What I did last Winter

                                                    The Cotswolds

I can't believe it was last year that I went to England for a month. I stayed with a lovely friend , a pen friend of sorts but on meeting we made a firm friendship. June looked after me and was I  treated to some lovely days and amazing places. 

My friend June is a member of the National Trust and with that comes  viewing to some of the most amazing castles,stately homes and parks. I was able to come along as she visited some amazing heritage places. I feel so grateful that I managed to travel before covid 19struck at the end of the year. Luck...pure luck that I managed to visit so many countries ....I will start in England ..

 Broadway Tower in The Cotswolds...

I loved the thatched roof houses and the green gardens.

even the more modern cul de sac had that English appeal

Just too many places to put on this one post so I will have to put up a few more as I did see a bit of English countryside.

          A Caravan and a couple of chairs

          A delay with the little caravan.....Oh Dear

Well the caravan is down from the hill but in the bringing it down the arm of the digger went right through the front smashing it in and breaking the window...Oh dear oh dear..I will take photos but it's been a bit devastating to say the least..I sometimes think all my projects are sabotaged in some way...Now I am attempting to panel beat a little before I carry on...oh dear oh dear.

A simple and delightful distraction has been to go to the local recycle centre, buy a couple of chairs and also to buy some fabric from our local buy sell and swap page and get to and recover the chairs.

It took hours to remove what seemed like several hundred staples but finally I had the fabric off to make a template ....

Pulling the fabric off was not as bad as I thought it would be .

The piping was the hardest .I had to borrow my daughter in law and upholsterer extraordinaire Kellys' sewing machine as I didn't have the right machine for piping.

I got quite excited as the chair began to take on a new look.

And was even more excited when I had it nearly complete.

The deep buttoning was no easy task..I recycled the buttons ,had to pull them apart and recover..The appliance that is used for this is very expensive so I asked the man of the inventions to think of something.. He did and came up with a simple effective free and easy technique using a block of wood  a core drill and a rubber mallet...It worked a treat.

I have tried to add photos and videos of the button covering invention but this blog site Blogger  has a new format and its not very user friendly...I can't even rearrange my photos.

I have one more chair ,exactly the same to do ..I hope to take more photos and some of the button covering apparatus ..it's so simple and works a treat.

I would love to have a programme that can show the before after photos in a split photo .

 

I guess the closest I can do is this 

All that remains now is that I  start the entire process again of course that means start removing several hundred staples.....Oh dear ...Maybe I should go out and look at the caravan again ...maybe it's still salvageable ...

The little caravan do up......

The caravan Do  Up...

I decided, after years of not doing anything about my caravan that it was time to do it up.

I have perceived many ideas for her, one being she was going to be my art studio. I guess I have no excuse for neglecting her or my ambition to make something of her... with her imminent collapse my arm is forced...  I have bitten the bullet and taken on this restoration project.

First thing I did was wash her all over...you can see where I have started and  and yet to finish ..When washed she started to impress me. Years of grime, mould and lichen was washed and scrubbed away to reveal a very pleasant looking girl.

Black oozed from the seals around the window..Oh dear I guess all the windows will need to be redone.

When doubt creeps in I start to imagine the lovely little kitchen with the island bar and two stools and the lovely oil cloth seats that fold out to make to most comfy bed because I will buy a really good topper,maybe even a wool one so I can cuddle up in the Winter with soup made with foraged herbs and vegetables...and I picture my wee house in the hills and what I will plant around it , like a little vege garden and some little pots with herbs ....I try to be positive because it is a big job ahead of me and today on Trade me  I saw one that was complete for only $10.000.00...The ever so patient man of the house is grumbling saying it will cost more than that to do this up...Yikes...Still I am going to be positive.

WOw she's come up so well...and only the one original coat of paint so it will be easy to prep ...getting more ideas...like maybe getting a huge decal made ...I need to start a budget ..

Corner structural damage ..

I have to admit that her coming up so clean gives me the motivation to continue. I started looking at other caravan do up video's and realise there were not that many out there. I can see I have some serious work and research to do.

The first thing I want to do  is to formulate a plan of how I want her to look. 

I need an empty shell to begin with to help with that planning ...so ...

I immediately begin ripping out the old interior. I have kept the seats to upholster and think I will use an oil cloth for wear and tear. I am quite excited about the prospect of using the skills I learned a few years back ..Upholstering the squabs should be relatively easy..I think I will also use piping ...Flash as ah.

I'm loving searching for fabrics..

Look at this one ...

Love this It's from France and way out of my budget ..Maybe I can do some folk art ..

This is a bit quirky ..Only want one square to frame but again out of my budget so might do a painting in a similar style instead.

Umming and ahhing about ripping out this curved wall ...its sort of trade mark for these caravans but .......

I really want it to go ...I want an open plan..a very open plan. After all I will more than likely be the only person ever using this caravan.

The old kitchen will have to go too..

Looking in through the window with the tree's reflected ..The sky blue on the walls is cool ..yeap I have my wall colour ..Not into the earthy colours.

The first thing I need to do is completely gut the little caravan.Then I will be able to plan better and make sure what I want to do will work. I have a rather intense smile here..obviously a bit out of my comfort zone but trying hard to stay up beat..

I thought twice about removing the cupboard because of the rounded entry but decided it had to go in order to fit with the plan I had.

As always with "do up's" its the discovering of more work than anticipated and presumably more cost that can be a deterrent.  So far Im not put off but I can foresee some serious body work...Well I'm not afraid of doing a bit of body work myself. A good riveter , panel beating hammer and new seals around windows after a bit of structural reinforcing is done and the trepidation may leave me..

Finding holes in corners and pretty much leaky building syndrome has its drawbacks but on the positive side it's all fixable .

This old Kitchen will have to go as the kitchen I have in mind is more practical for a lover of cooking and besides I dream of going to foodie places and markets and trying recipes based on the environment..Bluff oysters ,clam chowder and blue cod now make Bluff seem a very appealing place to have a weekend break. Foraging at Omaui and Bluff right at the bottom of the south island of new Zealand where the equins get blown back to Antartica. ....but not my wee caravan she's gonna be wind proof....

Tossing it all out the door is very satisfying ...I can burn some of the untreated stuff on the wood heap and some of the materials as there is no plastic...just wood and paint albeit that horrid particle board and enamel paint will have to be dumped . Bye Bye ...

Looking back maybe i could have kept the cupboard for a toilet ...NOOOOOOO Glad its gone 

In my next installment there is a disaster..I got the man of the digger to move her for me ..The arm of the digger gave her a nasty shove.....smash ...I will give you all the next update ..after I have finished crying..I will get onto another project whilst I await the man of the rubber hammer to fix the front and replace the smashed window..