Eating Cake & Having It, Too (when it comes to bed + table)

Wow, over a year since I last posted. Not that there's much to discuss in the way of progress.

Some of the lack of progress was due to 2012 simply being a rough year for us. Two months into 2013, and I'm not sure yet how much better this year will be compared to last. Hopefully, we'll at least be able to do some work on the inside of our Boler. Which leads to another reason for lack of progress...

...I don't know what I want to do with the inside.

Pinterest has been both a help and a hindrance. There are so many great things people have done to their Bolers and vintage campers, it's a wonderful source of inspiration. It's also a wonderful way to get overwhelmed with all of the possibilities. (One of my favorite boards for inspiration is http://pinterest.com/ceilityme/bolers-campers-caravans-and-trailers/) Browsing Pinterest can especially be overwhelming when my taste is all over the place. Gypsy vardo + steampunk + geekery + vintage + "Oooo, I like that idea!" = a muddle of things. Which may be me, but isn't cohesive in such a tiny space.

One thing that I've been debating about is what to do about the bed/table situation. We never put the table up when we've used our camper on a trip, mostly because we don't want to bother with making & unmaking the bed all the time. Really, when you're exhausted, who really wants to mess with cleaning off the table, rearranging the cushions, and making up the bed before you crash? On the other hand, I haven't wanted to lose the functionality of having a table for those days when the weather is too bad to be outdoors due to rain, cold, what have you and having a solid surface for card & board games would be useful.

I've also not been fond of the front bench area. It generally ends up being the "catchall" spot because we don't have a good organizational system yet, and no one sits in the corner by the stove. There's no room for your feet there, unless you tuck them underneath you. Some renos install a shelf or cabinet or some sort of storage unit in that space, but that solution has left me rather blah. And then there have been a few renos that have made me think "That's brilliant!" before wishing I had thought of it on my own while simultaneously plotting how to do it in our vardo-to-be.

Leave the bed as a bed and turn the front bench into a two-top table.

It solves several little tiny problems all at once: we have a bed; we have a table; the corner seat will get used.

There are a few options for the table, as well. Permanently attached to the wall in a stationary position. Attach it like the existing table, so that it can fold down to make a bench bed. A folding table, or TV tray tables that can be moved out of the way if need be. Install a side table or something more decorative than the typical camper table top. More options to decide on, yes, but I don't have to choose between having a bed or having a table. I can have both.

I'm Pinterested

Not too long ago, I discovered Pinterest. It's been a lot of fun browsing & pinning photos of things I like and ideas I want to remember. Much easier than sorting through a ton of bookmarks! 

 

Geek Caravan Inspiration

Amalgam Vardo

One of my favorite things about Flipside this year was the hand-built vardo at the Amalgam Coast's campsite. So darling! What really impressed me were the details--permanent bottle opener, fold-down kitchen shelf, hanging flower baskets. I hope ours turns out as adorable as this one:

Project Book & Paint Chips

Tonight while making Flipside Shopping Trip #2 at Walmart, I randomly purchased a small project notebook with no solid idea of what I would use it for. Until I got home and pulled out the stack of paint samples I'd collected from there and from yesterday's Home Depot run. Even though it doesn't have pockets to put things in, it'll be a great physical way to make notes and keep track of progress and ideas. And the paint samples.

Oh, the paint samples. I can't help it. I've always been fascinated by the myriad options of pinks and blues and reds and browns, all lined up in rows, cards ready to mix and match to find that perfect color scheme. And the names! Not just pink, but Bunny's Nose, Soft Muslin, Odessa, Tutu, Reverie Pink, Peony, Sugar Egg, Rose Sorbet, Musical Mist. This is what happens when you let creative people pick names. Engineers would pick things like Light Pink, Lighter Pink, Lightest Pink.

Most of the paint colors that I'm considering are greens. Pale green, grass green, pear. There are a few pinks, some lavender, and one or two blues I'm also contemplating, but for now, the greens have it. Not too girly, not too overwhelming, something relaxing for our home-where-we-are.*



* For both of us, the concept of home is not nessecarily a specific location or the burner community's sense of "the location where we can be ourselves outside of society norms," but with each other. We could be camping in the woods or visiting another state; as long as we're together, we're home.

Vardo Inspiration

While we aren't doing a traditional vardo—rather obvious by the choice of the T.A.R.D.I.S. as our door, don't you think?—the art on traditional vardos is beautiful. 

From Vardos of the United Kingdom:
Picture Gallery
Bow Top Interiors
Bow Top Exteriors


From Flickr:
Gypsy Caravans
Romany Gypsy Bowtop Wagon Caravans

Other Sites:
Gypsy Vans by Roth: Gallery
The Gypsy Caravan Company

Cat-astrophe

Unfortunately, our plans to panel the camper before Memorial Day weekend have been derailed, thanks to Ender.

Ender Conner is Kyro's Bengal. Ender is one of the best cats ever, but he has one tiny little bad habit that finally caught up with him. He loves chewing on rubber. If you ever look at Kyro's bike, Ender is the reason the handles are covered in duct tape, not a rubbery grip. He will steal your toothbrush if it isn't solid plastic, and he noms on items "normal" cats would ignore.

Last week, he stopped eating & drinking for several days. We took him to the cat hospital to find out what was wrong, worried that it could be too late. Initial diagnosis was a urinary tract issue of some kind. After running a contrast test to determine if there was blockage, they couldn't find anything unusual. After exploratory surgery, they couldn't find anything unusual. Finally, he had a bowel movement, in which they found—you guessed it!—a tiny piece of what used to be rubber.

By Monday, Ender was almost back to normal, if a bit annoyed by his fashionable new Elizabethan collar, but our caravan fund was not. Truth be told, I'd rather have Ender alive and healthy than a geek caravan without a cat, but it is a little disheartening to start saving for the camper all over again. (Mom & Dad, if you're reading this, we still have the PayPal fund set up to help us out!)

New Year's Renovations

Instead of resolutions for the new year, we have a list of renovations for turning our Boler into a vardo. In no particular order:

• Paneling the outside
• New flooring
• T.A.R.D.I.S. door
• R2-D2 dome
• Roof AC unit
• Permanent ice chest on the outside
• Marine battery
• Small generator
• Remove the propane stove
• Repaint cabinet doors & sides
• Curtains
• New door handles & latches
• Replace the existing mirrors
• Replace the current wooden pegs with something a little more us
• Curtains
• Cushions
• Border/trim
• Geeky details as we come across them

Most of the alterations (the interior ones, definitely) are cosmetic. The wood paneling is the most obvious step in transforming the Boler from a painted egg on wheels into a gypsy-style caravan wagon. And while there's nothing wrong with the sky blue cabinetry or wall-papered doors & cubby covers, it's just not us. Especially with the geekiness we're adding. The permanent ice chest, marine battery, generator, and removal of the propane stove all match the type of camping we do. (We own several portable camp stoves already, so we don't really need one in the camper as well. Besides, an outdoor kitchen offers more space for cooking meals.)

While we wait for consistent weather (it snowed today although it was in the 60s for the past week or two) before working on the outside, I'm going to start planning interior color schemes and the like. All I know is that I have to include plaid and green somehow...