The Sugar Shack - Camper Chronicles Pt 2

It's been one hell of a week, let me tell you. We are 5 weeks in on the Sugar Shack, but sadly, a bit behind on our progress.

Last Tuesday, with the entire weekend dedicated to getting the electrical, ceiling, and walls completed, Brian got hit by a car. 

We woke up early and he rode the minibike down to the store to grab snacks for the day, and on the way back, was T-boned at an intersection about 1 block from the house. The lady in the car stopped at the 4-way stop, but didn't notice Brian to her left, and proceeded even though he was half-way through the intersection. 911 was called and Paramedics took him to the ER to make sure nothing was broken. His left cheekbone was about 3 times it's normal size and he's had a shiner for a while now, but other than some major bruises and serious soreness, nothing was seriously hurt. That doesn't mean that he hasn't been in crazy pain all week and barely able to walk during the busiest week of the year at work. Plus, I've had to help him out and take care of stuff related to the accident and, being the holidays, everything takes 3 times as long. I made the mistake of going to Safeway for groceries the Tuesday before Thanksgiving at 4:30 pm, and all I can say is that I'll never make that mistake again. Needless to say, we didn't get much of anything done on the trailer last week. I got all of the hardware off of the cabinets and collected all of the old wood and wiring from around the worksite. The weather was beautiful, so I got in a nice hike too :)

The next week wasn't much better. I've been having trouble sleeping, feeling really dizzy and out of it, and getting horrible headaches every day and couldn't figure out what was wrong, so I decided to whip up a batch of the "Master Cleanse" (lemon, water, cayenne, and maple syrup) in an attempt to detox a little bit. I have been feeling much better, but Brian gave it a whirl and it ended up making him violently ill, so he's been projectile vomiting ever since. On top of everything else, we were exhausted from the busiest work week ever (that may sound like an exaggeration, but I'm telling you that it was, literally, the busiest we've ever had at work), but we still managed to get a little bit accomplished. The ceiling is up! We thought that it'd be pretty straight forward and move along quickly, but nothing is ever easy: 

I bought a new nail gun and it took us a solid hour to figure out how to use it. Brian has a massive air compressor in the garage that we hooked up to, but it had a leak and was a little inconsistent, to say the least. It would start out way too strong and shoot the nail straight through the plywood and then be too weak and leave the next one hanging out half-way. He was up and down a ladder (great when you can barely stand on one of your legs) trying to adjust it and fix the leak while periodically shooting to see if it was fixed and running in and out of the trailer while I was holding the plywood up to the ceiling to keep it in position. The first sheet was up after over an hour, complete with about 600 nail holes. I guess that's what puddy is for...I'm just hoping that it all looks ok after I've stained it.

Relatively early on, we figured out that none of the studs were 48" apart, which means that we'd have to lay everything out beforehand and cut every single one of our perfect 4x8 sheets. We even had to add some 2x2 to the sides of the studs to extend them out so we'd have something to nail into. There also was no framing around the edges on top, so we're hoping that the wall panels end up helping to support the ceiling once everything is said and done. 

There's also a spot right in the middle of the trailer where the ceiling dips down a solid inch and there isn't a single thing we can do about it. We put in a new stud and tried to screw the sagging stud into it to straighten it out, but there was only so much we could get it up without any kind of support from the inside or outside. Once all of the panels were up, it looks pretty nice, but I can still tell...

We also got all of the wiring put in and the rotten wood out and replaced which allowed us to screw the windows back in...something that you can't see but took a lot of time and makes a big difference. Since then, I got all of the surfaces that will be painted sanded (oh, and take my word for it, don't wear sticky lip gloss on sanding day). I pulled out staples and got everything smooth, but I need to putty spots and do some caulking in the bathroom before I can paint and put up the tile. Every single junction in that trailer had this rubber edging that I couldn't stand and pulled out, but now there are little gaps that need to be filled in, so I'll be working on that. We are bending a piece for the front wall to add a custom touch, so hopefully that will be ready to go by Tuesday. Next up are the switches and outlets, walls and all of the trim that covers the seams and corner-round along all of the edges, wallplates for the electrical and then stain! I cannot wait to stain. 

Oh, and I need help - I have sheets of aluminum for the backsplash, but it's shiny and scratched up. I had planned on just sanding it to "brush it up" a bit, but it totally didn't work. Luckily, I just did a little section, but it totally lost it's reflective properties and is basically just a matte light grey surface - not what I was going for. I like an industrial look and need to do something to camouflage the sheets' imperfections...any ideas?

I really wanted to get more done this week, but I've still managed to get blood and splinters and cuts and bruises and sawdust everywhere, so I guess it was a success ;) The good news is that most of what's ahead is fun stuff where you can actually start to see progress! I've been shopping for chairs and tea kettles and linens, getting ideas, and can't wait to start making it mine. I even bought a rug for it on Cyber Monday ;) Don't worry, I'm trying not to get too far ahead of myself.

The following weekend came and went, and not much changed on the ol' trailer. We had a lot going on, so it was a busy one anyway.

Bugaboo has been having some issues and has been explosively defecating on pretty much every surface of the house. I'm not sure if he got into something or if the new brand of food we got him isn't agreeing with him, but it ain't pretty. Every day we come home and have to wash our bedding and clean up a few little land mines from around the house, and I'm over it. 

We went down to Phoenix to pick up a new sectional and dishwasher that Brian's parents gave him, and then posted some things for sale and were trying to choreograph meetings and hardware store runs and picking kids up and dropping kids off. We got the new couch put in and sold the old ones in the same day, installed the new dishwasher, cleaned and filled up the hot tub, moved in Brian's friend that's staying with us for a while, and managed to deep clean the entire house while we were at it. It was a little hectic...and keep in mind that Brian's still hobbling around with a bad leg from the accident. Oh, and I got tickets to Belgium in May for $370 round trip , so I've been busy thinking about an epic European roadtrip too :)  I wish I had a bigger post to share with you all...

We had ambitious plans on Tuesday, but woke up to freezing temperatures (it even snowed for about 37 seconds) and 50 mph gusts of wind and concluded that there was no way we could get walls cut and put in and work outside. My stuff was scattered all over the yard from the wind, so we got it anchored down and set up camp inside. Brian got my heater all set up and it's marvelous. The space is so tiny that it heats up instantly and is just so cozy, I love it. He primarily worked on electrical and wiring for all of the switches and outlets and a new porch light and then installed a switch and outlet in the bathroom. I noticed earlier that it didn't have one and figured it would be nice to be able to flip on a light and for guests to plug in a hair dryer or razor. I worked on caulking (big mistake) in the bathroom and filling holes with putty and sanding. By lunchtime, Brian hated the trailer with every fiber of his being and I was ready for a trip to Ace for paint! 

I opted for a really dark grey that was as close to Benjamin Moore's "Iron Mountain" as I could get for the bathroom walls, a wall in the main part of the trailer, and all of the cabinets. Brian found me a bunch of foam brushes in the garage and I set to work.

Don't pay any attention to the messy paint job and lack of painter's tape, it'll all be covered up eventually anyway. I'm also noticing that it comes off a little blue in the pictures...I think it's definitely more grey in person

Here are some of the highs and lows of my experience:

1. A good paintbrush is pretty much the best thing that's ever happened to me. I've always been way too cheap to buy an expensive brush, so usually I'm stuck with foam brushes and spend the day cursing them. I started out with a big foam brush for the initial coat and it took me about an hour to paint 20 square feet of wall space. I did a super thin coat to make sure it was smooth and even and I cut in all of the tricky angles and caulk (oh the caulk...read on for details). I was squatting down and lost my balance and fell into the wall, catching myself with the foam brush and snapping it like a twig. Brian dug out an old brush from the garage for me to use, and I'm telling you...heaven. It held so much more paint and glided across the surface with ease. It was comfy in my hand and made the job go by in the half the time. I'm sold. 

2. Silicone caulk is the bane of my existence. I started off thinking that it would be marvelous to fill in all of the spaces that were originally filled with rubber trim for a nice, clean finish. I bought a little tool that would clean up all of the excess and leave me with a crisp line for paint. Well, it didn't work that way. I spent at least an hour trying to scrape the super-thin film that was left behind with a razor blade because paint won't stick to it. I'd scrape, rub with my fingers into little balls that could be wiped away, and still managed to find spots while painting that I'd missed. I'd wait for the paint to dry and then go back over it with a razor blade and sandpaper to rough the surface up for the next coat of paint, and lo and behold, would find another spot while painting. Depending on how terrible it all looks once it's all said and done, I may just paint quarter-round and put that up to cover all of the imperfections. I realize that 99% of people won't notice anything when they're in there, but I'll notice and it'll make me insane if it looks bad, so we'll see. 

3. Painting really really dark grey in a tiny bathroom with a small window is all fun and games until you're light breaks and you're left in darkness. Thanks to the atrocious weather, it was extra dark in there when our little makeshift lantern busted, and appearing to have no other choice, I continued on hoping that, once a light fixture was properly installed, I wouldn't see things that couldn't be unseen. Between the darkness and the fumes, I was feeling a little loopy anyway. I went into the garage to turn on the compressor and Brian's friend offered up one of his clip-on lights for me to use. Fortunately, the paint was still wet enough for me to clean up some of the drips that had escaped my notice earlier and all was not lost. 

4. Painting a bathroom that you can't even fit in is harder than it sounds. I couldn't sit cross-legged in there without both knees touching the walls. I also struggle to sit on my knees because the buckle on my Chaco's digs into the tops of my feet. When leaning down to paint the cabinets, my butt touches the doorway. I suppose it would have been wise to do one wall at a time, but ain't nobody got time for that. I feel like spending 6 hours painting today was a bit excessive, but it looks nice so I'm a happy camper. I did about 3 coats today and will do some touching up with a little brush once everything else is done.

I still have to paint the ceiling, install the shower surround, epoxy the tub and sink, install the toilet, put cabinet doors on, take the sink and faucet out and put cement on the counter tops and then put the sink and faucet back in, put up the peel and stick tile, install the light fixture and hardware, and lay the floor - I'm assuming there will be some minor damage done to the walls in the process. The good news is that the big part of it is done and it would have been a nightmare to paint around all of that stuff. 

In the meantime, I'll just enjoy a bowl of homemade Posole that's been cooking up in the crock pot all day and a soul-warming soak in the hot tub.

Then, my work schedule got changed up due to a coworker's vacation, so I wasn't expecting to make much progress, but we had one of the more productive weekends yet...and I even got a hike in :)

One of the major projects was getting the tub surround put in. I bought 4x8 sheets of plastic that we cut down and and used liquid nails to glue to the plywood that was in there. Getting the old faucet out of the wall was a nightmare and Brian totally mangled it pulling it out. He also had to access the plumbing from the other side of wall which houses the heater and fridge, so he had to take everything out, cut the pipe, and work in a space just slightly smaller than the diameter of his forearm and he's so glad to have it all taken care of. I got a new faucet and we're waiting to install it until after I epoxy the tub. We even had enough of the sheet left over for the ceiling over the tub and the wall above the sink (not originally in the plans). 

I'd decided to put peel-and-stick white subway tile above the sink and I was probably more excited for that tile than anything else in the bathroom. After installing it though, I really hated it (you can see it in the first picture). It just looked cheap and I could see all of the seams and imperfections and it didn't seem nearly sticky enough to withstand the beating that it would likely receive. I suppose from a distance, they'd be fine, but the bathroom is so tiny and you're standing 2 feet from it and it's hard to ignore that it's fake. After installing the tub surround, we had a few nice-sized chunks left over. The ceiling was making me a little crazy because the paper that they put up was wrinkled in places and I just knew that eventually, it would tear and look horrible and let water in and be a mess and painting it white was just putting lipstick on the pig. We cut up a piece and glued it up and it looked amazing! We still had a big piece laying around, so we measured it out, and it fit the spot over the sink with like, 3 inches to spare...I still can't believe it. It was a tricky cut, but Brian rocked it and it looks great. Most of it will be covered by a mirror, but at least it's water tight and bright white and shiny and clean and perfect. The ceiling in that area is still painted white and looks fine, although the painter's tape pulled off most of the grey paint when I took it down, so that whole area is hideous. Also, caulk. Grrrr....have I mentioned lately that I hate caulk? We are just going to install painted quarter-round around the ceiling and corners to cover all of the mess that I've created and clean it all up a bit. 

We took the window out and I scrubbed it down with a toothbrush and got it sparkling like new and then I spray painted the old brass-colored window trim and all of the other hardware a matte pewter color and we got it all put back in. We also got the light fixture put in and hooked up to the new switch that he installed last week and then I applied the first coat of concrete to the countertops. We're almost done in the bathroom and I can't wait to just close the door and be done with it for good!  

I'm pretty excited about just using all of the old hardware and giving it a nice coat of Rustoleum indoor/outdoor spray paint. I'm even recycling the screws, window cranks, and plastic cabinet handles!

In the rest of the trailer, we finally started the walls! We got the 3 most complicated panels done, and only have 5 easy ones to go...we actually would have finished them yesterday, but we ran out of daylight. We are using a staple gun which is so much better than the finish nails...they actually hold. We decided that the curved wall up front was too much work and just chopped it down into sections, but I still love it and think it looks great. We took out 3 more windows and I scrubbed them down and put them back in, and once I've stained the walls and wood trim, I'll install my snazzy spray-painted hardware and window trim! 

Yikes.

Blood, sweat, and tears. I'm hoping this will sand off...

I've got one more 3-day weekend before the crazy Christmas and New Years's Seasons kick in at work, so I've got my hands full with projects next weekend. It appears that we won't have it finished by Christmas as originally planned, but having my boyfriend hit by a car wasn't really on the schedule either, so I can't be too bummed about it. My new deadline is Iceland (January 24th), so that gives us a couple more weeks ;)