Project Camper

 For the last piece I bought peel and stick flooring from Wayfair  . It was very easy to peel and stick onto the floor. I used a Milwaukee Box Cutter.  Looks so good! Very happy with the way it looks. Brings everything together nicely.

 I bought chicken coop windows - they were a quarter of the price of RV windows. They are sturdy, have a screen and a lock. They also fit perfectly snug. My buddy Dale and I tried to install the windows... twice. But we could not get through the steel. So I called Lopez Construction - a local company here in Taylor and Juan installed them in less than 2 hours - no problem! He did have to reinforce the front where the kitchen window is with two pieces of wood - there was too much of a hollow space there. Luckily I had some scrap 2 x 2's on hand. All the windows fit snugly. We used sealant on the inside creases of the windows when putting them in. And then clear sealant along the outside edges as well.  I love my windows! It really looks like a camper now.              On the inside there were quite a bit of gaps and hollows from cutting into the walls. I used spray foam and closed them up with 2x2's that framed the windows. Make sure you wear ...

 These drawers were the hardest thing out of all I did for this camper. I can't count the amount of times I took them apart and put them back together.   Even so - you will notice that the front drawer is not on a track. NOPE. I trimmed it too small and the tracks wouldn't catch. I was not going to go through all that again - it slides in and out just fine without a track. I used leftover pieces of wood and painted them. Yes, they are mismatched. No, I don't care. 

 The cargo trailer already came with two interior lights - but they have to be connected to the car to work. I bought an over-head light and a under-cabinet light that should be sufficient. The under-cabinet light was easy enough The over-head light... not so much. First I couldn't use my hole saw kit because the drill bit in the center would have gone straight through the roof. The wood panel was very, very thin. So I got a little creative with it: Yes - Zip Ties. The ultimate fix-it.  It is not completely flush with the ceiling but - close enough. 

During the hottest part of the year I decided to go inside and work for a bit. I saw these really neat State & National Park maps on Etsy and made my own version. First I printed an outline of the USA & Texas in Poster mode. Did you guys know about Poster mode? I sure didn't until now. It's perfect for printing large things.  I taped carbon paper down underneath the outline and traced it. Then I used my wood burning pen to trace the outline.  I wanted to do little symbols of each national park instead of trees so I did a deep dive into what made each national park special and printed a copy of it.  For the Texas State parks map I used the star tip of the wood burn pen, then printed out a word document with all the park names written on it. This was so time consuming - but the end result was worth it! Looks good! Now to visit them all... 

 I was planning on doing a complicated pull out futon type bed but then I saw this on Pinterest: I thought this would be a better (and simpler to build) option. I started by setting out the legs - old fence post again. 18 inches high. Heidi inspected my work. Then the first flat piece - 21 inches long.  I ran out of wood so I had to improvise with what I had. Wood is so expensive right now! I hit a little snag with the rightmost hinge... But I managed to get it together in the end. When opened it is leaning a bit so I will have to add some fold down arms.