Here We Go Again!

This morning Daffodil and I are off to another adventure.  We are headed south to the girlfriends’ camping event where she made her debut last year.  A year ago she just had four walls, a ceiling, a floor and a bed – and quite a few totes and suitcases.  Well, she’s not completely finished yet but she has definitely changed since then.  Even though there are things to be done, she has definitely begun to bloom!

She has new vintage-style brake and signal lights and a classy license plate light.

When I last shared photos taken inside, her cabinets had been installed but the drawers and doors weren’t there.  She has all of her original cabinet doors and brand new drawers that my sweetheart made.  The cabinets above the little kitchen look like this now.
The entire upper cabinet has more storage space than you might imagine.  I just need to figure out how to organize it to the max.  You’ll notice holes in the middle where the original propane lamp was attached.  We have that lamp and my sweetheart plans to wire it for twelve-volt lighting so I can use it again, but that’s way down the list of things to be done.
The last time I gave you a tour she had a white dust ruffle under the bed.  I have been gathering vintage train cases to use for storage.  When I found the last one (the white one) at a local antique mall I decided to keep them under the bed.  They were so cute I didn’t put the dust ruffle back.  I’m still undecided whether or not to add the dust ruffle and have the train cases behind it or if I should just leave these cute cases exactly the way they are.
The latest addition is a sweet, little yellow polka-dot valance on the kitchen window.  It has much smaller polka-dots than the curtains on the side and back windows but the lace is the same.  When I put the valance in place, I stood back and smiled.  It was perfect!
 
The original mirror somehow survived through the years.  It was attached to the closet door with ‘awful’ plastic holders.  My heart longed to have a framed mirror on this door but it couldn’t be very heavy.  Then I found this simple frame in a thrift store and I was amazed that it was the perfect size for the vintage mirror.  A little chalk paint and my sweetheart’s ingenious help to attach it with screws that I later painted with chalk paint, and she was back in place.  I’ll show you the before and after sometime soon.

I wanted a different handle on the closet door than on the cabinet doors.  I ooh-ed and ah-ed over many vintage-style door knobs and handles but most were too big.  Or, they stuck out too far.  In the photo above you can see how close the handle is to the kitchen sink.  I knew every time I backed up or turned around I would be bruising myself with bigger, fancier knobs.  So, I looked and looked until one day I found the perfect handle.  I knew it would be just right.  It is similar in shape to the other handles.  It’s the right size and just what Daffodil’s closet door needed.
We had hoped that her little kitchen would be finished before this trip but life got busy and it just couldn’t happen.  Her little avocado green stove will be where the microwave sits now.  My sweetheart temporarily built the two shelves for me to use until the stove is in place.  It’s one of the next things on the list.  Since camping season will soon draw to a close we hope to work on things so she is completely finished by the time we roll out to the first camping trip early next Spring.  In the meantime, I’m so thankful to head down the road this year with conveniences I didn’t have last year!
I’ll tell you all about our trip when Daffodil and I return home.  I have so many projects planned for her in the future.  There are walls to decorate and pretty things to display.  And a surprise or two along the way.  Don’t worry - I’ll share it all with you!

Please Come Inside

I promised to show you the interior of my sweet, little trailer.  She’s not finished yet but she is really beginning to bloom!  The first photo was taken over a week ago enroute to a camping event with my camping girlfriends.  You can’t miss the bright yellow duct tape on Daffodil’s door!  About two days before I was scheduled to leave home we discovered that the old gasket around the window on the door wasn’t holding the bottom of the window tight anymore.  We were concerned that the vibration of traveling down the road would cause it to let go and my darling little window would crash on the pavement as I drove.  There wasn’t time for the local glass company to fix the problem, so my sweetheart said he would make it secure with duct tape.  I told him it had to be yellow duct tape!  He was pretty thrilled when he came home with this bright yellow tape – and it did the trick.  The window is still there, waiting for repair.   The interior photos I’m going to show you were taken while we were at the camp-out.  I’ve been waiting to show you what we’ve done inside so far.  Won’t you come on in?
Here’s my kitchen!  Minus cabinet doors and drawers.  We ran out of time to get them painted and installed.  We couldn’t have installed them anyway because I had to special order the hinges and they didn’t arrive in time to put everything together.  They arrived three days after I got home!
Isn’t my little green refrigerator cute?.  It’s a small ‘dorm’ style refrigerator that’s just the right size.  It was black but my sweetheart made it pretty for me.  It picks up some of the lighter tones of avocado in my stove that will be installed where the microwave and shelf are right now.  My sweetheart is so smart!  He wanted me to have the little microwave (even though I didn’t use it), so he built a temporary shelf and secured the microwave so it would travel right there in place.  He even added the little shelf below for my kitchen towels and potholders.  I put my yellow vintage water cooler jug in the little sink so I would have water for the weekend.  My sweetheart didn’t have time to add the fresh water tank or the lines to bring water from outside to the faucet before I left for this camp-out.  I chose metal mini-blinds for the front window because it is quite close to the burners on the stove when it’s in place.  Curtains could be a problem if they were that close to the stove.  I plan to add a valance over the top of the blinds soon.  You can see a bit of the ‘walk-in’ closet.  I added a few touches of home on the counter – my electric teakettle, a vintage tea canister filled with some of my favorite tea bags and a pretty mug covered with daffodils.  I bought the mug at a local tulip festival last summer.  When I saw it I knew it would be perfect for tea time in my trailer.
Here’s the inside of my cute, little door.  My sweetheart still has a lot of work to do on the door and screen door.  I may paint the inside of the door white  None of the interior trim has been added.  There will be a small trim that I call ‘crown molding’ where the walls meet the ceiling and a simple chair rail where the bead board and upper paneling meet.  My sweetheart will add trim around the door before everything is finished.  It takes time to add all the details, but it will be nice when it’s all done.
Next to the door is a cute, little cabinet and counter.  The possibilities with this space are endless and I haven’t completely decided how I want to use it.  There’s a little seat over the wheel well beside the cabinet.  I’m still working on the cushions for the two seats.  I love the color of the old cushions and I’m looking for just the right fabric for comfy cushions for the back.  We had to cut the cushions down after the bed was in place, so I just tucked the old cushion under on one side to make it ready for my recent trip.  I hope I can find similar fabric to make new seats because I love the pop of color it adds.  The light sconce above the windows are temporary.  I bought a pair of sweet vintage sconces at a big antique fair and I plan to put them where these newer sconces are.  My sweetheart needs to rewire the vintage sconces and that project is way down the list of priorities.
Here’s what I put on that cute, little cabinet.  I ‘won’ this sweet, little lamp from a blog friend who is not blogging anymore.  She made lampshades from clothing and linens she found in antique and thrift shops.  The base is a sweet, old-fashioned couple.  I’ll take a better photo of it soon.  I have a small light bulb in this lamp that’s perfect for evenings when I’m away from my trailer.  It gives a soft, gentle glow and lights my way when I step inside.  I added a cute journal book I found at Ross so my friends and visitors can write their names or whatever they want to write inside.  On top of the little book is a vintage needlepoint sign I found at a local antique mall when they had a big sale.
If you were following Daffodil’s blog last Fall you may remember her yellow polka-dot curtains. 
I liked these curtains, but there was something missing.  Something just wasn’t quite right and I wasn’t sure what it was.  Through the winter and early spring months I pondered and thought and decided – and changed my mind many times.  I have other fabric that seemed it would be a nice choice but when it came right down to making a decision to make new curtains, it just wasn’t right.  A dear friend walked through the process with me and one day her appreciation for these curtains suddenly made me realize I didn’t want to make a big change.  And then I knew.  I knew what was missing – tiebacks and a bit of lace.  Something simple.
It was just the right choice.  And I love it.  At night I can slip one side of each tieback off its little hook so I can close the curtains for privacy.  I’m thrilled with the change.
That big back window that hadn’t been installed yet last Fall?  Well, it’s still not there.  When my sweetheart reinforced the corners of the trailer, we ‘lost’ four inches of window opening on the back.  The process of cutting down this style of window takes a lot of hours.  We had all the glass pieces cut at our local glass shop, but my sweetheart will shorten every horizontal piece and add new gaskets.  It will get done, but it’s not a priority right now.  So, I still have the wall of polka-dot curtains that covers the window opening that was cut through the paneling.  The tiebacks are ready for the day the big window is installed – and it will be wonderful.  I know it will completely the change everything!
I love my bed in Daffodil!  I bought a new mattress, added a memory foam pad and a padded mattress cover.  Then I did what many of the other gals have done – I bought an electric blanket for cold camping nights – and was I ever glad I had it at the camp-out last weekend.  It was c-o-l-d at night – real cold!  It’s hard to take photos in a tiny, little trailer and I didn’t get a good photo of the dust ruffle.  It was a window valance that has a beautiful crocheted edge.  I’ll show it to you sometime soon.  The space behind the dust ruffle is great storage that goes back to the wall of Daffodil’s little ‘trunk’.  It’s a great place to hide things you want to have close to you but don’t want to display.  I didn’t take a photo of the wheel well seat that was by the head of my bed but you can see a bit of it.  I made a little nightstand on that seat with a wooden tray.  Then I added a yellow crocheted doily, the control to my electric blanket, a darling little vintage clock that was a gift from a dear friend and a small devotional book that I enjoy.  I stood a small wicker-framed mirror behind the tray so I could use it when I needed a mirror.  You can see it here, next to the floor-to-ceiling shelf that’s beside of the closet.
This shelf unit gives me a lot of storage.  It has a door that will be added soon.  It’s a good place to keep my vintage train cases that are filled with clothes, things for my hair and makeup and odds and ends of things I just can’t leave at home.  Aren’t they cute?
Next to the shelf unit – in the front corner by the kitchen cabinets – is my walk-in closet.  It’s hard to get a photo of the closet, but you get an idea of what it’s like  My sweetheart is building a new door and he installed a light inside.  I want to do something special in the closet to use the space well and I want to make it pretty.
That’s the tour of my sweet, little trailer.  She is such a fun place to spend time – like the playhouse my dad built for me when I was a little girl.  I have gathered some great things for Daffodil - and those walls need to be decorated.  The fun has just begun.

A New Look and Another Adventure

Daffodil has a new look.  It’s what I dreamed for her from almost the moment I first saw her.  And I’m thrilled that she looks just as beautiful as I knew she would.  Getting there was a slow process and there were many decisions along the way, but she is forever changed.  What do you think?Finally – the old gold color is gone and she is a beautiful shade of creamy yellow and white.  Her white areas still need to be repainted but my sweetheart worked very hard to take advantage of recent warm, dry days of Spring to get this done. The upper rear ‘running light’ was still covered when I took this photo.  I was so busy I didn't stop to take more photos after everything was put back together.  I’ll show you more soon.  There have been big changes on the inside, too – but that will have to wait. 

Daffodil and I are leaving town this morning for the first camping get-together of the season.  Our destination is a beautiful farm about two hours south of home where we will join over thirty other vintage trailer gals for a weekend of fun and adventures at a wonderful country flea market.  There will be many photos taken and things to share when we return.   Until then  - hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s down the road we go!

Big Changes On The Inside

The inside of my little, vintage trailer is beginning to change again.  Work is in progress to get Daffodil’s kitchen cabinets and closet walls redone and installed.  This will give you a glimpse of what has happened so far.  The closet walls are in place and are being installed as I write this post.  I’ll show those to you very soon.

My sweetheart took the old panels off of the upper and lower kitchen cabinets so he could replace them.  His plan all along was to use the framework for both cabinets since it was still in good shape.  He removed the old panels and spent quite a bit of time scraping off the dried glue that held the original panels on.  Then he added the new panels and then he brought them into the house where it was warm enough for painting.  That process took over my dining room table, which was draped with drop cloths so I wouldn’t ‘accidentally’ end up with a white table!  First, the upper cabinet. . .
Then, the lower cabinet. It looks like it has an electrical outlet down by the floor but it's upside down! Between coats of primer and paint I cleaned up the little stainless steel sink and the original Formica countertop.  Pardon the pans drying in the sink – it was a workday and I didn’t have time to dry them so they had to dry on their own!
It was pretty exciting when the paint on the cabinets was dry and the countertop was clean and ready to go.  My sweetheart took each piece out to the trailer and it wasn’t long before they were all securely in place.
I took this photo before the lower cabinet was installed.  It was just set in place so we could see how it would look.  First, my sweetheart had to finish the paneling on the side.  That’s finished now but I haven’t taken another photo to show you what it looks like now.  I will take more photos after the closet walls have been installed and you will see how nice the wall and cabinets look since they were put back in place.  In case you wonder about all the openings on the lower cabinet, under the sink are two drawers and a small cabinet.  My little refrigerator goes in the big opening in the middle and the stove will be in the larger opening on the right.  Under the stove is another cabinet door.  I’ll have to find some creative ways to organize things in the two cabinets so they won’t rattle around when Daffodil and I are on the road.  We will be on the road again soon – but that’s a story for another day!

There have been more changes since the cabinets were installed.  In fact, there have been some very BIG changes that I can’t wait to show you.  You’ll see more photos soon.  And often.  Things are finally beginning to come together the way we have dreamed they could be.  She is a little flower that is just about ready to burst out in full bloom!  Finally!