Finally work has re-started ...

So due to a variety of other commitments (holidays, family circumstances etc.) work stopped for a number of weeks on Morris the caravan. This was the cause of much frustration as we are getting ever nearer our May 2013 deadline.

However, over the last two weekends, progress has been made. Last weekend, we finally received our second batch of Sikaflex and were able to complete the re-seal of the entire exterior. Finally I can now say that Morris is entirely water tight.

We made more visual progress this weekend though. We, today, managed to insert the corner cupboard at the rear end of the van. We decided to add this before completing the wallpapering due to fear of scratching the covering when adding the woodwork, We were also concerned that we would be unable to determine the location of the batons to screw the shelves into once the paper was up. Pete therefore fixed the first one on today (my help mainly consisted of passing tools whilst chatting on the phone to a friend!) and he then put a thin second coat of specialist melamine cream paint onto the wood work (I obviously couldn't do this as I have just had my nails done).

I did, however, add some silver tape to the trim on the cupboard doors to prevent peeling.

So OK I admit it, not loads of progress, but enough to feel that we have done something. We have decided to spend an entire day next weekend on Morris so that we can add the remaining shelves and the paper. Will update then!

Thanks for reading!

Tanya

Away again, my poor garden!!

So, it has only been 4 weeks since we were last away in Morris and we are getting ready to go away again!

Since our maiden voyage, quite a few developments have been made with Morris. The complete exterior is now painted and mostly sealed. Not finished with sealing unfortunately, due to running out of sealant part way through the job so am going to have to purchase some more of the amazing stuff off the Internet.

Here are some pics of the outside all finished!!

This photo shows the effect of adding B&Q basic paint stripper. After only a few minutes, the paint is just flaking off. After a sand and a clean, we get to this!

As you know from my last post, I have also purchase some accessories for the van, and here they are in situ!

So, now the outside is finished, what next? To be honest, both me and Pete are knackered and the thought of continuing with the project is a little daunting. However, work must continue if we are going to meet our deadline of May 2013. Therefore, over the next few months, we need to remove the front end of the van inside and re-build the timber framing (from initial peeks and feeling the condition of the interior wall, we suspect that a complete re-build will be required as per the back). We then need to paper the interior (have found some sumptuous dark blue paper for the two ends and some cream paper with sparkles in for the rest), paint / cover the internal woodwork, create new covers for cushions and curtains with the material I have bought and finally fit new flooring.

We also need to create new tables / covers for the kitchen areas from white washed wood (to go with the nautical theme) and consider adding a sink to the bathroom area. However, neither of these things seem "necessary" at the mo, and we are quite enjoying using the loo area for storage so we need to think carefully before diving into doing this. Any comments / thoughts about next steps gratefully received!

Thanks, as always, for reading,

Tan and Pete :)

Back from our trip and progress already!

So, I hope you are all keeping well?

We are just back from our maiden voyage with Morris and had a lovely time. Our campsite near Much Wenlock in Shropshire was lovely and we managed to get all the way there and back again (I read the Hobbit whilst I was there) without any major incidents. When we arrived, the van was still together. Only problem, I decided to go off for a walk with the dog whilst Pete prepared the caravan for when I got back. Only thing, I didn't realised I had the caravan keys in my pocket so when I arrived back at the site an hour later, Pete was still sat outside waiting for me! Oops!

Anyway, the campsite was called Sytche Caravan and Camping and was great. Not only were the facilities brill, there was a great 10-15 min walk through the woods where the dog could run off her energy into the town. Here is the website and I have put a few pics below:
http://www.sytchecaravanandcamping.co.uk/

The other lovely thing was that whilst we were there, an old school friend of mine turned up at the site (this wasn't planned) with her family and vintage caravan so it was great to see her too. I will find out if I can add some pictures of her caravan to my blog as it is really funky!!

However, there is no rest of the wicked! And even though this is our first weekend back, the work continues. This weekend I have been out shopping on Saturday and have bought some cushions and accessories for inside Morris (all bargains of course) and I have managed to buy some really good material on sale at Dunelm Mill to cover the sofa seats. Pics below.

Also, we have spent a great deal of today (Sunday) attempting to remove the trim pieces on the other side of the van ready for painting. Has been a real pain to be honest with many of them rounded off. We have therefore had to use a series of drill bits to get them free. Is done now though and is almost ready for its first coat of paint. I am hoping with a nice bit of weather one evening this week, I can get it done.

At some stage we could get it looking like this:

Finally I thought I would just show you this brilliant book that I have recently bought from Amazon. It is called "My Cool Caravan" written by Jane Field-Lewis (big up the double barralled name!!) and Chris Haddon. Is a really inspirational read and I have added below a couple of photos of one van that has really caught my eye! Hope you enjoy reading this and I will update again once more work has been done!

Thanks for reading, Tanya :)

Looking pretty (but not too pretty - by Pete's orders!)

Just thought I would do one last update before our road trip. I have now made a number of additions to Morris to get him looking ship shape. I have added bunting, beach themed lavender hearts and have filled his cupboards with scrummy food!!

Here's a sneak peek!!

As always, thanks for reading!!

Just about ready for our first road trip!

So, we have had a mega weekend working on Morris, I am totally knackered! However, it has all been worth it as we are now ready for my birthday treat, our first weekend away in our van.

One huge bit of work we have done that has made a big difference is finally having enough nice weather to paint the exterior of 2 sides of the van. We have painted the top an antique white, and the whole of the bottom half (not just a stripe as previously) in "holiday blue". I am really pleased with the colour as it looks a bit like a sunny sky and follows the nautical theme that we are going with.

Pete has also made massive progress with the interior. Not only has he sealed the leak and made the back end of Morris water tight, but has fitted a new interior timber frame, filled inbetween with polystyrene and finally cut and fitted the plywood boards. We have drawn the timber frames behind onto the front of the ply wood so that we can see where we are screwing the shelving units back in. You won't be able to see this when we are finished as we are going to re-wallpaper.

Once we are back from our short break, we will need to crack on with sealing and re-building the front end of Morris as this is damp also, and painting the other two sides of the van. It is then just a case of making cosmetic changes like re-wallpapering, covering the interior cupboard doors, painting the cream areas and replacing the floor and lights. We are going to do this at a much slower pace however, so that we can ensure we meet our deadline for May 2013, but is not going to tire us out in the meantime! I may therefore update this blog slightly less regularly, but will make sure that when I do, it is even more exciting!

Thanks for reading,

Tanya and Pete

Huge jumps forward!

I didn't update the blog last week, more out of frustration than anything else. I spent a great deal of last weekend preparing for putting a white undercoat on one side of Morris, and Pete (my husband) continued to re-build the internal frame in the bottom left corner.

Unfortunately, the weather turned horrific and we had to abandon our hopes at getting a great deal done. This felt very disheartening and put me off doing much on Morris until the weather cheered up. It did cheer up and we had quite a nice evening on Thursday. I still wasn't quite in the caravan mood however, and instead went for a walk up some hills in the sunshine, stopping off at a lovely pub on the way home for a bowl of chips whilst watching the sunset.

So this weekend, I thought I should really make up for my neglect. I therefore got up early on Saturday morning, and proceeded to go and get my hair styled and had some beauty treatments. Don't worry, all is not lost for Morris, as I then came home and spent the afternoon continuing my painting prep whilst Pete did more work inside.

Then this morning (a Sunday!!) I was up at 8:30am adding the white external paint to one side. Whilst this was drying, I prepared and also painted the rear of the van. I used a paint recommended on a number of caravan forums. This is called "Tinkers Paint". (I apologise if this name is a little non pc - this is what it is called!). This is basically 75% exterior gloss paint and 25% yatch varnish.

After painting prep last weekend:

After first coat of Tinkers Paint - I feel another coat will be necessary - however the top half of Morris will remain white, from the bottom trim, we have chosen a lovely light blue colour - the Dulux Name for this is aptly "Holiday Blues":

And here is the bottom coat also on the rear of the van:

 

Whilst I worked on the oustide, Pete carried on his stirling work on the interior of the van. Here it is now most of the frame work is in. This has now prevented any water coming in at the back of the van, and all there is to do is add some polysterene (my neighbour has very kindly given us lots of this), add the ply wood boards and paper.

This message I am hoping will be read in another 30 years time, when Morris has continued to give families (including mine) lovely DRY holidays!!

I hope you agree that our work is progressing. It better had be as we have booked to go away in Morris the van very soon!

Thanks for reading, Tanya and Pete :)

Almost finished really (or not ...)

So we have spent another day working on Morris and have done a great deal. This is the first day I feel we have made real progress, probably due to us actually adding to the van rather than taking stuff away!

So we have finished emptying the back corner, and have cleaned and sealed inside to allow that section to dry out temporarily before the weather keeps dry enough (not sure if this will ever happen!!) to take the seals off and repaint / re-seal properly from the outside:

We have also taken the back trims from the interior back wall of the van, sanded, white spirited and painted with ivory matt melamine paint.

And finally, we purchased some boat type "wood effect" vinyl covering from B&Q and covered one door in this to decide whether this was something we wanted to do all over the van. We're not sure we can tell yet, until the cream has dried and we can attach the door back to the trim. Let us know what you think anyway - t.malam@btinternet.com! Thanks for reading :)