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!"

8 comments:

  1. WOW! You guys are really cookin on the trailer (no pun intended! {smile}). I simply can't WAIT til it's all done and we get the grand tour! Ok, that Mr. Clean Magic Sponge ain't NO joke, is it? I can't think of too many things that it doesn't clean. Hmmm, Jayla will be taking her shower soon...LOL just kidding! Better not let her use that, she may look like she belongs to you when she's done! LOL (I kill me!) Carry on, Sanders! Carry on!!

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  2. HOLD ON!!!!! You carefully cropped out the new AC. It is ugly, it does not look good, and kills the cool lines of the trailer, but it serves so well, that you not only like it up there, you love it up there. Be proud, post the photo...

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  3. Oops! Did I crop that out? Ok. Ok. Ok. I added a picture.

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  4. YEA ! AIR...Looks GREAT ... You guys are AMAZING ,Oh to be young and FULL of energy ! MOM

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  5. Looks fantastic and I have to admit I (heart) AC! Anything to make camping even more enjoyable! We camped during one of the hottest weeks of the year this past June and even with three fans I was dying.

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  6. Cooooool! And I know you are glad that you are in this Georgia heat.

    Gotta love a kid's imagination. Cardboard boxes and stinky slinkies beat the expensive toys, hands down!

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  7. OK. This year we have spent more days on the beach in 100 degree weather than days hip deep in a trout stream. Something is drastically wrong with this picture! Believe us when we say that the AC is required for such adventures as well as one of those cool mister attachments for your awning and some extra Reflectex to cover the windows. I'm pretty sure the Reflectex keeps it cooler, but it definitely cuts down on alien radio emissions... and the voices in my head are much quieter now...

    Great work guys!

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  8. You guys are making great progress. I like the low profile A/C.

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