Trailer Remodel

Welcome to our tiny home! 

It was a nice trailer before, pretty new, only 4 years old and in good condition. But it was so incredibly dark!! I never loved it. I liked how the space worked for us, but the kitchen had no working room because of the over mount sink. It took me a couple years and being locked down for a couple months for the hubbs to give in and let me go for it. Here is a picture of the kitchen after and before, I know, it should be the other way around... oops!

I started with the bathroom just to see if it would hold up and it did. We went on a weekend trip to the hot Colorado river and no problems with the paint.

 Before the bathroom was roomy, but very dark with all that brown wood and tan walls. Just kind of dark and blah. After painting I added a back splash some decor and painted our little shelf blue. Color makes me very happy!

I loved the way it turned out and every time I went in there it just felt so much like a real home. I was told very reluctantly if I sprayed the cabinets and did not roller them, I could do the rest of the trailer. The hubb's truly was not happy about this project.

I started prepping in the bedroom. It ended up being about 90 degrees this day and I was in this little hot box trying to get this paper and tape to stick everywhere I didn't want paint hitting since I was spraying. This is when it hit me how much work this project was going to be.

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

It just feels so much cleaner and I can actually see in it now that it's lighten up a bit.

Here is a bit of the work in the main part of the trailer. We have a toy hauler, so it is a garage when we are traveling. Everything needs to fold nicely up to the walls to fit the dirt bikes in it. The beds in the back move along a track up to the ceiling.

Prepping this part is where I started asking for help, Dr. C knew he was going to make me a new counter top, but not a big deal, I told him that was all I needed him to do. He really didn't want to do any of the work, he even asked me if I was SURE I wanted a new counter. I have said I needed one every single trip we went on and we spend A LOT of time in our trailer. 

When I got to this portion of prepping, I was already physically exhausted. This was just a couple days into the project, but the ceilings in a 5th wheel are tall and I am 5 foot 3 inches. On a ladder there are portions of the ceiling that I can not reach. So reluctantly, he helped me.

We had 1 month between when we got home from our river trip till we were going on our summer road trip. I had less then a month to get this baby done! I was working as much as I could while neglecting my regular job and my kids. In the evening someone would come in the trailer and ask me about dinner, I'd have to stop painting and make dinner while the hubb's cleaned the paint spray EVERY SINGLE TIME! It's the little things. 

BEFORE

Remember how I said, color makes me happy? Well, I needed another place to put my lovely blue. I thought painting it behind the curtain where the beds are would be perfect, it makes it feel somewhat separate.

AFTER

 See that little table by the chairs? Again, with a toy hauler, nothing can be out. It gets really annoying when I have to pull all the tables out from under the bed when we are stopping at multiple places. I really miss having a dinnette that folds up to the wall like our old trailer.

BEFORE

 Dr. C had a nice little surprise for me. Unfortunately this is not the first one that was made.

I picked the stain, but it did not quite turn out what I was picturing and then before getting approval, Dr. C put a glossy poly urethane on it. I didn't want to say anything because he worked so hard, so I just mentioned I wanted a different poly on the counter top. But at the river a friend showed me a picture of a bar with burnt wood! I completely forgot about that technique and that was what I wanted!! Once the countertop was done, the hubb's could not leave this little table how it was. So, I got a second perfect little table.

It's the little things that go a long way. This lovely little painting tent was one of those little things and was made just for me to spray the doors! This saved me so much time and made them turn out so much better then if they were on the ground.

Here is my kitchen before, dark, no back splash, over mount sink, and no counter space.

BEFORE

Here is a picture of the blue risers on the stairs, this seemed to be the best place to stick this picture.

AFTER

Trailers have small kitchens to begin with and when we bought this trailer, I thought that little bit of counter would be enough, but with the limited cabinet room, it usually holds my banana's, melons and Malibu rum. So, not much space left to work. The faucet was horrible to work with also.

Changing out the counter top meant taking out the oven, since the oven was coming out, might as well take out the microwave to make my life easier. Dr. C is so helpful!

AFTER

Now, look at all that counter space, the wonderful faucet and the amazing countertop. My tiny kitchen is my favorite part of my tiny home.

This countertop is closeup worthy. It is made with stainable plywood. In a trailer you have to keep things light and we couldn't do much more than plywood for weight.

Trailer remodel - start to finish - 3 weeks! Now one week to get ready to go on a road trip. 

Kristen

Finally!!! I have a kitchen back!

It's done! I can't believe it. September 23rd we discovered we were loosing about 200 gallons of water a day under our house and we turned the water off. That started us on a long journey of holes in our house, dust everywhere, eating out and constant people in our house. Oh, and did I mention, a torn apart kitchen? Well, it was a long 78 days and I almost, just almost cracked this weekend. But, I made it and it was all worth it.

Remember this kitchen?

Not bad, it looks clean and well kept up. But it was very dark and even if it is nice maple cabinets, I LOVE white! I also didn't like the travertine in the kitchen, it's just not practical. One spill and it soaks right in. (Just wait till you see my floor choice.) I was so over the "Verde Peacock" granite. Black with iridescent green circles all over. Luckily it was so dark in there the green was hard to see. But, it did go with the lovely forest green carpet this house came with.

Remember this lovely stove that didn't fit more then 2 - 3 pots at a time?

Much better! I can actually use all 5 burners at the same time, even if I am using a big frying pan next to a big stock pot. I also like the design much better.

Ok, enough of my chatter, I will show more pictures. At least now you finally got to see my back splash choice.

This was just 5 days ago. They were putting up the back splash and I couldn't use the kitchen at all that day. Just looking at the mess sends tension up my neck.

This was Tuesday, 2 days ago. My wonderful husband took time away from work to help me put in the floor. He is much more patient with the cuts around the cabinets. I would probably get too frustrated after a while, try to rush and saw my finger or something.

Yesterday...

Finally, tonight, right when we got home, little C sat at his normal spot at the counter immediately. I feel like he and L spend half their lives right at that counter, L on the end and C right there. Any time I am in the kitchen, that's where they are. Homework... right there. Any kind of art or craft... right there, breakfast, snack or just hungry... there they are.

Ooh, under cabinet lights.

Now, I need to paint the whole house. Well, the kitchen that is attached to the dinning room and living room that is attached to the hall.

I don't know if I showed the sink before with the little tiny garbage disposal side, but I can't even tell you how wonderful this sink is. I actually like doing dishes in it. (Maybe that's just cause I was so over not having a sink at all for over a month.) I don't know if I will ever say like and dishes in the same sentence again.

Remember why I didn't like the travertine? Funny, I put wood in my kitchen. I have a very good reason, after we put wood in our entire house, we had about 500 square feet left! That's a lot of wood just sitting in our garage taking up a lot of space. So, that combined with the fact that it matches the rest of the house and it is way more forgiving then tile we decided to put it in. Also, if something happens, we have almost 200 square feet left.

Yeah, I do remember saying I wasn't going to keep chattering. But it just happens when I am so excited. Tomorrow I get to enjoy my kitchen with some friends for a meal prep party and on Sunday, I get to enjoy it with loads of family. We finished just in time!

Good night! Now, I can sleep well in a clean quiet finished house. 

Kristen

Last Preview

Here is my final kitchen preview before it is finished I don't want to show bits and pieces any more because it is such an extreme difference. Last week we got the new pendants up and the doors and drawer fronts all came off for the refinishing of the cabinets. It was a little easier to use the kitchen.

Just in time for us to escape to the desert, our kitchen got all tape off and prepped to spray.

This is what our living room is like now. Nothing else can fit in there. It is not a relaxing place to be.

It also stinks!!! We got home to an awful lacquer stink and the living room is so cluttered with boxes, chairs and appliances, we spent the evening in our room reading and playing games before bed. Little C loves that he can barrow books from the library on his iPod now! L and I played sequence and she beat me bad!

Remember on the last post I had my samples of back splash up? Well, I finally decided what I am doing! I went to Bedrosians, walked in with a mission in mind and bought a back splash almost immediately. I saw something on the wall and told the guy I wanted it. The bummer thing was the new die lot was a different color. They did have something slightly darker, though and I went with it.

The majority of people that I asked said to go with the blue. It was a beautiful color, but I went shopping and found all this...

The though of being limited to a back splash color was heart breaking so I had to let go of the blue. And, that's all I am going to tell you about the back splash! I hope it looks good when it is up!

Until next time, this is the only sneak peak at my white kitchen...

My back splash is in today so it should be going up at the end of the week. Monday my floor will get raised a couple eights of an inch and leveled then Tuesday, I start the wood. It has to be done by Wednesday because I have house cleaners coming Thursday (something I only do when we rent out our house!) Then Friday people to prep meals and Sunday extended family Christmas dinner. We have a very strict time schedule! ALMOST DONE!!!

Kristen

We Have a Countertop!

We finally got our countertop in! I am so excited. Our sink and stove will get hooked up tomorrow. I can use my kitchen again! But just when I can use it, I have to empty it all out. 

Here is my kitchen now. Today the granite went in and the drawer faces and doors came off.

Tomorrow I will get to use this beauty! It will be so nice to not have to walk upstairs to use the bathtub to wash some dishes.

In about 8 days, I will get to take all my pots and pans out of boxes to see how well they fit on the new stove top. The nice square stove top with no weird angles.

Tonight, the kids got to eat dinner at their favorite spot, at the bar. We are becoming very close with Chipotle. There are not many organic options when eating out.

See that door below? That is what my kitchen is changing to, Dove White from Benjamin More.

Now, I just need to come to a decision on the back splash. Both have things I love. The blue is hand crafted and the color just makes me happy. The gray arabesque is a very unique shape...

But what I love most about it is the aged look it has.

The thing I don't like about it is I feel like the color will get lost unless I have a ton of color on my counter. I have 2 more samples of arabesque tile I am picking up tomorrow, but they are just plain porcelain. If I am going to go with the more bland color, I at least have to have the aged look with the lighter edges.

I don't know, maybe I will come up with something completely different after making a 3rd trip to the tile store. I'll let you know next week what I decide.

Kristen