I’ve been picking away at the trim and it is a very tough job. I need about a million tiny pieces and they need to be fit just so. I am at the point where I think it will actually be easier to cut it all by hand with my miter box right in place. As it is I have to:

-get down on my hands and knees to measure;

-scramble to my feet;

-run down three steps and up another three to get to the workshop;

-find a suitable length of trim;

-measure the trim;

-figure out how to get the correct angles and adjust the saw accordingly;

-cut the trim;

-go down three steps and climb another three;

-get down on my hands and knees;

-put the trim in place;

-curse that it is just an eighth of an inch too long (or, worse, short);

-scramble to my feet…

Check out this section from the study to the dressing room, for example:

Adding those two little pieces and starting on a third took an hour. There is also a problem with the edge of the flooring not being square with the wall, so I wind up with a tiny gap between the trim and the wall that will need to be filled in.

You’ll notice the vertical wall trim in the second photo. I had to cut away an inch of it at the bottom so that I could get the trim to sit flush there since the wall trim is curved.

I also forgot that I had one more little carpentry project next to the shower:

I want to fill in that gap up to the edge of the vanity and then recover it. I don’t have any flooring left after doing the stairwell, so I’ll just get one of those 50 cent sticky tiles and cut it up.

I really don’t find the trim work to be any fun and I would gladly pay someone to get this job done for me, but I will persevere!

The other project I’m only part-way through is the permanentizing of the cloth dresser. The Gorilla Glue has set and I think it’s going to work!

I need to clean up some of the overspill:

Next will be the grommets. I’ve been watching videos on how to do it and am just about ready to tackle the job!

The cloth dresser has been working out pretty well, but I very quickly learned that there would be an obstacle to overcome before I could even think about secure it.

The frame is composed of metal rods that fit into plastic corners. Even though they go in tightly, a slight bump is enough to separate them. It was obvious that I would need to to glue the frame together before I could even consider securing the whole thing to a wall.

I did some research on alternatives to epoxy for bonding metal and plastic. I didn’t want to go the epoxy route because it’s finicky. The best second choice seemed to be Gorilla Glue.

I thought this product would be hard to find, so I was delighted to stumble on it at Walmart in the caulking section.

Application was super easy and clean. I need to allow for 24 hours cure time before I can see if it worked or not.

This morning I put in the trim in the study:

There were four pieces total and the whole job was a nightmare. I had a hard time getting the right angles and I’d measure twice and still come up a foot short. At any rate, it’s DONE. The study isn’t really travel-ready right now, but what’s left is more organization than renovation, so I am considering phase one of the study renovation to be done.

Next on the list was the toilet room. I started by adding a threshold into the room:

I goofed when I did the Allure and needed a threshold at least 3” wide. A proper 3″ wide threshold with a beveled edge would have set me back about $20 while window planking was just $5. I hope I don’t stub my toes. 🙂

The shelf above the toilet needed a piece of trim and a tension rod:

Finally, I secured the pocket organizer with screws:

I want to put grommets in the bottom and secure it with screws also, but that’s low priority since the organizer is fine for travel the way it is. I therefore consider that phase one of the toilet room renovation is done.

There is soooooo much left to do!

BRR!

We’ve had plenty of frosty nights this spring, but last night it was just plain cold. It had rained all day and then the temps dropped to just around freezing. I bundled up, slept like a log, and was woken by the feeling of being too hot as a bright sun warmed up the RV interior.

It’s chilly out there, but sunny enough to fool a less wise person into trying to fix her leak. I tried that last time we had a sunny break and wound up with a soupy mess that is going to be a nightmare to clean because there just wasn’t enough time for the silicon to cure. I have taped a plastic bag over the leak and it’s holding back the water, but a real fix needs to happen soon. For one thing, I won’t feel comfortable sealing up that area from the inside with trim until I’m sure the leak is fixed. It’s beautiful out this morning (the sky is pure cornflower blue), but it’s supposed to cloud over and start to pour again this afternoon. Bah.

The first thing I needed to do in the study was to get rid of one of the mattresses and put the other one on a pallet the way I did in the loft. I needed something 8′ x 31″ and there was nothing even remotely suitable in the Home Depot dumpster. I decided it would be less work to buy some 8′ lengths of lumber and use whatever I had here to make the cross supports. So, that was my major project of the day.

Thankfully, there was no major mould problem under the mattress lying right on the ground. There was a little dampness and mustiness, enough to make me feel that neither the mattress nor cover were salvageable, but it was much better than expected. I built my base in two pieces, guessing correctly that two 4′ x 31″ sections would be easier to manage than would be one big one. It’s not pretty, but it does the trick and you can’t see it anyway with the mattress on it:

I have a drawer that used to be a nightstand that I relocated to the top of the bed base that I have had no idea what to do with since I took the base apart. I decided that it would fit nicely at the end of the mattress, but it needed to be raised up so the drawer could open. I cut four legs from a scrap piece of dinette trim (like the stuff I used to secure the dishwasher) and I had one more panel from the base that was the perfect size to hold the drawer. End result:

As you can see, I also relocated the cabinet. And it won’t open with the printer in the way. There is simply no other place to put either item so I may have to live with having to move the printer whenever I want to get into the cabinet. It’s not something I go into that often, so it might be okay.

Now, here’s an honest shot:

I would have liked to turn the cabinet into a charging station, but it was just a smidgen too small to hold the UPS. Putting it under the desk was a compromise. I know I can improve on my wire management, but it’s already better than it was. I should be able to leave things on the desk (except the computer, of course) by putting some non-skid material under them. I secured the UPS with industrial strength Velcro.

The only other renovating thing to do to this room is the floor trim, which I’ll work on tomorrow. There is still major organization to be done, but that’s low priority right now. I’m focusing on what I need to do to make Miranda drivable and/or for which I need Croft’s workshop. I may get out of here yet!