Month: October 2010

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Green is Good

The paint colour for the study dried to a beautiful dark olive tone that I really like. You’ll have to wait till I get some natural light for a glimpse of it; it photographs much too yellow, as though it was still wet.I wasn’t so enamoured with the paint, however. It streaked and dripped, behaving like a very cheap product when it is a higher end one. Most disappointing. One can was barely enough; I had to leave the inside of the wall cabinet unpainted. I also applied the product very lightly where the walls won’t show. I don’t intend to ever redo Miranda, so it’s okay if the paint under paintings or furniture isn’t perfect. I have just enough left, barely, to do the touch ups once the artwork and furniture are in place.

I’m so pleased to finally have a green room in Miranda. There is just something about green that I find very soothing. All my homes thus far have featured green. The hospital/mint green that came with Miranda just didn’t cut it; I like my green to be very earthy.

Between coats, I managed to get the curtains cut. Getting them done will be one of tomorrow’s projects, but it’s not so pressing as getting the furniture back into place so that I can move around my RV again!!!

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Prepping is Always the Worst

Been quite a day, but the study is primed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Painting is always a cinch at this point. It’s all the prep before that is a real pain.

As a sneak peak, I’d like to share what the valances look like now:

I would have liked to have done away with the valances altogether, but wasn’t able to for reasons that will become apparent once I get the curtains up. The ends of the valances have nice oak pieces, so I would have liked to make the front an oak strip. But I’m not made of money. 🙂 So, my solution was to strip the old valances right down to the piece of paneling, which I then recovered with paintable wallpaper. I reinstalled them and will be painting them the same colour as the walls. A roll of wallpaper was $20 and will do all my valances, with tons to spare.

When I bought primer in anticipation of doing the toilet room, I went for a full gallon. This is how much I had left after the toilet and dressing rooms:

In case that’s not clear, I’m only an inch down. Doing the study didn’t use up that much more. I’ll probably have a full half gallon left by the time I’m done with the whole rig.

Finally, I opened up the green to paint a test patch. I wasn’t crazy about it, too much yellow. I’ll have to see what it looks like in daylight. I don’t mind buying more paint if I have to; what I saved on the toilet and dressing rooms more than makes up for the losses.

This is what greeted me when I opened the can:

Talk about well separated paint!

I don’t even know if Home Hardware is open tomorrow, so I really hope the current paint grows on me. I’d like to have the first (and hopefully only) coat on by lunch, then spend the rest of the day working on the curtains for this room.

This afternoon, I bought one additional bit of storage for the room, a bin to fit at the end of the mattress where the desk is. It’s always been a sore spot as it collects ‘stuff.’ I found a clear Rubbermaid tote that has almost the exact same dimensions as that spot and I’ll fill it with the out-of-season clothes and extra bedding that is currently eating up two overhead cabinets. The other storage item I bought will take care of the rest of the overflow, and then I can spread out the cabinets a bit more neatly. Living in a motorhome is like living inside a giant puzzle!

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The Final Assault

Yesterday, I went to Penticton to pick up the one thing I was missing to finalize the library’s footprint. It was another case of being at exactly at the right place at the right time. I don’t want to say what it is because picture will make a bigger impact once I get the thing in here!

Today’s goal is to get the study emptied, prepped, and primed.  It’s going to be a huge job; I have to remove the valances and ugly light fixtures and find space for everything I’m moving out of here. But once that’s done, the rest of the work will come together. I’d like to get a first coat of paint on first thing tomorrow so that I can then work on the curtains. The toilet room only needed one coat of paint, so I’m hoping it will be the same with the study.

Then, I’ll get the rig prepped for my departure to make it easier for my cat sitter to do her tasks. When I come back from Montreal I will do the loft, then the kitchen. It’s funny how my original plan had me going the opposite way–kitchen, loft, study, but this new addition to the study makes it necessary to reverse the plan.

Here’s a quick before shot of a study valance, which will be undergoing a makeover instead of a removal for reasons that will soon be explained:

yuck

And here is one of the roller shades that is now in the dumpster. I have had to live with this monstrosity, tear and all, for two years:

ew

Getting this room DONE is going to be so awesome!

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A Touch of Colour

Donna wins the amazing friend award of the year.

I invited her down to Omak today because I wanted to go pick up something at the Walmart. It was a quilt. I’ve been looking for one for a few years and had thought that I would get my colours scheme from it. Time passed and I had to press on with getting paint and whatnot. Thankfully, when I finally found what I was looking for, it still worked with my paint choices.

Before Walmart, we had a Mexican lunch at Tequila’s. YUM! 😀

Once I had the quilt, it was time to make a final decision on the rest of the fabric: curtains in the study and library, a curtain to block off the cab and loft, something to recover the sofa in the study, and scraps for the kitchen stool. I had looked at all sorts of stores and decided that if I found my dream quilt at Walmart, then I was going to be satisfied with what else I could get there to cross everything off that shopping list.

I lost track of time as Donna and I scoured the bedding and bath sections, then the fabric. I changed my mind a million times and when we finally found suitable curtain fabric, there wasn’t enough. I was going to concede defeat and go with the cheap linens I got in Campbell River, even though they were never intended to be a permanent solution, but Donna persevered and found a solution in the curtain rod section (of all places! :D). She was so patient, listened to me, and was an amazing sounding board. Thank you so, so, so much for your help today!

Two of the things I decided were:

  • Reducing the colour palette

Originally, the kitchen, library, and loft were going to be different colours. I have decided to have my dominant colours be green, pink, and yellow. Accents are chocolate brown, and I will have one orange statement piece. The toilet room, being its own private and closed off entity, can stay purple. But the three rooms that flow into each other need some sort of continuity.

  • Curtains

I’ve been trying to come up with a good idea for window treatments and have decided on plain old curtains to be combined with privacy window film (which I hope to pick up tomorrow). I bought curtain rods, so window treatments are ready to go.

I am a long way from installing all the things I bought today and showing them off properly. I need to get the rooms painted first, for one thing. But here’s a sneak peak of the fabric as well as the paint I bought yesterday:

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Next, we headed to Home Depot. I recently found a two year old gift card and couldn’t for the life of me figure out why I hadn’t spent it yet. It’s because it was only good for the US stores! Ten bucks (and 13 cents change) got me a can of spray paint for my living room chair makeover project as well as an angle measuring thingy for my trim. Thanks again to Donna for thinking of that and finding it for me!

We made a quick stop at Princes in Oroville where I stocked up on Baby Ruth bars, a treat I haven’t had since I went to Chicken. Then, it was time for the dreaded border crossing. Since I was well over my daily allowable limit, I expected to have to go into the customs office and pay tax and duty on everything. This fear was reinforced when I was asked to turn off my engine, a first. The officer was a bit incredulous that two women our age could afford to winter somewhere without working, but saying that we’re writers seemed a satisfactory answer. He asked for a rough breakdown of what was purchased and then sent us on our way! I was shocked!

It was an incredibly productive day and I am now highly motivated to get this rig DONE. 😀

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Leaving on a Small Plane

I can’t believe that I’m flying east a week from tomorrow! I got an awesome deal on my tickets to Montreal from Penticton, but it’s going to be a bit of a circuitous route. To get there, I’ll be doing Penticton–>Vancouver–>Calgary–>Montreal. To get back, I’m doing Montreal–>Toronto–>Vancouver–>Penticton.

Flying directly from Vancouver to Montreal was several hundred dollars more and would have required very early morning flights. Funny how the longer route is cheaper and more convenient! I’m happy that I fly out of Penticton at 10AM (meaning I leave Osoyoos at a reasonable 8:30) and out of Montreal at 4:30PM. I’ll arrive at 11:30PM local time both ways. Long days, and jet lag’s a bitch, but this is the best flight itinerary I’ve ever put together.

Thankfully, I’ve been through all those airports except Penticton (which is tiny), so the trip should be easy. My layovers are all only just long enough to ensure that I’ll make my connection barring a huge delay, so I won’t have too much time to kill. I’ll have the iPod on me for entertainment.

I’m getting pretty excited about this trip and it will be very nice to see my family again after more than two years away!