It’s that time again — time for another Dewey The Dewdrop update! Last time I checked in with you guys, I had just finished priming her interior walls. A liiiiittle bit more has happened since then 😉
I painted!
I went with Benjamin Moore’s Simply White eggshell finish and let me just say I don’t think I’ll ever use another brand of paint again. I purchased a full gallon thinking that I would need to do a bunch of layers, but after just two, it looked perfect. Not to mention, the service was super fast and clean (in times of Covid, you know) and the people who worked there were extremely helpful. I am a huge fan and I think this color will be the interior color of our future home someday 😉
I built a bed frame!
As luck would have it — I initially had plans to get to the hardware store to buy a bunch of wood and put together your classic slatted bed frame but life got in the way and I hadn’t gotten there. So on a Monday morning as I pulled back into the driveway after taking Marty to the park, I noticed across the street and just a few doors down, what appeared to be a pallet. I initially walked over to check it out cus I knew my neighbor had been looking for pallets for work, but when I reached it, I immediately realized it wasn’t pallet wood at all – it was a bunch of 2×4’s fastened together to be what looked like a mattress frame for the bed of a truck! I measured it out (I literally always keep a tape measurer on me – thanks mom!) and it just happened to be the exact width that I was planning to build for Dewey’s mattress (seriously what are the odds?). It wasn’t quite the length I needed, but I figured this was not only a time-saver, but also a budget-saver too! That was a ton extra wood I didn’t need to buy, it was already mostly done, and there I had a pattern laid out right in front of me! I went to the hardware store and spent barely anything on wood and some wood screws, and I slid both pieces into the trailer for the perfect raised, slatted bed frame! This will not only help stop mold from forming underneath the mattress when conditions get dewey (ha, get it!?) or rainy outside, but will also aid in insulation under us while we sleep! A real win-win.
I ordered our foam mattress from FoamTouch.com – a recommendation I got from another gal who renovated a trailer with her husband – and it’s a recommendation that I will continue to pass along! Their prices are reasonable, you can select from different thicknesses and foam densities. The shipping was FAST. But I was most impressed with the fact that they will cut odd shapes and sizes for you! Our mattress is an odd size. It’s somewhere (width-wise) between a twin and a full. And it’s most definitely an odd shape – It’s sort of an L … longer on Al’s side and shorter on mine. All I had to do was plug in my measurements (in which they offer a fool-proof picture description) and they did all the cutting for me. All of it! I thought I was gonna have to figure out a way to cut through 4-inch foam … but nope! My original plans were to also put a topper on the foam, but I think we’ll give it a go as-is first and then decide if we need to add a little extra support.
We framed out the kitchen!
I had to pick Josh’s brain when it came time to build the dividing wall and kitchen frame. I have literally never done anything even remotely similar to this in my life before, so it was fun sitting down with him and getting a real understanding as to how this would actually work and come together. I went to Home Depot and purchased some more 2×4’s and some birch plywood. After consulting with Rachael and Virgil, we agreed on the birch plywood because it’s lightweight, it’s a cheaper alternative to really nice birch, but it’s got a much prettier grain than your average plywood. It will look really great with a nice matte poly finish on it (I can’t wait for that part)! It wasn’t a *great* visit to Home Depot — someone took my cart, the saws weren’t working to make cuts, and our car ended up being one full inch too narrow to put the ply inside sooooo I had to strap it to the roof. But I made it! I’m learning that hardware store visits should *usually* be made with a partner. And what’s with the super skinny aisles, Home Depot!?
Josh and I got the kitchen built out in a couple of hours and I felt like a giant lightbulb went off in my head as we were putting it together. We made a couple of adjustments along the way and came up with some pretty cool ideas, and I think when it’s all said and done we’re going to have a really nice, simply finished kitchen space. Which, in my opinion, make a lot of sense when you’re camping. Sometimes less is more.
After discussing with Josh, I decided to go with an outside source for the kitchen drawers. There are a lot of specific tools you need in order to make some quality drawers on sliders, and I don’t have access to them SO I originally planned to Ikea-hack my way through it by buying existing drawers, tearing them apart, and putting them back together…but that dream was quickly vanquished when I realized just how oddly sized our kitchen really is. The time and the money that would go into that just didn’t make sense. So in the end, I ended up logging into our Next-door App and I put it out to the universe (or rather, the neighborhood). In a matter of hours, I had a bunch of different offers from older men with garage wood shops who were super interested in my build and were ready to offer their services. So I ended up hiring someone local! He came and checked out the trailer (he has two of his own), I had to make a few minor adjustments (and when I say “minor,” yes I do mean I had to take apart the entire kitchen, trim some things down, and put it completely back together again, thanks for asking!), and now he’s in the process of putting a couple of drawers together for me! So that’s where we’re at with the kitchen!
What’s next!?
Well! With the kitchen underway, I think it’s finally time to draw our focus back to the galley door as well as the side door. Both need to be insulated and get their interior skins installed, primed, and painted. I think I need to find a better handle for the side door. Latches need to be installed on the galley door, and we need to come up with a final solution for keeping the galley door open. Other than that – I want to build a little pull out tray that sits overtop the battery in the front box to store things like day packs and lanterns. And then it’ll be time to install the finishing touches, like some netting in the bedroom to hold items in place, bedding, hooks and things for kitchen-ease…the fun stuff! It really feels like we’re getting close. It’s been fun to go down there and actually lay on the mattress and envision all of the amazing trips that we’re going to be able to take pretty soon! Weeeee!!
thanks for stopping by & for following along on this project of mine!
xo
LAUREN LIVES 