Look at the Changes

In June we purchased our Airstream trailer. At that time, this is what the interior looked like.

By the time we returned to Arizona, we knew the seating in the trailer wasn't comfortable and we needed to do something about it. We connected with RV Renovators in Mesa to remodel the interior. We dropped it off two weeks ago on a Friday. That Monday, they called us to come look at the space after the couch and dinette were removed.

Three days later we were back in their shop, looking at how the work was coming. The cabinets were well on their way.

And Friday, just two weeks after we took the trailer to them, the job was done! Just look at what the interior looks like now.

We love it! We finally have comfortable recliners to sit in and so much more open space. There is more storage space and it is so much more convenient than pulling up one of the dinette seats to get into the space inside.

Good job cabinet maker Curtis and the staff at RV Renovators

Chairs, Chairs, and more Chairs

Is the problem the chairs? Or is it us?

When we bought this RV in September 2008, it had a couch, a dining room table with four heavy, uncomfortable chairs, and two large, ugly, heavy, and very uncomfortable recliners. We quickly (like within a week) got rid of the couch. We got rid of the recliners and bought some very inexpensive chairs to replace them before we went on the road full time in January 2009.

By October 2009, we knew those chairs were worthless, so we bought these relatively expensive Lane chairs when we got to Mesa.



During early 2010 we got rid of the dining room table and chairs and had a custom-made desk and table built for the dining room. Without a couch, the chairs are where we sit almost all the time we are awake in the RV. By October 2011, those Lane chairs were sagging, with the seats needing extra padding. And the leather was loosing its color. So we replaced them with less expensive chairs last fall.



You can probably guess where this is going. By this summer, those chairs were sagging and one was wiggling on its base. We had owned La Z Boy chairs in our house and RVing friends Art and Connie suggested we look at some of the smaller La Z Boys. We thought they would be too large or too heavy, but we decided to look.

That was all it took. Today we drove to their warehouse and had two chairs loaded into our truck.





After moving last year's chairs out onto the patio



we set up the new chairs. Since they have no ottoman, we have more space in the RV. And they are comfortable. We just hope they last more than a year or two.

Friends and Home Improvements

Earlier this week, we met our friends Marcia and Bob at Mt. Athos Cafe in Florence. We know them from the Church of the Transfiguration in Evergreen, CO. They spend part of the winter in Gold Canyon, just east of Mesa, so Florence was a good meeting spot. We had a good lunch and three hours of great conversation.



That was the first time we had been to Mt. Athos, but other volunteers here recommended it and we are glad we tried it out. As we were winding up our visit, we could smell baking bread. I couldn't resist showing you the luscious looking loaves.



During the past two weeks, we have made a number of improvements to our home. First, we ordered new lawn chairs. John has never liked sitting in the inexpensive folding chairs we have owned. Within the last year, we read about the Strong Back chair in another RV blog. We both love the chairs! They really give good back support. If you are interested in them, they are available here on line.



The second improvement was sun screens on several of our windows. We fell in the love with the large picture window on the door side of our 5th-wheel trailer. It is great--unless we are parked facing south or west. Sometimes we have to put an aluminum shield in the window to keep the RV cool. So we investigated sun screens. This is how it looks.



As I was looking at the possible colors for the screens, I thought I wanted white, since the trailer is white. But then I looked at the windows and they appear black from the outside. And it really is amazing, but from the inside you can see the outside view clearly. The amount of daylight in the trailer is a little less, but we don't sacrifice the view and we won't need to completely block the windows when they sun shines in. It was a good purchase--and very reasonably priced.

The third improvement has been a new TV in the bedroom. We don't watch that TV very often, but we do use it occasionally. The old TV was large and heavy.



We picked up a small flat-screen TV at Wal-Mart. First we just set it in the opening.



Then John measured the opening in the cabinet, bought a piece of plywood and stained it. This is during the measuring step.



And this is the finished project. It looks great, we are carrying a lot less weight, and we have gained some new storage space. Great work, sweetheart!