There is nothing more satisfying than bringing a vision, and a dream, to life. I wanted my rig to look like a cute, cozy cottage; for it to be bursting with colour and life and to be truly reflect how I live. The front part of the rig, which encompasses the entrance, the kitchen, and what is now the library has come together just as I had hoped it would. This space is perfect and I cannot wait to start enjoying it!

First, the entrance stairwell. Before, it looked smashing… until it started to get water damage and serious abuse:

I used what I had on hand to make it more functional:

The back piece is a panel that I can pull out to access the water pump. It’s made of a piece of styrofoam, for extra insulation.

This is what the front part of the rig looked like at purchase:

dinette and lounge would become the library

and the kitchen:

And now:

(just need to recover the chair this spring!)

landing strip and entrance hook for purse and coat

one of several cabinets filled with books 🙂

more books; so it’s not silly to call this space the library! 🙂

painted cabinets with pulls

space tailor-made for the carpet cleaner

over fridge cabinet now has a pull (horizontal to match the original screw holes)

lovely and functional kitchen

loft is hidden

but still fits in when the curtains are open

Just as I was writing up this post, Donna came for a chat. She perched on the kitchen stool and I sacked out on the lounge chair and I rediscovered a more ‘normal’ way to live. 😀

I want to roll out of Osoyoos on Monday, January 31st, so today I began to prepare the rig for pulling out. The weather is perfect; we’re looking at a long stretch of above zero. Monday’s number has fluctuated and is presently at -1, but I’m not concerned since there’s still time for that to improve and the sunny forecast has been promised for a week.

First thing I did was removing the rig skirting. What a mess! The silver tape everyone told me to use left a nasty residue all the way around:

It’s going off with a scrubby pad and vinegar water but it’s going to take A LOT of elbow grease. I think I’m going to go splurge on a bottle of degunking stuff and see if that helps.

While I was working on that, I trickle charged the truck battery and then started the engine. Miranda came to life with no problem and idled at drive, but the check engine light is still on. I’m honestly not concerned at this point about the upcoming drive since I got her here from Kelowna without a problem. Just to stretch her legs, though, I want to take her down to the office tomorrow or Sunday to fill the on board propane tank.

I have to pause here to say that instead of having my usual pre-trip jitters, I’m giddy about leaving! It is just so exciting to be heading to an RV show to give a seminar and promote my new ebook and not have any real idea what I’m doing after!

Once the skirting was off, labeled, and crammed into the front pass-through compartment I topped up the battery water and the windshield wiper fluid on both vehicles.

The next thing I did really improved my mood: I moved my tools and reno stuff back into the basement!!!!!!!!

Now, I’m going to do a vacuum and dusting blitz to through the rig so that I can do a library and kitchen reveal. Heck, I might go all out and do the study, too!

After the Condiment Incident, I knew it was time to look at securing the contents of my fridge. I have a surplus of storage containers now for some odd reason, so I grabbed a couple of baskets and corralled the mustard collection and its relatives:

Dinner was cooking while I was doing that and then I had dinner in my kitchen. What a novel concept!

As a side note, you might be a grownup when you scratch the plans to make chocolate cake for dessert since a grapefruit sounds more appealing.

Donna came by tonight and helped me with the last thing the kitchen needed to be really complete: a place to eat!

The back room had a little drop down table for which I never found a really good use. Here it is in a past, past incarnation of the study:

One day, I was looking at the blank canvas that was the side of the new kitchen counter when I had an epiphany and came up with this:

The paint job on the counter base should look familiar….

And here is the table flipped up, with my 1950s stool, covered in remnants of the study curtains:

And one more reveal for tonight. Remember the new cabinet on the kitchen side?

It looks a tad better now (and notice the floor is finished with trim and everything!):

Inside, I have room for trays, my blender, my bread maker, and my rice cooker!

I still have a couple of odds and ends to finish up, plus the front room needs a major vacuum, but the renos are essentially done. I feel pretty accomplished. 😀