I’ve been doing some research to gather my options for how I’m going to secure my new furniture, especially the rocker I don’t have yet but am actively shopping for. I also have the stool to worry about, but I think that I’ll start by just laying it flat on the ground. I really want to avoid bolting my new rocker/recliner to the floor and like the idea of using eyebolts and bungee cords as found in the article How to Keep Loose RV Furniture From Flying When You Hit the Brakes.

This article also includes a video about removing the dinette, which confirms to me that I did the right thing by building up and around the dinette bench containing several systems. I don’t agree with the part in the video where the guy says to avoid furniture on wheels in an RV. I can’t imagine having a non-rolling computer chair! The trick is to simply turn the chair onto its side and lay it on the ground. Even when I’ve had to hit the brakes, the chair has never gone far.

I’ve been scoping out Craigslist for the rocker/recliner model that I want. While I’ve seen many in my price range, they were either gone by the time I emailed or covered in the wrong material (I want vinyl or leather vs. microfiber or suede). I’m looking for something like this:

I found one for the very tempting price of $20, but it was covered in microfiber and didn’t have the footstool while one that was $75 and had the right fabric and colour as well as the footstool was snapped up immediately. I’ve seen many more! Craigslist isn’t used that much in the Comox Valley so seeing such an abundance of them for under $100 (including the footstool) tells me that I should check the ads for Vancouver when I head back to the mainland. It’s not a huge priority, but I would love to once again have a comfy reading, cross-stitching, and knitting chair, especially in a separate room from the computer!

This is probably where I should point out that I am pretty much allergic to buying new furniture. I make the odd exception for cheap assemble-it-yourself stuff but when it comes to things like sofas, chairs, and nice cabinets, I prefer to get something used. I have a lot of reasons for this and money isn’t really the first consideration. I like things that are slightly broken in since I have cats. I also find that there is more variety in the used market than there is in the new since I’m not fighting trends. And, yes, the costs are usually a lot better.

While cutting some pieces of plywood today, I failed to probably plan all my cuts, with the end result being that I now have many nice long scraps that are only a foot or so wide. They’ll be perfect for the ductwork tunnel, but I need two pieces 21 1/8″ high for the interior divisions of the dishwasher cabinet and only have one suitable piece of plywood left. Before I steal more of Croft’s ugly scraps ( 😀 ), I’m going to go raid the other store he mentioned has a scrap bin. I went by there tonight just to scope it out and see where it is and, sure enough, there is a huge bin marked ‘free wood’. It’s behind a locked fence, so I’m going to hope for clear weather tomorrow so I can check it out. I also went by Home Depot, but their dumpster was locked up and there were only pallets outside of it.

The only other thing I’ll work on tonight is getting rid of The Ugliest Light Fixture In the Universe. I have four of these in Miranda; two in the dining area and two in the study, using up valuable wall space. The ‘shades’ are made of a rubber-like material. They have never worked, which explains why one lit up when I pushed on its switch yesterday. It was like it was telling me “don’t throw me away!” Here’s a picture for posterity.

It’s a shame these lights run off the 12V system. If it was off the 120V grid, I would have been able to replace the fixture with a plug for the dishwasher. I’m instead going to have to run wiring from the nearest plug to this general vicinity.

This picture also shows just how much of the window the dishwasher will be blocking as it is as wide as the counter and at least as tall as the bracket by the stove. The only other option would be to have the dishwasher facing out towards the dining room, but even that would chew up some window space. There really is no ideal solution and I want a dishwasher, dangnabit, so I’m just going to have to live with this. 🙂

This weather is going to make me cry. 🙁

I got out of bed at 9 this morning and promptly went to work. It was sunny and warm, albeit a bit damp. I set up my workshop outside, got all the tools, cut my first piece of plywood, and made a hole in the plywood for the furnace vent, then big, ugly black clouds rolled in and it started to spit. Thank you very, very much. Not.

So, this is how far I’ve gotten today:

This shows how the seat was longer than the base. I cut the seat down to make it the same size as the base.

I used some of Croft’s oak paneling to make a nice bottom for my cabinet.

This is the panel that will be visible from the front door. Note the hole for the furnace duct.

I used the wardrobe door plywood to make that side panel and still have more than enough for the three interior divisions, bringing down the cost of the wardrobe doors. It’s amazing what you can get  out of a sheet of plywood!

After lunch, I’ll start working on cutting and assembling the interior partitions. I’m not a cabinet maker and I don’t have the tools or the knowledge to do a really ‘pro’ job on the joinery for this project, so I’m going to rely on glue and angle brackets and focus on making the exterior as polished as possible while accepting that the inside will be stuffed to the gills and not all that visible.

The divisions will give me a space accessible from the kitchen side through a door, one accessible from the lounge with a door also, a drawer, and another space above it with a door. The two large spaces are being designed with specific storage in mind, which will free up a couple of cabinets in the study and give me easier access to a kitchen tool I haven’t used since hitting the road and miss very, very much.

Off to lunch; it feels so well deserved today! 😀