Picking out carpet; so many choices.

Not much is going on here.  We took the RV in a week ago to get an estimate for new flooring.  We are going to have the treads on the steps to the bedroom made deeper, have the new toilet put in since they have to take the old one out anyway (no extra charge), and have a receiver welded onto the rear for a bike rack. 

We went to a local wholesale carpet dealer and picked out LVT (luxury vinyl tiles) and carpet.  This is really good carpet, and since it will get heavy use between us and the two dogs, we went with the higher end carpet and an 8# pad. 

I have to decide how I want the tile layed.  They charge extra to do any fancy layouts, but can stagger the squares rather than line them up.  Because this looks more like porcelain tile I want them all going the same direction, and they are going to grout between the squares. 

Here are our choices:

                                            Mannington Adura Vibe LVT
                                                   in Linen 18" squares

 

Shaw Tuftex carpet:

 Coronado Bay in Taupe Charm

 

 

 

I still haven't put up the backsplash tiles.  It has been too hot to do it so I'm going to have to wait until we have a weekend when the temp is in the 80s  instead of the high 90s.  Like I do every Sept.   I am getting sick of the heat and I'm  ready for some cooler days. 

I'm going to get some "before " pictures taken this week before the RV goes in for the flooring.  We are scheduled for Oct.6th. 

On a totally non RV related topic, I have been watching the HBO series OZ on my new iPad Mini (an early birthday gift from John).  There are 6 seasons and 8 episodes per season so it's going to take me a while to get through the whole series.  It is extremely violent but the acting is terrific and I'm totally hooked.  It's interesting in that this was the first series HBO did (1997-2003) and Edie Falco and Christopher Meloni are just two of the then unknowns who have roles, as well as Rick Fox and the guy who plays the professor on the Farmer's Insurance ads (as a really creepy Arian Brotherhood inmate) and the guy who plays Mayhem on the State Farm ads. 

The cooktop is in.

I forgot to mention that John finished taking out the old stove and replacing it with a new cooktop.  Our old one was white, and the oven wouldn't light.  Instead of taking it to the dump, or taking it apart and putting it in the garbage can, we posted a FREE ad on Craigslist and it was gone in less than an hour.  We have been able to get rid of quite a few things that had little value but were a pain to get rid of by putting a "free" ad on Craigslist.

John built a box to fit under the cooktop, and covered it with walnut colored contact paper to match our cabinets.  He found a shop that will make a door to match our existing cabinets so that is on order.  Here is a picture of the cooktop and the cupboard below without a door.  I'll get a picture once the new door is on. 

Big score on E-Bay

I have been looking for a recliner for the RV for a while, and found several that I liked but nothing was exactly what I wanted.  I had been to the LaZBoy store before but then decided to wait, and after looking at several furniture stores, Costco & Sam's Club, I returned to LaZBoy and narrowed it down to several leather recliners that would fit in the space I have in the 5th wheel.   I really like the power recline feature but that added $300 to the price of the chair. 

I decided to check Craigslist and E-Bay since I've found some good buys there before.  I couldn't find anything I liked on Craigslist, but on E-Bay I found the very chair I was interested in from LaZBoy.  It was advertised as being like new with tags still attached.  It looked great from the photos so I decided to take a chance and make an offer on it, conditional on approving of the condition when I saw it.  The seller accepted my offer and John and I drove over to Fremont (75 miles south-west of Sacramento) and WOW, the chair was perfect. 

I asked why they were selling it and the seller told me he had bought it for his wife just before she had their new baby boy.  She didn't like the leather on the chair because she said it made her perspire.  So, they put the chair in a spare bedroom and waited a month or so to see if she changed her mind, but she still didn't like it, so they decided to sell it.  I got it for  $400, and of course no tax or delivery fee (well, it did take a 1/4 tank of diesel in the truck to get there and back). 

On the way home, we stopped in Elk Grove at Pizza Bell, our favorite pizza place.  It's called Pizza BELL because the owner's last name is Bell.  They have fantastic pizza, and although its 22 miles down the freeway from where we live, we get down there about once a month, usually with our friends Roy and Rhonda.   We actually have a tradition that we started two years ago; we go there every July to talk about our retirement plans and all things RV related.   They are going to retire the same date we are. 

We took my other recliner that I (like the lady above) never sat in because I couldn't get comfortable, to a consignment shop after we got home. 

I'm a very happy camper and look forward to many years of relaxing in that chair.
Here's a pic:  It looks very red in this picture but in regular light it is a very dark brown with a little burgundy undertone but nothing like the red in the picture.

August already?

Wow, I can't believe it's August already.  Summer is flying by and only six more months until John turns 65 and stops working.  It is so hot here that we can only work in the RV early in the morning on weekends, so it's a good thing we have lots of time to get everything done. 

This morning I made a Starbucks run and then met John at the RV, which is parked in the storage area in our mobile home park.  We were going to finish putting up the last of the hinges and drawer pulls but discovered the new screws were too short and the old ones were too long for the dresser drawer fronts.  So, off to Emigh Hardware to get the right size.  In the meantime, our new Moen Indi faucet was delivered by Fed Ex so we went back to the RV to finish up the hardware and start on the faucet. 

To make a long story short, 3 hours and two more trips to the hardware store for the correct fittings for the water lines, the new faucet is in.  I was at home so John took pictures for me on his phone and I almost had a stroke...it looked like the faucet was not going to reach the sink....we have a crazy angled sink as you can see in the pictures below.  John rushed back over and phoned me and said it was fine.  He took some more pictures with my camera and you can see it's just fine.  Whew!!! 

                                               

The next project is to build a box for a cabinet to go under the new range top.  We took out our old range/oven because the oven doesn't work and I wanted to have the space that it took up, since I use my convection oven exclusively anyway for baking.  John found a place online that will make a door that will match our walnut cabinets so he's going to take the measurements and order that.  When he's done I'll have a nice cabinet for more storage.  We have a ton of storage in this RV; one of the reasons we like it so much, but you know you can never have too much!! 

It's only supposed to be 95 tomorrow, down from 106 on Thurs. so John may start on the stove project in the morning. 

We have gone back and forth on whether to replace the day/night shades with roller shades or wood blinds and after pricing them both out, we've decided to go for broke and do the roller shades.  They are pricey, even with 40% off through Blind Chalet, so we'll order a few at a time so we can spread out the cost over several months.  All these fixes are adding up and we aren't even to the expensive things yet....new flooring and a new electric awning. 

We were saying today that we hope to be able to get the RV painted sometime in the not too distant future.  After reading Howard's post on RV Dreams about having his painted, I know it will make a world of difference in the appearance of the RV.  It costs in the neighbornhood of 6K dollars so that will be the last thing we do.  In the meantime, we're having it detailed by a mobile detailer to help preserve the finish.  John has been diligent in washing and waxing it every year, and calking all the roof vents and seams, but with his torn shoulder, he deserves a break this year so we'll hire it out. 

That's it for this week.   The boys (grandsons Dylan, 6 and Massi 4) have camps in the morning so I'll be picking them up at noon and then playing Gramma in the afternoons. I have been so blessed to have cared for them since they were newborns.  Both their parents have busy careers that include long hours and out of town travel, and it's wonderful that I've had the time to be a part of their day to day lives.  It has been a priceless experience.

Dylan will start Kindergarten in two weeks.  He did a pre-K year and it really gave him time to get ready for school.  He is a ball of energy and is so athletic the sky's the limit.

 Massi will be going to preschool three mornings a week.  He is the sweetest boy imaginable. 

The New Blind

Here's a picture of the new blind. We also got two new LED fixtures to replace those brass ones you can see in front of the blinds. Also a picture of the bar pulls installed. Thanks honey for all your hard work!!

Interior Updating

We have been doing a lot of updating to the inside of the 5th wheel over the past few weeks. Lots of Amazon shopping!! We ordered a new roller blind for the back bay window from www.blindchalet.com It came last week and John installed it on Saturday. I love it. It's got a day sunscreen and a blackout shade for total privacy. It's not remote controlled but you just give a little tug on the blind and it goes up or down. A huge improvement over the fabric vertical blinds we had before. The shower enclosure, hardware and mirror frames are all brass and it really dates the interior. So, we are replacing it all with satin nickel. I ordered cabinet pulls and hinges from Amazon and John has been installing them over the last two weekends. It is so hot here right now that he can only work in the early morning for several hours before it becomes unbearably warm inside. The bar pulls are for the kitchen cabinets and drawers, the pantry and the bathroom cabinets. The rest are for the overhead cabinets in the living area and the dresser drawers. Also got new wall sconces and a ceiling fixture from Camping World this morning. I think it will make a huge difference when the last of the brass is gone.

I also ordered a new faucet for the kitchen sink. It's Indi by Moen. I found it on E-Bay and it was $50 less than Home Depot.

The next projects are all big ones; replacing the flooring and a new electric awning. Those will have to wait until fall.

Nobody said this would be easy

For those who have read my previous post, after receiving good advice from my daughter I have decided to delete it. Discussing personal financial information on a public website is not a good idea; one I should have been aware of, but having grown up in the pre social media era I'm not used to thinking about the ramifications such information can bring. So, we will be looking at selling our home in the Spring so that we can spend our time traveling and seeing the country.