Wednesday, August 17, 2011

We Are Wimps


 I admit it.

We were going to wait to get the air conditioner.  It's just too dang hot to get any work done without it.  Maybe it has something to do with our last camping trip in the hundred degree weather, too.

 
I won't have to find lifters for this roof vent.
 We installed the A/C and turned it on.  We left for our mid-day-heat-break/millionth trip to the home store.

We returned to a VERY chilly trailer:



Our new A/C is everyone's favorite eye sore.

We've spent the last couple of weeks prepping our woodwork to go back in the trailer.

removing the hardware

For the most part, we've been able to reuse the original woodwork.  A few pieces had to be replaced entirely:

facing on the front gaucho
streetside twin facing
middle twins baseboards
overhead kitchen cabinet doors
fridge-side panel
(new) access panel under kitchen sink

For the replacement pieces we purchased birch veneer from the local home store. In places where part of the veneer was missing Brian was able to use pieces from the old veneer to match up the wood. 


The Sanders, sanding.  First with a belt sander, 80 grit.
 Then with a palm sander, 150 grit
A coat of sanding sealer first, then on with the Shellacking.
For the new wood:  2 coats of amber Shellac, 2 coats of clear Shellac
For the original wood: 1 coat of amber Shellac, 2 coats of clear Shellac
Thank goodness it dries fast.  Only two hours between coats.

 

It dries so quick, in fact, we had better results Shellacking inside.  It dried too fast in the heat.
 
Our Formica counter for the kitchen is really neat.  It has little copper flecks in it.  Most of the copper has tarnishes so the flecks have a pretty copper-green patina.  The counter is stained though.  I read all kind of things about how to get the stains out.  I feel like I tried them all: lemon juice & salt, baking soda, several surface cleaners.  Nothing worked.

 Then I tried the Mr. Clean Magic Sponge:
clean on the left, stained on the right
Ta-da!  It worked!  
What's in those things anyway?  Do I even want to know?

Our propane tanks are here.  The boxes they came in are more interesting, it seems:

     









Oh dear! Someone should put up some walls.
I keep walking in on people.
    
    











 

Stinky slinky telephone.  Who wants to play?


UPDATE:
Just for you, Frank.  Here's the "pretty" air conditioner.


Having an A/C on our vintage trailer reminds me of driving a minivan.  I always said "It's nice to have, I'm happy to have it" but I could never bring myself to say "I love it!"