Not just a curtain!

I have another post started with a bunch of fun details that are getting knocked off while I wait for cabinets to dry and such, but I thought this item was special enough that it deserved its own post.

Who'd u thunk that a shower curtain would evolve into a major project?   ME!  Raising my hand!!  Because I don't do ordinary well..... OBVS.  Hello, have you caught onto me yet?   Yes, I could have thrown up the old shower curtain track, (I can't believe I actually held onto that grungy piece of plastic this long just in case my idea didn't work! You want it?  It's yours for shipping....) and I also could have bought a ready made curtain and cut it down.  However,  I saw this curtain at Anthropologie a year ago and fell in love with it.  

I pinned it  ( Pinterest is soooooo evil, it makes me do things....)        Here's my version.   UGH I wish I had ironed it before I took this pic. Imagine it ironed folks!

Did I make all those tassels by hand?   YEP!  I used embroidery thread in the same colors as the pendleton blankets (cause matching counts, LOL). The fabric is just a duck type canvas. I added three rows of horizontal pleats so I'd have something sturdy to attach the tassels to and hide all the knots underneath.

The shower curtain rod I bent out of 1/2 inch copper pipe.  I made a jig like this that followed the curve of the tub.

 The first time I tried to bend the pipe,  I filled the it with sand that was a maybe little too coarse and there were some voids (or I got a little too aggressive) and the pipe kinked.  DANG!

The second time I filled it with salt (yes, I washed it out really well after) and it worked like a charm. The pipe actually bent pretty easily.   I used copper bell hangers to attach it to the wall .  Where it attaches to my copper covered wood bulkhead wall I bolted it through with a fender washer on the other side. Attaching to the fiberglass endcap was a little trickier because I was afraid it would pull out.  I ended up epoxying a circle of aluminum to the fiberglass, reinforcing it with a few rivets and then screwing the bell copper hanger through that.

 I thought I might have to extend a support from the ceiling but with the three hangers it seems secure enough.  No monkey bar swinging on it but ...

Rear mount with a 90 degree fitting and a small straight run of pipe

 Front mount bolted thru wall. with a 45 degree fitting and another small straight return

I tried E6000 glue for the fittings but it didn't work.  I then used some Gorilla Glue clear  5 minute epoxy  which did the trick!

The copper hooks were actually fun to make,  I built another jig.  Drew the basic shape I wanted with a sharpie on a scrap piece of wood, drilled two holes with a forstner bit, added a couple of pieces of a 1/2 inch wood dowel and voila! I bought 8 gauge copper grounding wire from a big box store for the actual hooks.  Bolt cutters to cut, and a dremel with a grinding bit to burnish up the ends . Pretty simple and about $5 in materials. 

I even figured out if a hang a few hooks backward they can be used as towel hangers! Sweeeet.

I liked this shower curtain so much I made a room divider just like it #totallysickofmakingtassels.  It's on a spring curtain rod so we can use it to cordon off the bath area or use it up front when I want to read and my husband wants to sleep.  I'm kinda a night owl! Yes, my tub is on the bed, its a work in progress, deal with it!

In other matters,  my kitchen cabinet/counter is coming along nicely. And we've started the fresh water plumbing which is beyond exciting.  A couple of fast questions for you all.  How do I secure the fresh water tank to the floor?  I have VERY limited space. 

And where do I put the fresh water campground intake faucet?   Point me to your pictures of such. I'm assuming in the back left belly pan area?

Lots more to come soon I promise!

Bathroom Cabinet, check!

Some downtime during an April Fool's Day snowstorm has resulted in another post!  Good thing for snowstorms or this blog would never get updated!

Next on the list was the bathroom cabinet.  Here's the fame I built out of 1x2 popular and the Kreg jig.

I wasn't super happy with the how blocky it felt.   The original plan was to make the front left edge (next to the tub) rounded but unfortunately the tub had a raw fiberglass edge that wouldn't have been covered. Instead  I added this detail.

 I'm in love with the rounded toe kick detail, hopefully I can do this on the kitchen cabinet also.  All the seams will get covered up when I skin it with 1/4 inch BB.

 The top was templated in luan and then cut with a jigsaw out of 1/2 inch plywood. 

After much debate I centered the sink on the window and the light and blithely ignored the fact that it wouldn't be centered on the cabinet doors beneath.  My husband and I disagreed on this but it's one of the perks of being the builder!  I get to decide!

 Because I wanted the counter top to appear thicker than it actually was, I ripped 1/2 inch strips off of the same piece of plywood I made the counter top from, and glued them to the front and side edge.  Because the corner was rounded I needed to add a little more backing there.  Every time I try to make something rounded it ends up adding hours to the plan and execution!!! Pfffffft.

The counter is covered with the same copper I used in the shower area. The copper went on using contact cement, thus LOTS of dowels.  It actually is very easy to cut using regular scissors.  While the company says you can roll out any creases in my experience this didn't really work very well.  It definitely is a material that will show some dings and creases.  If you bend it over a sharp edge the patina will crack off so I used an 1/8 inch roundover bit in the router to route the side and front edge.  The counter surface is certainly not pristine,  but in my mind it has charm and character.  After installed, I hit it with a few coats of their Copperlac (lacquer) which dulled it a tiny bit but should improve durability.  I did experiment with Minwax laquer but it didn't seem to go on as well as their proprietary product.

 After cutting out the opening, wrapping the sides and stapling underneath.

The cabinet was covered with 1/4 inch BB (glued and brad nailed) and all the openings and edges trimmed with a flush cut bit in the router.

 Dun dun dun dun duuuuuuuun! Sahhhweet!

And the finished cabinet........well,  minus the doors and shelves.  And faucet....Sigh

I'm getting really excited at being at the point where running water is in sight! Got the water tank in this past week from Vintage trailer supply. Quickly figured out that it should have been one of those things that went in BEFORE the bed.  LOL.

Has anything around here even once gone the way I saw it happening in my head?
(That's rhetorical. Obviously.)

We have TV!

This all happened around Thanksgiving last year. I am woefully behind updating this blog but as I am currently stuck home in the middle of an ice storm, I decided that catching up a little would be a good thing!

I know there are purists out there that turn their noses up at having a television in a vintage rig,  but my husband and I LIKE watching movies in the Airstream. We are not content to just play cards or cribbage when the weather won't cooperate, so a TV was on the MUST list.  When I built the front cabinet, I even made one bulkhead wall out of 1/2 inch baltic birch (all the other walls are 1/4 inch BB) to provide a more secure, stable mount for the TV.

This is the TV we bought, it is both 12 volt and 110. It's LED and has both computer input and USB input.

This is the the MorRyde TV mount we bought which was frankly overkill.  It can hold a TV of up to 25 pounds and the one above only weighs 6.61 pounds! However, it was the only one we found that that had an 24 inch reach and a 320 degree swivel that means we can watch it lying in bed....

 
from the front recliners....

and it can even swivel around and be pointed out the curbside window if someone needs to keep track of a certain sporting event!

We had a bit of an issue with the MorRyde mount. The unit was obviously heavy duty and well made, and the "snick" it makes when it locks into place is sweet.......  but for the life of me I couldn't get it level.

The cabinet was level,

 the TV when latched was level

the top of the bracket was level

but the first arm coming out of the bracket was drastically out of level so over the 24 inches the TV was drooping at least 3/4 of an inch.  This wasn't super noticeable to the eye, but it definitely bugged me.

I was going to just live with it as I figured it was that was the nature of hanging a heavy item off of a long arm.... then I thought maybe I should just call the company and see what they say.   I'm happy to report that my experience with this company was phenomenal.  I called them and explained the issue I was having and then sent the above photos to their customer service representative..... who spoke English without an accent, and was in the US! And was super nice and understanding to boot!

He agreed with me that this was not normal, sent me out a new unit very promptly and emailed a free shipping label for me to send this unit back. He sent me emails confirming his actions and offering any additional help.  In short, one of the best customer experiences I've ever had!  This company stands behind their product 100%.

The new unit was installed and the issue was fixed.  No more sag!  I'm looking forward to many cozy nights curled up watching movies. The recliners ROCK!

As a side note, we mounted it with bolts instead of the included screws, and used fender washers to spread the load out a little (see the second picture above).

I added this antenna from VTS,   it seems to work very well.   I'm still on the hunt for one of the vintage antennas but for now we have TV!

And I just have to say this.... GO PATRIOTS!!!!