First off, what is already in the camper is in pretty good shape. I couldn't find any rips or stains in any of the cushions (of course they are all various shades of brown so I suppose any stains would be camouflaged a good bit. They are, however, how should I describe this tactfully? ass-ugly. It's not that I dislike the color brown, it's just that the collection of brown used in this camper is not pleasing to my eye (my wife's eye either). I figure, if I'm going to Holder-ize this thing, we may as well redecorate the inside how we like. The browns have to go. The curtains were as thin as pantie-hose and an odd shade of orange. They will have to go too.
My mother is quite handy with a sewing machine and has managed to make clothes and cloth covers for things in the past. I gave her a call and told her what we are planning. She agreed. I'm glad I got her to agree to this without seeing what work was involved because, since she already agreed, she can't back out now. I am her son, after all, and I plan to press that point and suggest that she is sort of obligated because of that. I will buy the material and offered to pay her $200 for the "job." I promised to bring the curtains and cushion covers this weekend. She did say "I don't do zippers" so it looks like we'll have to use Velcro.
I didn't tell her about the little plastic doo-dads sewn into the curtains at the top that slide into the metal slot that circles the top of the camper. How much extra trouble can that be? I needed a
The cabinet boxes and panels at the end were all wood grain paneling all covered with scratches and deeper grooves. One bed end was particularly bad.
I'm hoping a good sanding following by a good painting will make all this go away. I plan on painting the inside white. I assume that several coats of good paint will successfully cover wood grain.
I didn't notice any water damage, thank goodness, so right now, I am thinking that the box and the wood is sound and that I can just sand away the blemishes, repaint and it will be as good as new.
The floor is a mishmash of browns. It almost looks like it was intended to look like a dirt floor. Of course, that just could be the dirt itself since I haven't swept yet but I would like to lay down a new floor.
We are going to go for a blue - white - chrome type theme. So a mostly white floor with some sort of bright blue (Bluebell blue) highlights or squares in each tile would be perfect. We want the curtains blue and the fabric of the beds and seat covers some sort of blue pattern. We hope to pick that pattern out this weekend.
I am not really that artistic when it come to decorating. My mother however, has a good eye for it so I plan to solicit her opinion regarding colors and shades and how well they go together. This has the added benefit of having someone (instead of me) to blame if it doesn't come out right.
There are 2 tables. You can see them laying on the bed in the above pic. I assume that one goes outside and one goes inside. The legs of both, however, will need to be replaced. They are barely hanging on the table itself and I couldn't get them to fold down. The table tops of both appear OK but I would like to replace the top covering of both and add a metal strip around the edges. I've no idea how to do that but hey, it can't hurt being on the to-do list. There are a LOT of things I don't know how to do. Also, I couldn't get the inside table to connect to the strip that I assume it is supposed to connect to. That will have to be addressed as well.
The sink is white and, after a bit of scrubbing with a brush and Simple Green, actually cleaned up perfectly. I haven't tested the water system at all since it is below freezing outside. I have no idea what risks are involved in doing that so I probably just put if off because it was cold outside and I didn't want to hook up the hose. I remembered the New York Dude, "Everything works," so I'll go ahead and assume that there are no problems there. He was right about the electric after all.
There is the large square plastic tank under one of the bench seats. I don't know what it is for. Fresh water? If so, how does it get to the sink? The sink just has a twist knob not a pump knob that I have seen in come campers. How do I fill it with fresh water? Grey water? If so, how do I get it out of there? I decided to save all the water tests for warmer afternoons.
The stove was a mess. It was covered with what looked to be rust. After an hour or so of scrubbing with a brush and simple green while drinking beer, it did clean up surprisingly well. You can see the post-cleaned stove top in the picture above. I shouldn't have to replace that either.
The cabinet tops are all a textured white. It would be neat to have a shiny metal strip around the edges but that will have to wait until other more pressing things.
My wife came in and sat with me a bit and she almost immediately found another issue. She sat on the end of the bed and, as you can see in the above picture, there is a metal lip at the end of the bed. It turns out that it can pinch the back of your legs something terrible when you try to stand after sitting there. After thanking her for discovering that issue before I did, I promised to fix it. Those foam things that you can buy to pop around exposed pipes to keep them from freezing came to mind. If I cut them to the width of the camper and slip it on the metal lip, would they have be enough padding to prevent the leg pinch? how would that blend in with our new decorating ideas? I'll work on that later.
For some reason, since we bought Frostbite, my wife keeps asking me "Do you think we got our money's worth?" Personally, I don't see how she could have any worries since I gave it such a good inspection before buying the first one we looked at. But she has her doubts.
I tell her not to worry. I tell her we could go camping in her right now. She is "campable." We are just going to give her a face lift and make her more comfortable.
She seemed satisfied with that.
I'm hoping she feels the same way once I have all of her guts spread out on the driveway.
This weekend we will pick out material for curtains, bed and seat covers, and put our seamstress to work.
I wonder if I should give her more than a week to finish the job.
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