Saturday, September 18, 2010

She's baaaaaaaack!

Got my camper back today ... cost more than I expected but they also did more than I expected.  She's all set to go now with 2 new propane tanks, clean lines, working stove and oven and working heater.  Bearings are freshly packed, electric brake is wired and working, all lights work properly and the electric is functional.  We also purchased a portable gray water tank and some plumbing supplies for the city water hookup. 

After paying for all that, we went to Hobby Lobby and returned the bug fabric (which was just too over the top) and purchased some maroon-ish fabric with tiny diamond dots of avocado green which is being turned into curtains.  It brings out a color from the cushions while coordinating with the avocado appliances.  We also went to Menard's and purchased a nice warm off-white to paint the walls (decided not to introduce any more color because I was afraid it would turn into a circus) and a smoke detector.

I'm still not sure what color to paint the exterior.  I'm leaning toward white naturally with the faded gold stripes being a nice dark avocado/olive green rather than a Kelly or a forest green but then again, every time I see a pink trailer, I drool.  I'm going to have to do some more googling of LoFlyte's to see what others have done.  When I played with Photoshop, the only color that looked decent to me was a darker green so I'm probably going to go with that.  Sometimes the camper has to tell you what color it wants to be and I think this one is saying "go green!"

I'm just glad she's back and nearly ready to take on my camping trip.  The man at the RV place said she's very solid and he was actually amazed that the stove/oven and the heater all worked like they should since he said parts for those are very hard to come by.  So I lucked out on that. 

So far we've sunk $2600+ into her ... would have been much easier to have just purchased a renovated one but we're still way under what one would cost new so I guess that's a good thing.  It will be nice to have her done though so I can just relax and enjoy.  One interesting thing .. we can more than likely get her into the garage whereas the Compact is about 2-3 inches too tall even riding on the rims with the tires deflated all the way.  Guess that's why they call her a LoFlyte!

Friday, September 17, 2010

New Cushions!

The cushions are back from the upholsterer's and I think they look great.  Since we're going to pick up the camper tomorrow from the RV place, I'm going to take one of the smaller cushions with me to find perfect fabric for the curtains and a nice warm neutral paint color for the walls, something that was impossible to do with a 4" rectangle of fabric.

I did notice that the dinette cushions aren't all the same size ... we reused the original foam so not sure what's up with that.  Ah well, that's not something I'm going to worry about.  I also found out she's able to purchase 4" foam at a discount with enough notice so when we're to that step in the Compact's reconstruction, I'll be using the same lady to do the cushions for it.



Monday, September 13, 2010

Shasta Come Home!

My poor LoFlyte has been at the camper repair place for 2 weeks now and they still haven't started on her.  I called today and told them I need to take her on a trip next week and could they at least pack her bearings and rewire the tail lights.  Apparently they're working on a total interior renovation for someone and got behind.  Meanwhile, my camping trip (my inaugural SOTF trip) hinges on getting the camper back.  I told them that I can bring it back to have them mess with the propane lines if I need to but the bearings are crucial and the Nebraska State Patrol would probably like me to have working tail lights so that's pretty important too.

Meanwhile, I have no idea if the cushions are done or not (need to call tomorrow) and she's not going to get a fresh coat of paint ... I'm going to look like Cinderella (pre-fairy godmother) next to the stepsisters at the camp out but not much I can do about that now.  Ah well, next year I'll be stylin! 

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Vintage Find



I found these adorable retro glasses at my favorite goodwill store ... this store isn't organized very well and you basically have to dig through bins o' crap to find anything. Last time I was there, I found 2 of the square tupperware snack plates but they were kind of beaten up so I passed. I also (MISTAKE!) passed on a cute little cast iron gumball dispenser that you needed a real coin to work. It was pink, it was only $3.50 and I thought "I really don't need this!" so I left it. Naturally, it was gone when I went yesterday. Ah well, someone got a cute little vintage find.

Anyway, these were stuffed in a bin of plastics ... I found 8 of them but one of them was cracked and the other one had burlap missing from one side so I passed on those 2. Although there are only 5 pictured, I actually got 6 of them. The duplicate is the avocado green one. I think they'll be adorable in the camper.

I'm such a sucker for thrift stores and auctions! :) Today I went to the local GW store since I'm looking for "senorita" gear for the upcoming SOTF event. I did find some big plastic margarita glasses for 50 cents each and when I got them home, hubby mentioned "Oh, I have some plastic ones from the conference last year." Oh well, I'm sure I'll find a use for them. No other senorita gear but I did find a 1970s Gunne Sax dress that I'll probably donate to the high school costume closet for an upcoming play. Just couldn't leave it there and at $3.50, I had to have the blast from the past!