Trying to decide on those countertops....

Having decided to go completely over the top and have fun with our tiny Winnie my next flash of inspiration was to put in granite conter tops. Love the look. Not so much a fan of the cost, or the weight!

Plain old bone white countertops. Definitely need an update in this area.

What to do? I scoured the internet looking for ideas and found quite a few. Rustoleum makes a countertop refinishing kit - that costs almost $200.00! There are a few others, like one with little color chips - like a garage floor coating - but they look kinda funny to me.

Doing the table to match the counters would look amazing, wouldn't it?

Another company I came across, GianiGranite, makes a kit for under $100.00 that looks pretty good.I need to ask them a few questions about their product, like how it stands up to temperature variations and such but it just might be an option. Of course there are tons of websites detailing how to paint faux granite, but not very many address the specific needs of an RV remodel project.

And the vanity and that skinny shelf will tie the whole thing together!

So now I am into the research and read phase. What will work, what will not and how much is this all going to cost. Stayed tuned for updates on this one because those counters have got to get something done to them!

Making glass flexible

So a big part of my plan to fix up the Winnie is putting glass tile in the kitchen and bath.

I found this stuff at Lowes:

The two colors go really well together. I cut them and meshed them in a grid pattern:

With the greens, blues and golds all together it looks amazing in person. The next step is figuring out how to get glass tile to adhere on the motor homes walls.  Traditional tile setting techniques won't work. Mortar and grout are rigid. Motorhomes flex and move. They go through temperature extremes. I have read many blog and forum entries that say the ceramic tiles pop off if you try to go the traditional route. Makes sense and I figure these tiny glass ones would, too.

I can figure this out. After spending another couple hours wandering around in Lowes (They don't even pay attention to me anymore) I looked at many, many products. Flexible grout seems like the ticket, maybe with some Liquid Nails to glue it to the walls? Sanded grout scratches the glass. Hmm, perhaps glue the whole sheet together with a backing of flexible vinyl white caulk - then glue that to the wall?

On the right is one right side up and 'grouted' with caulk. The left one is face-down and caulk is coated over the back, once dry I will turn it over and fill in the cracks between tiles. In theory this will make a flexible 'mat' of glass tiles I can then glue to the wall. The white caulk is so it doesn't muddy the colors of the tile. Experimentation showed that this makes a huge difference with the translucent tiles being nice and bright. Too bad since the flexi-caulk comes in a multitude of nice colors. Wonder if I could put the white behind and then use the sand color in the grout lines? Maybe that would not muddy the colors?

Back to Lowes.....

The bathroom

The bathroom is fairly small, but entirely functional and the shower area is actually larger than one would expect in an RV of this size. That specky-looking flower wallpaper will be redone in a gold on gold rag-rolled finish. I gathered handfuls of sample chips from Home Depot and Lowes and that one just caught our attention every time. We both really liked it and it will go well in the dinette area, too.

 I think I will put my little glass mosaic tiles on that skinny shelf.

I spent a couple hours in Lowes and found all sorts of ideas. The counter tops I think I'll redo in a chocolate brown granite - there is a kit that will do the whole RV's countertops and the dinette table and will look good with the wall finish. That window is an escape hatch so it gets no curtains at all - I for one do not want to get tangled up in mini-blinds while fleeing in the night! I am putting a vinyl window film over it that is opaque, lets in light but affords privacy:

The fixtures will be re-painted with Krylon Fusion paint in a pearl white tone. Replace the faucets and towel holders with brass. All creams, browns and golds - should look pretty good.

The floor will be Allure Resilient Flooring in either bamboo plank or a sandstone tile. Doug likes the bamboo and I am leaning strongly that way, although that would mean I have to paint all of the oak cabinetry. That really doesn't break my heart, although it is in really great shape. Hmm.

I will also replace the vent cover in the shower with a clear one for better light and upgrade the fan.

Hello Winnie!

I decided to do a blog about my RV remodel project since in searching the internet I came to the conclusion that one can never have too many sources of ideas for how to do a project like this! It also will make it easier for my own family and friends to play along and offer up suggestions - I'm looking at you girls...you know who you are!

In early December 2011 we became the proud owners of a 1998 Winnebago Warrior motor home. I promptly dubbed her Winnie. OK, so Winnie is probably the most un-original name ever for a Winnebago, but I like it and it's easy to remember so Winnie it is.

We actually started out looking for a 5th wheel. Seemed like the logical choice for full-time RVing, which was the plan. But like any half-way decent plan it did not survive the execution phase. Doug decided he wanted his truck cargo area, and despite the fact our truck came with a perfectly good Hide-A-Goose hitch system already installed, which meant we were already set up for fifth wheel towing with an adapter. Apparently this did not leave enough truck bed. Just in case we saw a nice 5th wheel he went out and bought a fiberglass topper just to seal the deal and make a 5th wheel impossible.

OK, so now we are looking for a conventional pull-type trailer. I was down with that idea and promptly started scouring Craigslist for classic Airstream trailers. I love them and figured "Now's my chance!"

Except that those are pretty rare in decent shape and a price we could afford. Most of them I found here in the Pacific North-Wet also had some serious mold issues. Not cool. Neither one of us really wanted to head for the desert to look for one just yet. So we looked at a few newer trailers for sale. All had various drawbacks - like that mold - or were leaking or just a bit too well-used for our tastes.

We are not buying new, but we do not want "rode hard and put up wet" either. Just a nice, well taken care of trailer for around 6 or 7 thousand. Shouldn't be too hard to find. Turns out it is hard enough that we gave up on the finding it soon part and rented an apartment on a short lease so we could be comfy while we searched.

Then, barely a week after we moved into the apartment Doug decides we need a cargo trailer behind the truck to haul our stuff that we left in storage up to Alaska and maybe we should be looking at motor homes.  Um, OK. We had ditched that idea long before we bought the truck - all the reasons: powerplant and house in one, it breaks down we have to live in motel, etc, etc. We had agreed this was not the way to go. So when he suggested it of course my response was "Yeah, that's a good idea! Lets look at a few!"

Our criteria were strict: Not too big; 21 - 25 feet is about right. Not too old; nothing over 10 years, certainly. Not in need of too much work; we have no shop or big back yard anymore to tear it down and fix it up so it needs to be pretty much turn-key. Easy enough requirements, should be able to get all that in one rig, right?

Right. Yeah right.

We set out with a long list of possibilities, intent on spending an entire weekend carefully inspecting and eliminating potential candidates until we found The One.It was a good plan. But like any half-way decent plan it did not survive.....you get the idea. Our first stop was in Everett to look at a Winnebago. It was also our last stop. We looked, we liked, we started peeling off hundred dollar bills. We actually managed to nail criteria number one: She is 23' long. She is way over 10 years old. She needs a lot of work. Hey, 1 outta 3 ain't bad!

So much for careful, considered shopping. She is now ours and we love her, or we will anyway just as soon as she comes out of that mechanics shop we had her towed to up in Everett....

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