to Alaska. 

Printing it out on regular copy paper caused it to look like a vintage print.
I didn't expect this and I love it! 

Oddly, I can ride a train through the mountains without having a panic attack.

This snowy Canada Goose print didn't make it into the trailer but it has been freed from the terrible frame. 

I thought this was an original instead of a print.
It might show up at Christmas. Who knows? 

A watercolor painting was also recruited for the area above the coffee bar. 

The black mountain painting was also inspired by Pinterest.
This one was so easy.
I almost didn't use it either but it looks cute hanging on the side of the cabinet.
I just drilled it into the wood.

Anything black was rounded up for the accessories.

It is always fun assembling stuff we already own.

I love the black and white dishes. 

Here is a sneak peek. 

That is about it for today. 

We are nearing the end of the inside. 

Please pop back by for the change on the outside. 

Have a wonderful week. 

Katie 

Here are all the posts about the trailer. 

Read about Primer. 

Read about Paint. 

Read about Curtains. 

Read about the sofa.

Read about the privacy curtain.
Read about the carpet and mattress.

As Boring As Blood Pathogen Training/Carpet and The Mattress For The Trailer

Most of my regular readers know that I retired from teaching in May. 

I made the decision in January which was heart wrenching. 

In February, I realized that one the "bright sides" was not having to endure anymore blood borne pathogen training. 

I don't know if you've ever had to sit through one of these training seminars. Boring.
I guess they assume that teachers will start touching blood in between refresher sessions because this training has to be done once a year.
Maybe they know that teachers would give their own life for a student so therefore expose themselves to blood if it were required to help a child.
Who knows?
This post may be as boring as Blood Borne Pathogen Training but it is necessary to get to the wonderful reveal. 

There was carpet next to the bed. The area under the bed was chip board.
We needed to re-carpet because of the winter long mouse party a few years ago.
We wanted to put carpet under the bed as well to possibly improve comfort. 

Bill went to Home Depot and got a few samples.
We picked out a nice dove gray that coordinates with our other elements.

It was around $10.98 a square yard.
I really can't remember how many square yards we got but we had plenty.
Bill calculated how many yards we needed because it was math. Math makes my head hurt.

He did a measurement and cut it.

He took it to the trailer and tacked, stretched, and trimmed it all around the perimeter.
We stretched it as much as we could but we didn't have one of those carpet stretching tools.
We used the electric staple gun he got for Christmas.
I love this thing.

Cutting carpet is a little nerve wracking but it does have a little give if you make a mistake and need to pull it tighter to the wall.
We used a razor blade knife.



We didn't do the closets. The mice didn't have their wild dance party in there.

Next to the couch there were some very groovy drink holders made out of plywood and covered in the palm frond fantasy fabric.

They were not permitted re-entry into the trailer.
They didn't really hold anything but a bottle of water and Bill needs a spot for his coffee.

We were going to make some nice teak trays but we were nearing the point of, "I'm over it."
We decided I would carpet the area next to the couch.
I should interject at this point that I wanted to take the couch out and put in a regular loveseat but the slide out mechanism made that impossible.

The strange fold down couch bed will have to do but at least it has nice new carpet next to it.

Bill ordered a new Memory Foam mattress, mattress pad and sheet set off of Amazon.
We tried to shop local but they didn't have what we needed.
We got the Zinus Sleep Master Ultima for $379.48.
The mattress came all rolled up and shrink wrapped.
It needed to be unrolled within a day.

The mattress pad came from eLuxury Supply.
This company had a hand written thank you note inside and is owned by a veteran.
 They were amazing to deal with.

We really hope this is way more comfortable than the old bed which came with the trailer.
We should have gotten an upgrade years ago.
Hopefully our backs will notice that this is an upgrade from the old mattress.

That is it for now.
Thanks for sitting through this post.
I appreciate you all so much.
Thank you to those that take the time to leave a comment.
I try to eventually email you back unless you are a no-reply blogger.
If you are a no-reply blogger, please know that I always read and appreciate very comment.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Maybe you get to go camping!
Katie


Read about Primer.

Read about Paint. 

Read about Curtains. 

Read about the sofa.

Read about the privacy curtain.

Linking with,
Essence of Home

The Trailer Privacy Curtain

There is a curtain that separates the bedroom from the living room and kitchen in the trailer. 

At first I didn't think we needed to put that curtain back up but Bill insisted that it was crucial.
 He likes to get up early and read. I like to sleep in.
I can be a tad grumpy before I've had my coffee.
I may or may not make angry faces when I'm grumpy.

For the sake of harmony, this curtain needed to be made.

Shopping for the trailer fabric took some time.

We wanted coordinating grays.
I couldn't find the same fabric for the window curtains and the privacy curtain.
When I went back to Walmart to get more panels for the privacy drape, the slate color was already discontinued.
It ended up being fortuitous because there was a lighter weight, black out option instead and it was cheaper too. The four panels were only $20.00.
Harmony doesn't have to be expensive.
 This curtain measured 120 inches wide by 66 inches long so it took a lot of fabric.

The privacy curtain had a special plastic tape sewn onto the top of the treatment.
White plastic clips interspersed along the tape, glide along a special track that is attached to the ceiling.

We were able to get the curtain off by unscrewing the last screw near the wall. Once that was done, we were able to bend the track away from the wall.
The curtain slipped right off of the track.

Saving the old curtain with the plastic tape was very important.
We had a throw away pile and a save pile when we cleaned out the trailer in June.
The old curtain could not be thrown away until I removed the tape with a seam ripper.

To make the new treatment, I sewed the four panels together.
It was time to attached the plastic tape to the tops of the panels.

I used the zipper foot to sew the tape onto the new curtain.

The zipper foot maneuvered perfectly around the clips.
Sewing through the plastic was not a problem.
Once the new drape was hemmed and ironed, we slipped it back onto the track and screwed the end of the track back into the ceiling.

A tieback with a snap holds the curtain in place when not in use.

All our grays coordinate!
Yahoo.

Now the early riser will not disturb the grump.

That is the latest in this series.
Thanks for stopping in.
Be kind and pin! You just never know when there is a trailer remodel in your future.
Katie

 Read about Primer.

Read about Paint. 

Read about Curtains. 
Read about flooring. 

Read about the sofa

Recovering The Sofa For The Trailer

The sofa in our little camper is finished. 

It is a cutie.

The neighbor came out to see the trailer that we had parked just to the right of his driveway. 

He'd worked in the manufactured home industry for 30 years. 

I lamented on the hideousness of the fabric to justify the fact that I was ripping out almost pristine upholstery.
Pristine until you take into account the dance party that the mice had one winter.
After he recovered from the realization that we didn't park our mice infested vehicle in front of his house, he mentioned that typically those in the industry tried to spend about $1.00 a yard for the fabric.  

Well, that explains it! 

Palm frond collage? No! No! No! 

I'm opposed to the use of palm fronds except on Palm Sunday or for homes situated near the beach.
I make an exception and allow their use in summer decor if a beach trip is planned or has just been taken.
I am very strict about these guidelines.  

Palm fronds in a camper in the middle of Texas?
NO!

I've done this a little backwards. I should have found the fabric for the sofa before I found the fabric for the windows but I was trying to do what I could while Bill was at work.

I wanted his input for the sofa.

I hit every fabric store in town except for one.
We took a break from the flooring to go have a look at a little local shop that has been in the Town of Pantego forever. 

He has current stock but he also has some stock from about 20 years ago. 

Think big puffy florals and fruit motifs.

I had this fabric and I loved it!
Styles have changed haven't they?

I originally wanted gray denim which I thought would wear well. 

He sold 30 yards of it the day before. It wasn't meant to be, I guess. 

We found a gray that would coordinate with the curtains and the flooring we picked out.
We purchased 6 yards. We spent around $150.00 for it and the accent fabric for Bill's lumbar pillow.

Camper/Trailer stuff is a little odd. 

The fabric was held on by rings rather than staples. The upholstery guy said he didn't have anything like them and that they were probably fabricated at the manufacturer.

He agreed with me that sewing the new fabric onto the existing fabric was the best way to go. 

That is what I did. I wrapped the new fabric around the cushion and sewed it to the the underneath side.
It took a little longer than the Pride and Prejudice movie with Keira Knightly - not that 8 hour movie put out by the BBC.

After it was over, I turned on Going RV so I could look at more $1.00 a yard fabric selections.
Couldn't they upgrade to $2.00 a yard?
Just sayin. 

I felt wonderful about our choices after viewing an episode or two.

It was pretty easy going once I found the best needle and thread for the job.
The needle had a slight curve.

The thread had to be heavy duty to hold the fabric in place.

The false front of the sofa was easy because it was stapled.

Bill was able to reassemble the sofa by attaching the back and bottom onto the pull out sofa/bed mechanism.

The front was screwed into the plywood base of the sofa.

You have gotten a sneak peek at the finished product but please come back for more about our trailer.
Have a great day.
Katie
P.S. Thank you for your prayers about our "lemon" situation.
I'll have such a praise to share next week.


Read about Primer.
Read about Paint. 
Read about Curtains. 
Read about flooring. 


I'll be sharing at these fun parties, if I have time to link up.
Dishing and Digging It @ Life and Linda, 

 Show and Share @ Coastal Charm 

Tuesdays @ Our Home @ Our Home Away From Home
Amaze Me Monday @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia,  

Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch, 

 The Scoop @ Stone Gable,

Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life, 
Brag About It @ Across The Boulevard

 Wow Party @ Savvy Southern Style 

Share Your Style @ The Essence of Home, 

Share Your Cup @ Have A Daily Cup of Mrs. Olsen,  

Best of The Weekend @ Ms. Toody Goo Shoes  

 Share It One More Time Inspiration Party
Snickerdoodle Link Party @ Across the Boulevard