Just When My Fella Thought It Was Safe To Put Down His Toolbelt

... I've devised yet another DIY project for us.

When you have two mature (???  :)  adults sharing the same living teeny weeny living space, you better have some 'projects' up your sleeve or things could get ugly. Especially if one of the aforementioned adults is only employed for half the year.  Trust me... I know of what I speak.

We are a very very lucky couple.  Passive dividend income covers our living expenses and retirement savings.  I still put in a few hours a day on my stock stuff 'cause I love reading the biz news and researching companies.  Plus I have a wee bit of an old man crush on BNN's Howard Green.

My Fella isn't interested in stocks or investing.  His passion is sports and he works full-time during the golf season (April to Oct) at a small BC resort course.  My guy would like to continue working when we head south for the winter, but legally he can't accept a job in either Mexico or the USA.   

So I create new projects to keep him out of my hair us busy and productive.  Like motorhome renos.

When we first bought JohnnyDisco I had a funky vision for the office space.  But the plan had to be flexible since we didn't know what was hiding under the bunk beds (wires, steel bars, etc).

The first reno (bunk beds into home office) looked like this:

It was a great set-up, except for my desk chair lurking smack dab in the middle of the hallway.  Major obstacle course and a HUGE Pain in the Butt (or more likely a bruised knee) for anyone trying to sneak past that chair into the bathroom.  My five-legged rolling monster chair also had to be moved for constant rounds of Squeak Fetch with Shelbert. 

When I first envisioned the RV office, I wanted it completely in the slide that once-upon-a-time held the bunk beds.  The space is large enough for a small desk, bookshelves, a printer and the evil shin busting chair.  But My Fella and I were virgin RV-ers and ripping everything out of the slide made us both nervous.  

Fast forward one year and we are now experienced full time RV-ers.  Not much smarter, but definitely more smug.  After all, we've survived a full year without blowing up our propane tank, driving away with the slides out or getting wedged beneath a really low underpass.  

We are ready to tackle the Full Office Reno. 

First up, the destruction phase.  Everything had to be removed from the office:  the desk, the lower bunk and drawers and all the extra trim, staples and nails.

The materials were easily recycled.  We kept a bunch of the wood for our new office project and the rest was tossed into the RV park's bonfire burn pile after My Fella removed all the staples and nails.

Doesn't My Fella look like McSteamy in this pic?

Is there still a McSteamy?  It's just occurred to me that I haven't turned on the tv since last October...

Anyway, after completely emptying the former desk area, we discovered a snaky mess of wires and hoses that lived under the bottom bunk.  

My Fella constructed two wooden boxes to hide the wires away from our 5 month old pup, Norman, who has enthusiastically discovered that HE HAS TEETH.

After My Fella built the wire covers it was my turn to crawl around on the floor for a while, measuring, cutting and installing the new office floor.  (We work in shifts so we don't get on each others nerves. It's much easier this way ... and even after all these renos, we're still together  :)   

I have no pictures of me installing the tile (I only have two hands, people).  But here are some action shots taken when I removed the heating vent to see what was under the carpet, which we also want to replace soon.

Hopefully all of my tool-esque props convinced you that I do participate in the reno activities.  Especially during a full moon.  Or when we need a new office floor.  "Ta da..."

It's hard to tell in the above pic, but our little office floor is about 2 inches higher than the hallway because it's on a slide.  We like the colour and quality of our new tile much better than the original vinyl flooring that came with JohnnyDisco.  This project was so easy and inexpensive (box of tile was $30) that we plan on replacing the entire coach with new flooring.

The wire cover boxes (in the above pic) aren't screwed in place yet because I'm hauling them outside tomorrow to toss on a couple coats of wood stain to match the trim.  And I need to stain a long skinny piece of trim to cover the far right corner of the floor where the steel slide peeks up.

Also on our To Do list:

• cut the old desk top in half to fit the new space
• hunt around for three light weight table legs to install the desk top on
• remove the ugly window treatment that covers the lower blind
• build/stain three extra shelves on the right side of the slide
• put up a new corkboard - my old one has officially retired after 8 years of service
  

In the meantime, we're in the final planning stages of our road trip northwest to Nevada.  Our five month stay in sunny, southern Arizona is coming to an end ... hard to believe we head out early next week.  

On top of that:

• JohnnyDisco is going in for an oil change/check-up  
• Norman has a vet appointment for his rabies shot and his final DHPP, at two different locations  
• and we want to tour the Pima Air Museum before we leave town   

That's why I decided to spring this office reno on My Fella yesterday.  He renovates much better on a deadline   :)

Comments

[Mexico Mavey]

Hi ya guys,
Your renovation project is looking really nice.
I like the tile you put in.
We have 10 days left here and then we are heading north with two other couples.
Small world that it is one of the fellows lived in Salmon Arm for years and last year my former doctor was also in Lo de Marcos for a time and I never saw him once and he was in Cruz Marie.
Jeanette says the weather is still not nice at home and the snowbanks are up to there. We will take three days to get to Nogales. We'll keep you informed. Now off to search out motorhomes.

Luv ya all and looking forward to meeting Norman.

Mave N Mike

[Daizy]

What kind of tile is it? I want to put new flooring in my RV. The faded rose (pink) carpet is really depressing.

[Don]

WOW! Your fella even carries a circular power saw with him! Floor tiles tip: buy quality ones, we put self stick cheap ones on our rv floor and after a few years in the hot Okanagan storage lot quite a few of them started lifting. They would stick back down for a while but it was disappointing.

[kelsi]

Hola Outlaws - Norman is looking forward to meeting you guys too!

[kelsi]

Tucson Daizy - the tile we put in the office was just a cheaper Home Depot tile since we were only doing an 18 square foot, low traffic area. The tiles were .88 cents , or $18 for the entire project. They look awesome but I wouldn't use them in the high traffic areas of our rig (kitchen, bathroom).

In the rest of the RV, we're probably going with a product like the Trafficmaster Allure floating floor:
http://reviews.homedepot.com/1999/100592904/allure-plank-oak-6-in-x-36-in-resilient-vinyl-plank-flooring-24-sq-ft-case-reviews/reviews.htm
You can buy it at Home Depot and unless you're installing it on concrete it seems to hold up well. It's a floating floor and doesn't need to be glued down to a sub floor. We checked it out at Home Depot and it looks really good when installed. And I know a couple RV-ers that have used it and they love it... so far.
What were you thinking of using?

[kelsi]

Mr P - congrats on your new rig... Very exciting! I bet you and your lovely bride are already planning summer trips :)

Thanks for the tile tip. We used cheaper tiles (but still decent quality) in the office area since it's so small and doesn't see a lot of foot traffic. have you ever hear of Trafficmaster Allure? That's what we'll probably use in the rest of the RV.

[Don]

Our new rv is being made right now in Illinois and we will have it in 5 weeks or so. Our garage is already half full of things we are taking, (no circular saw tho), our first trip will be a local shakedown one, and then to the Oregon Coast!

[Daizy]

I was thinking Allure too! One of my commenters recommended it and I had never heard of it but when I saw it at Home Depot it looked promising.

[Jacq @ Single Mom Rich Mom]

I put the Trafficmaster floating Allure into one area in my house - it looks great and is easy peasy to do too. I'd love to get all the carpet out of my moho but am not sure what to do about the cab part. Rental RV's just have some kind of plastic down and it's super easy to keep clean. Carpet? Not so much. Especially with dogs, it's really hard to keep everything clean with them.

[kelsi]

jjolie - thanks for the vote for Trafficmaster. With so many folks giving it a thumbs up, we've pretty much decided to go with it for the entire RV. Did you install it in your house yourself? How did you cut it? Tin snips?