Bunk beds and the kitchen sink!

I love the little details that Geo comes up with!

Geo has built these cool little cubbyhole shelves at the head end of each bunk bed, for things like iPad's, cameras, books, water bottles and other kid-related junk. They have these awesome little LED lights that look very much like old car headlights - they are so cute! He even has USB charger plug thingies - so they can charge the iPad and iPods, and their cameras. I mean, he thinks of everything. The bunks even have whiteboards on one side, so the kids can write on their walls in erasable marker pens ...

The bottom bunk, which will be used mostly for storage, hasn't got a cool cubbyhole. But it does have a piece of the original van's plywood, saved and reused. So that's cool, huh.

The ladder for the kids bunk's went in this week too, but the jury is still out on it. Geo thinks the MDF might not be strong enough to cope with MonkeyBoy antics.  MDF is usually full of formaldehyde so we had hoped to not use it anywhere on the van. 

Might pull it out and use ply instead. If funds allow? We'll see.

The kitchen cabinet framing is now complete, and the sink and stove installed! I LOVE the old stove. It's so 80's, it really takes me back to my childhood era!  The overhead cabinets including the range hood are also completed, and will be all screwed in place tomorrow. Yay!  And the overhead cupboards will come down to sit right on top of this sweet little window. Can't decide whether to put a tea towel rail over it so we can hang tea towels that will double as its curtain, or make a cute frilly curtain ... will have to wait till the kitchen has more character, I think.

The lounge is also coming together, and the plans for the Murphy type bed are drawn up and have been scrutinised. Hopefully they will go in tomorrow.  

Then the last part of the couch will go in, and the layout is complete. After that we sand and paint, sand and paint. Then we can start bringing our stuff in! Getting closer!

I still can't believe how clever Geo is at creating all this stuff with no actual plans/patterns. Working it all out himself. Designing, planning, then building. Clever cookie!  More soon xx

Construction instead of destruction

The last two days have been charged with positivity. As my daughter so insightfully articulated ..."Daddy's stopped taking things out of the caravan, and is finally starting to put stuff back in!". 

It seems we are finally in the construction phase, and it's a great feeling to finally be finished with the destruction phase. 

After drilling holes in the aluminium framing for the wiring, Geo couldn't find a store that sold plastic grommets (apparently they are little plugs that the wire passes through that stops the sharp aluminium cutting into the wiring) so he created his own alternative! He's really quite clever sometimes! It was my job yesterday to plug the drilled holes with these little hose offcuts ... 

Then I turned my back for a second and he had wired up most of the caravan through all the makeshift grommets! He ran out of cable though and we've had to wait two days for an extra roll to get delivered so he can wire up the ceiling too. But no twiddling of thumbs here!

Our caravan now resembles the inside of an Esky! 

These polystyrene packaging offcuts were sourced from a friends furniture truck business. Ordinarily it would be going to landfill, but we have saved it up over the last month or so and are using it to insulate the van! 

It's a lot like piecing a quilt as it can be quite a puzzle to fit the bits of polystyrene together. 

Geo is resourcefully using every last scrap piece, as there are always nooks and crannies to be filled ...

Last night he installed the new battery box which will house two batteries, the fuses and everything "power" related. It now has a door that opens so this can be accessed from outside the van. He has even sealed the box with rubber paint to further insulate all the electrics... Safety first! 

(The battery in there is another portable one that is just weighing the box down while the glue dries)

 We spent most of the day scraping off old glues and caulkings from the windows, frames and door, and scrubbing the aluminium with steel wool to bring it back to shiny ... Ouch, my arms still ache!

Tomorrow I'm back in the sewing room, and I'll be glad about that! 

I've started crocheting a flower cushion too.. Cute huh?