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...

Merry Christmas, Caravan

One of the things I've wanted to do to the interior from the beginning was paint the night sky on the ceiling. There's a coffee shop just down the street from us that has a really pretty mural of clouds and constellations that I adore, part of my inspiration. Kryo's Christmas present to me is going to be even better than that: the Death Star Planetarium. I can either have a starry sky or the Star Wars galaxy dancing across the ceiling, no painting skills required! Plus, it'll make an awesome decoration when not in use.

We also received a gift card to Home Depot from Jet's family, to be put towards renovations. I have no idea how much it's worth, but it'll be useful none the less. Shopping trips to Home Depot are always fun.

Our First Outing

This past weekend, we took our camper on its first trip: Myschievia. Hippie camper, hippie/burner camping. It seemed fitting. And we met a lot of people who stopped to look because of the art & the general cuteness.

It was so nice not having to put up a tent in the dark (we didn't arrive until almost eleven o'clock), and to be able to get a full night's sleep every night. We could shut out music from the sound camps (both burns I've been to so far, we've been next-door neighbors to Resurrection, which is full of DJs) and block sunlight in the mornings. The bed was even fairly comfortable, considering it essentially was cushions on boards. Much faster to set up than an air mattress!

I'm glad we used it before we started modifications, because we now have an idea of what we need to do to make the space livable (i.e., not cramped & cluttered) when it's in use. Use the existing cabinets more efficiently. Hanging closet organizer for packing clothing. Have one dedicated spot for Kyro to put his phone. Smaller space heater. We're also thinking about removing the propane stove to have more counter space, and adding a permanent chest, ice or otherwise, to the outside for food storage.

One of my favorite things about it: protection from all sorts of weather. Days were warm, evenings were cold, and Monday morning we woke up to rain. The only leak we noticed was water dripping in through the vent above the stove. For a camper that's older than we are, I'm impressed. 

I love it so much already, as it currently is. I can't wait until we finish the caravan project!

And we have a winner!

Our new base for the caravan is a thirteen-foot Boler travel trailer. It's absolutely adorable. If you can get past the hippie paint job on the outside, courtesy of its previous owners.

It's a fiberglass camper, with a bench at the front end and a dining area that converts into a bed at the other. Tiny little kitchen area—just a sink & stove top—and a narrow closet.  Such great potential for decorating. I know I want to recover the existing cushions and replace the curtains with something a little more "us," meaning probably greens and not-so-garish plaid.

The beauty of this trailer? I don't have to clean out little gecko ghost bodies before we can use it! Also, it's very lightweight, meaning we can lift and move it by hand if needed. (That's how we managed to get it the rest of the way into Kryo's covered parking spot.)

The "before" photo set can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/54525421@N02/sets/72157624964943027/