The Lundy 5

Since it snowed on us in Arkansas, we were definitely ready to hit the road again. We found another family who wanted to stay on Lundy Mountain, so we left them to enjoy the spot, and feed the spoiled cats. :)  We decided to head back to Texas and then keep going west! We also found a couch to try out yet another remodel. Although we keep rearranging things.  I'm not sure if we'll ever get it just right, but it was sure handy to have all this seating when we were on the road! Makes our lunch and dinner stops and our overnights so much more comfy than the table.  Jack was especially happy to return to sunny Texas and he looked like this minutes after we parked! 

I doubled our counter space in 30 seconds! (Well, technically two days, thanks to Amazon Prime, if you count the wait.)  Yes, UPS delivers to Lundy Mountain and, as a bonus, Jack gets a treat from the driver! Even though I do still keep our counters cleared , and we're very used to living small, there just isn't much counter space in an RV.  I've wanted to find a cutting board or something for over the stove for years, but I wasn't sure what I wanted, so I just put it off.  Thanks to the  Make Over Your Mornings course, I decided this was something I really wanted, so I put it on my (purposefully very short) to-do list. I searched, thought, measured, and finally ordered a Baker's Measuring Board from Core Bamboo. One side for cutting (that I doubt I'll use as I like my small, color-coded, flexible ones) and one side for rolling out pie crust, that has some cool measurements and conversions that will be very helpful. And I can flip it up to stand beside the s...

I've been trying to figure out what kind of pot rack we could use on this wall in the RV, a wall mount, half round, shelf, etc. Then I realized I could just hang them on the wall!  So, my handy Allen got them all up and I love it! No more noisily digging them out from above the microwave. Then the lids were a problem. So after searching, I decided he needed to install some racks inside the door.  One option I saw was a simple wire.  So I requested that, but Allen was busy! What?!  While I still maintain that is a blue job, I did it myself. It was stupidly easy anyway.  Instead of screws or fancy hooks, I just used the hooks that we left in the door from a failed attempt at a spice rack years ago. Basically cheap plastic hooks.  I wrapped wire around them well on each side, bam. Lid holders!  Super easy DIY pot rack and lid rack, aka get the pans and lids out of the way!

In an attempt to keep up with the Joneses, or in our case the Johnsons, and have more storage space, we added some shelves to the boys' room. Boots are harder to store than flip flops! A year and a half ago, I said we probably weren't finished with shoe storage . Guess I was right.

We've loved having a real table in our kitchen/living room, but it was a little too big for the space.  And heavy!  Weight is always an issue for RVers. So we found this great little, lightweight, foldable table and some lightweight storage cubes/stools that we can move around as needed.  We can scoot it all to the side and use beanbags to watch movies or move it to the center to host card games or scoot it all to the side on moving day.  We have so much more room when we're boondocking (aka overnight camping at Walmart or rest areas).  It was such a pain to maneuver around the big table when cooking and eating.  Now we all have a place to sit and eat.  We can use half the table for work and half for TV watching.  Or move it all to the corner for a comfy seat for one (when we get a pillow).  Plus, STORAGE!  RVers can always use storage. As a bonus, my bread maker fits inside the purple cube! As another bo...

Spice organization problem solved!  We bought this spice rack at Amazon.com and we love it.  Except the clock used to be there, so we keep glancing at it first.  It's two basils past a parsley.  :/  I had them tucked away in a basket and it's nice to see them all at a glance now.  I may get all clear bottles and label the lids though.  That would be so pretty.  It doesn't fit the big boys at the top well though, so I'll be replacing those.

We saw this on the Marsee family's RV and thought it was brilliant!  It's a simple knot on the door handle with a rope that makes it easy to pull the door open for kids who can't reach, when your hands are full, etc. Video:

We've made a lot of changes to our RV home over the past three years.  Of course once Allen gets bored, it'll probably change again.  :)  Since it was a brand new RV, it was hard to begin remodeling and redecorating.  But once we got started, it was impossible to stop!  We love making it our own and surrounding ourselves with colors and things that make us happy.  Here's a peek into our Sierra Treehouse 35Loft, aka home.    We're loving our real kitchen table and sit around it all the time.  We don't miss the couch, since we rarely used it anyway, although we may downsize the table and put in a bench or two for more cushy seating and storage.  Even though it was pretty (and one of the things that sold us on this RV), the stairs/wall was not functional and took up so much space, so out it went !  We put in a bench for extra seating and great storage, and you just use it to go up the stairs. In the lower kids' room, ...

Since we're leaving tomorrow and I should be packing up, I decided to start a new project.  And then, you know, blog about it.  (Familiar, anyone?)  We wanted to darken our front window somehow, so we've been looking for options.  We couldn't find car window tinting film or dark contact paper, so I looked online.  As I searched for black contact paper, I saw chalkboard contact paper and thought we'd give that a try. The frame around the window was easy to take off, with about a million screws.     You can see all the styrofoam stuff inside.   Then I just cut the paper and stuck it on.   Can't tell from the outside. One layer wasn't enough, so I added a second.   Which was enough and blocks the light nicely.  Now the frame lets light through still, so it appears to glow.  I could paint the inside of it to really black it out.  We'll see!   For now, it'll keep the sun from blinding us at ...

I finished painting the living room, aka the slide, from where we took out the couch.  In November. :)  Unfortunately, Allen declared any painting a pink job long ago.  :(  I cleaned a little too. :) A rousing game of Euchre, I mean math class...  We also needed a place for shoes and have a big blank wall in the boys' room.  So after a lot of pondering fancy custom shelves for Allen to build me, I decided to try this quick and easy fix first.  Now, he still hung them, you know, blue job.  :) We can still hang guitars and hoops in front of the shoes with plenty of room for the slide.  Before and after.  Kinda boring.  FYI, call tan "desert camo" and the boys won't mind! That should be the last of our painting an RV and probably won't be the last of shoe storage for an RV. :/