{"id":463,"date":"2016-05-29T19:55:38","date_gmt":"2016-05-29T23:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/?p=463"},"modified":"2016-05-30T20:28:44","modified_gmt":"2016-05-31T00:28:44","slug":"memorial-day-weekend-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/?p=463","title":{"rendered":"Memorial Day Weekend – 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0foam<\/a>\u00a0I ordered for the cushions arrived this week!\u00a0\u00a0On\u00a0Saturday afternoon we used each\u00a0bench seat top as a pattern to trace around on the foam, and then we used an electric carving knife to cut out the unique shapes for each dinette cushion. \u00a0(We purchased the carving knife from Goodwill last summer, and used it to cut the Memory Foam mattress for the bed. It’s come in handy!)<\/p>\n

\"Cushions-052816-2\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"Cushions-052816-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We *think* we have enough foam left to make small back rests, which will also cover the table when the dinette is converted to a bed. I’ll probably make some pillows to fill in, too.<\/p>\n

After we got the foam pieces cut out,\u00a0Wayne reinforced the bench frame with another support piece, and took measurements for the paneling that will cover the sides of the benches.<\/p>\n

It was really hot in the trailer (close to 90 degrees by afternoon!), so\u00a0I quickly sealed up the area around the A\/C with aluminum tape, and turned it on. \u00a0MUCH more pleasant working conditions! I sure wish we’d put it in LAST summer when we were doing so much work inside….<\/p>\n

\"AC-052816-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On Sunday (before it started raining–again!),\u00a0we sanded the bench seats.<\/p>\n

\"Bench-2016-052916-0-Sand\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When he was looking for a large drill bit to make a hole in the “access cover” section of the seat, Wayne\u00a0found one of my Dad’s old hand\u00a0drills, and it still worked well!<\/p>\n

\"Drill-052916-1-Wayne\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Drill-052916-2-Sharon\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As I was drilling a hole through the top of the second bench top, I couldn’t help but think of how my Dad would love to be helping\u00a0with all of these projects…. \u00a0While my Mom was a somewhat reluctant camper, my Dad greatly enjoyed\u00a0having a tiny home on wheels.<\/p>\n

\"Bob-Ruth-Camping-July1970\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"ShastaTrailer-Summer1970\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Each summer when I was a kid, vacation meant a road trip along the East Coast, (or to the Midwest or to Canada), with a small travel trailer following along behind us. \u00a0And yes, a lot of my desire to have a trailer now stems from the wonderful memories that were made when I was young, traveling around the country with my parents. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"Car-Camper-Sharon-July1967\"<\/a>\u00a0\"Car-Trailer-CanadianBorder-1966\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Anyhow, by the time we called it quits on Sunday\u00a0due to the rain, both bench seats (with access panels cut out and functional) were secured to the frames:<\/p>\n

\"Bench-2016-052916-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Paneling to cover the front and side of each bench was cut to height, but not to length; we’ll need to make a template out of cardboard to figure out how to cut the curves….<\/p>\n

\"Paneling-Bench-052916\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We also rough cut a scrap piece of Formica and put it on one of the counters, just to see what we thought. \u00a0We were both surprised by how much brighter<\/em> the area instantly became with\u00a0an off-white counter instead of just with the stained wood. \u00a0This isn’t a high priority project, but it’s certainly something to think about. \u00a0We’re also still looking at potential back splash options.<\/p>\n

\"Counter-2016-052916-1\"<\/a> \"Counter-2016-052916-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And in the meantime, I’m watching dozens of video tutorials about making cushions, and trying to decide if I want to complicate matters further by making piping<\/em> to go around the edges of the cushions!<\/p>\n

Yes, cushion-making\u00a0will be a challenge, but almost exactly a year ago I bought my very first sewing machine, and I was really struggling\u00a0to learn how to sew well enough to make simple\u00a0curtains for the trailer.<\/p>\n

\"Sharon-071215-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Well, look where that<\/em>\u00a0new interest\u00a0led! \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

\"BabyBlanket2-122415-2\"<\/a> \"BabyBlanket-112115-03\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"WatermelonPurse-112115-Finished\"<\/a> \"ApplePurse-111315-7-Front-Revised\"<\/a>\u00a0\"RaspberryPurse-111515-lowresolution\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"CatPouches-120315-1\"<\/a>\u00a0\"Minion-Bags-123015-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"ZipperedBags-052616-4\"<\/a> \"ZipperedBags-052616-5\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So you never know! \u00a0I was never interested in sewing when I was younger, and I had no idea that Wayne and I would find ourselves in the process of\u00a0converting an empty fiberglass trailer shell into our own\u00a0comfortable and functional tiny home on wheels. Life is full of surprises!<\/p>\n

UPDATE: Monday, May 30, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wayne got some more work done on the benches. \u00a0He put in more reinforcing upright pieces, and then he used cardboard templates to cut the first two pieces of paneling to start closing in the bench seat frames. \u00a0Looks great!<\/p>\n

\"Paneling-Bench-053016-1\"<\/a> \"Paneling-Bench-053016-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m not sure how well this unfinished paneling will take stain, but that’s the plan right now–staining to match the other wood in the trailer. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0foam\u00a0I ordered for the cushions arrived this week!\u00a0\u00a0On\u00a0Saturday afternoon we used each\u00a0bench seat top as a pattern to trace around on the foam, and then we used an electric carving knife to cut out the unique shapes for each dinette cushion. \u00a0(We purchased the carving knife from Goodwill last summer, and used it to cut […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-restoration"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6ap3J-7t","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=463"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":513,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463\/revisions\/513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/Soul-Journer\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}