As funds present themselves this winter, I plan to begin a complete makeover of Miranda to fix her little imperfections, make her reflect my personality, and combat some of the wear and tear on a twelve year old RV not designed for full-timing. I’ve been planning this makeover for six months now and have determined which projects will be done in what order, as funds avail themselves. I could luck out with work this winter and get enough funds to do everything, or I might only end up doing a few things, but as my favourite architect says “A good house is never done” so I will content myself with what I can do to make Miranda more livable.

My first project was one of the more blurry items on my to-do list, one of those problems that can only be resolved when you’re staring at the solution. I hadn’t been at Croft and Norma’s more than an hour when Croft was showing me around the workshop and casually told me that I could use some doors if I found a purpose for them….

What a waste of space. 🙁 Most RVs I’ve seen have a cabinet either above or below the fridge. I have no idea what Glendale intended for this space; it’s too high for a microwave. I’ve been storing two baskets up there, but they are so cumbersome and need to be taken down when I drive.

This is where I paused for lunch while waiting for glue to dry. 🙂

These doors just about match my other cabinet doors!!! Once I’ve painted (*g*), the difference will hardly be noticeable. When I made my initial measurements, I thought I would have room for two doors, but they each wound up being about a half inch too wide. This turns out well, though, since I was worried about finding latches secure enough to make me feel comfortable that the doors would not open while driving. Now, I have only one door to worry about and I can secure fragile things, like the blender, behind the fixed panel.

This is the new cabinet with the door open. It will be easy to access items stored behind the fixed panel.

Using only materials Croft and I had on hand, I now have an over-fridge cabinet!

To keep myself honest, I decided that I am going to detail how much money I’m laying on this project. Total cost so far is $0.00. 🙂 I used some 1X2’s Croft had lying around to build the supports for the fixed panels. For the fixed panels, I dug deep into my large pass-through compartment to get the boards for the other bed. Now that I know I won’t be selling Miranda and will most definitely not be needing those boards any more, I can use them for my projects to keep a matching finish throughout the rig. I used Croft’s nails and my own screws, his wood glue and my own braces. One thing I was especially grateful to have access to was his brand new table saw! Works great, Croft! 🙂 It’s amazing how much more quickly a project goes when you have a table saw instead of having to fight with a combination of a jigsaw and miter saw!

The project’s not quite done, but isn’t far off. The space wasn’t even remotely square, to my immense surprise, so I decided that it would be easier to add trim to cover up gaps than to try to cut the particleboard exactly, something I know would probably be impossible to do. I also need latches for the door to keep it closed. Neither items are particularly expensive and I’ll pick them up next time I’m out and about. The final thing is to get a door pull, but that will wait until I’m much further along in the renovation process and know exactly how many more pulls I’ll need seeing as they come from Lee Valley and are cheaper when bought in bulk, plus I’m sure I’ll need other goodies from them.

I’m very pleased with how this project turned out!