Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Sand, sun, and surf!

Howdy y'all! If you're back for another read, thank you so much for loving my blog! Welcome first time readers! 
Things have been crazy around the trailer hood! We FINALLY, after a year, have left godforsaken west Texas. We've relocated to a much more livable location-the beach 😍
We're currently residing in out favorite little beach town and couldn't be happier. Please take this into account regarding my absence. I have done some awesome work to our bunk room! I'll be posting within the next couple of days! 
Stay tuned! 
Peace, Love, & the Pipeline life

Friday, June 20, 2014

Space Saving

Howdy y'all! I'm currently "Spring Cleaning" in the middle of summer. Haha. I wanted to take a quick moment to share a couple of my tips with y'all! First off-I'm putting all of our winter clothes away. Let me tell you, I am an avid lover of sweaters and Jake is a duck hunter, not to mention all of the winter work clothes he has. So it really isn't an option, in order for us to stay sane, to keep them out with the rest of our clothes. It makes so much more sense to store them away. "Where are you gonna put them?" Well, we don't have a ton of storage, but we do have some. Basically my options were under the back bunk bed, for which all the clothes would need to be completely flat. Then there's under our bed, but we store his rigging bag (he cowboys in his spare time) and our suitcases there. Finally, there's the compartment UNDER our camper at the front, which houses all of our things to set up the camper with and my paint/craft supplies. Not to mention, they'd be more exposed to the weather under there. My solution? SPACE BAGS. I know, you're thinking, "we'll duh". But I'm not necessarily using them for the "space". Space bags are airtight and protect from odor, moisture, etc. So not only will it compact all of our clothes, but also keep them safe! Problem solved :) like I said we have A LOT of winter clothes so for several, and I'm mean about 8, duck hunting jackets, all of my clothes, my jackets, my sweats, and his work clothes and jackets it took me about 7 of them. 
Therefore, if you're living the camper life, or simply have limited storage, these babies are great. 
I bought the off brand of "space bags" called Magic Bags from Walmart for $3.47 a piece for the large bags which are 21.65"X33.5". Take it, I found it pretty impossible to get them THAT flat, but they're still flat enough to help with storage. 
Another space saving tip I have for y'all is to MAKE USE OF HANGING SPACE! So many people forget how much more you can store when it's hung up. We have 2 SMALL closets on either side of our bed which don't fit much-but it's better than nothing! Now that our winter clothes are out of there, I'll be putting clothes that we don't wear that often in them. Next, we have a good sized closet by the bathroom. Since Jake gets up at 4 every morning, that's his work closet. Easy access, and easy to keep organized. It has a shelf up top for his shorts and work hats, and hanging space for shirts and pants. Finally, I created a "closet" in the back bedroom. 
It has 2 racks, one for tops and one for jeans, plus a shelf on top for Jakes cowboy hats. It serves it's purpose, but I'm not done with it yet! Notice the HANGING shoe rack- for his sperrys, my flip flops, our Tennis shoes and house shoes. It saves a ton of floor space. Our clothes that we wear on the regular hang there. 
Thanks for reading y'all! 
Keep your eyes peeled for further storage solutions posts! 
Peace, Love, and the Pipeline Life 

Keep Texas Beautiful!

Hey y'all! This post has nothing to do with our camper revamp, but I really felt the need to let this all out! As a child, my parents instilled in me a want to fulfill acts of servitude, selflessness, and service. On the road, we've been in quite a few "trailer hoods". I struggle with the fact that I always feel like park owners can do more than just collect rent. We live in these parks. We call them home for the time being. My theory is, "just because we live in a trailer park doesn't make us trashy." Until lately. I have felt like we come off as trashy. Not because our space isn't clean and picked up and organized, or because of the west Texas rock and dust. I've felt trashy because the park is, in the truest form, "trashy". There was trash all over the front of the park. We have a large field that we can walk our dogs in, play in, or do activities in, but it has been covered with trash. I just couldn't take it anymore. The past few days I have felt the need to pick it up. So I have walked out there, a trash bag a day, and picked up trash. Not for recognition or payment, just for the satisfaction that kids won't get cut by glass bottles, my dogs won't step on a sharp piece of plastic, or for simply having to look at all the beer cans. If I had a weed eater, I'd cut the grass too. I understand that it is just business. However, shouldn't you want to make your tenants feel appreciated by keeping up the grounds? Maybe it's in my raisin' or beliefs, but I feel like we can all do our part a little more often. Whether it's picking up trash, not throwing your trash out, or performing and little act of servitude, it all helps and makes the world a better place, even if it only is noticed by you. So get out, get off your hineys, and help keep Texas beautiful! 
Rant over:) 
Peace, Love, and the Pipeline Life 

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

The Bathroom: Part 1

The bathroom is what kicked off this entire reno. We like baths! Sadly, our little tub/shower combo wasn't quite big enough. So, we emprivised. We took out our tiny tub and replaced it with a galvanized water trough. It was crazy how we spent not even a hundred dollars on such a big piece and a bigger "rv"tub would've cost a pretty penny. So here's what I've done SO FAR in the bathroom: 
•removed the old bath tub 
•re-routed plumbing for the tub 
•put up tin tiles 
•put up cedar around the tub 
•painted the walls 
•painted the vanity and cabinet (antique finish) 
•removed the old PVC covering with a cedar encased surround 
•painted hardware 
•painted sink 

It felt GREAT to rip out that old tub and the plastic "tiling" behind it. Not to mention-those things aren't air tight. So over time there's no telling what kind of mold would be back there. 
Take note: the shower/tub is not yet completely finished. Usable, but not aesthetically done. So keep your eyes peeled for a later post on that finished portion! 
For now- here's the "before" of our bathroom 
One thing I love about our bathroom is it is completely separate and closed off from the rest of the camper. You don't have to walk through the bathroom to get to the bedroom or living room, like in a lot of camper layouts. It is it's own room and it's awesome, especially when people come to visit. 
The bathroom "storage" however is minuscule, so I've come up with a couple storage solutions. 
The "vanity" consists of one cabinet with the sink in the top. Then we have a medicine cabinet on top. Here's the both of them now-
I used the same paint and stain on these that I did in the bedroom, just went a little heavier on the stain. 
All the hardware is painted with Bulldog matte black spray paint. This includes the toilet paper holder, hand towel rack, standard towel rack, and hardware on the cabinets (hinges, handles). 
I also spruced the bathroom up by adding small, yet decorative items. 
Here's a few-
The sink was really bugging me, because it was a funny off white color. So I purchased a marine spray paint and painted it. It's held up pretty well-except for the stopper, which I'm sure is from daily handling. I may end up going over it in something else or simply purchasing a new sink, in a different color. 
The tin tiles I got from Amazon SUPER cheap for a ton of them. I had a few left so I created a back splash for the sink and then framed them with unfinished trim from Home Depot, and stained them myself. 
One thing I highly recommend when remodeling a camper bathroom, is to purchas a good shower head. You never know what the water pressure will be like where you may be living, or camping, and a good shower head can help a lot. The one I purchased is from the RV catalog from our local RV store. It has several settings and is AWESOME. 
Finally for this post, the finishing touches...
I painted the bathroom an olive color so it wouldn't be overwhelming, with so much stuff in such a small space. It goes great with my microfiber, western shower curtain and the beautiful cabinet redo. 
Keep an eye on my future posts for the finished tub surround! Thanks y'all! 
Peace, Love, & the Pipeline Life




Tuesday, June 10, 2014

The bedroom!

Im starting with the bedroom because it is finished! The first room to be completely done- Hallelujah! 
Things I Completed: 
•New Paint on the walls! 
•Painted cabinets (antique finish) 
•Reupholstered Headboard 
•New bedding 
•Reupholstered window treatments 
•Painted hardware

Let me tell you, I've never come across a more challenging paint job than that of a camper bedroom. The small spaces, avoiding the carpet (and myself for that matter), and all of the lovely decisions of what paint for where. First off- I went with Pittsburg paint for the walls. A lovely "Bermuda"-similar to a light teal, for the walls, a less vibrant color for the headboard wall-"steeple gray", and the cabinets got a couple coats of "Antique white" with a rub down of Olympic's "Dark Walnut" stain (which I got for free with my purchase of paint! I went with an interior finish called eggshell. From info I got from the sales lady, eggshell is a medium between flat and semi-gloss. Lucky for me I have a man that LOVES flashy things like I do, so the bright color on the walls was not an issue; in fact, he loved it! 
The fabric I used for upholstering I got from Hancock's Fabrics over a year ago. It's a super cute Southwestern print of red, turquoise, and off white-so it went PERFECT! Money saved, not spent! 
The bedding came from Bed Bath &Beyond on sale! 
Here's what our bedroom looked like before-your standard Rv bedroom. 
I know, not so cute, right? 
Here's what it looks like now  
This is WAY more our style. 
Excuse our air conditioning unit-it gets HOT in this west Texas heat during the day and this little booger helps a lot! In this picture you can see the "Bermuda" paint color, the cabinet finish, and my lovely little art project- a cross with an Indian chief in the middle. Underneath each window is a boot rack-storage saving ideas! We both have a boot fetish. 
Here's the adjacent window, with a skull clock to complete our decor 😊
Finally, here's a pano of our completed bedroom. It's small, so bear with me. Also, we live in it so it is a little disheveled. 
All in all, I'm so happy with the finished project! It was WELL worth the hard work so be able to go to sleep and wake up in a much more inviting room! 
Thanks y'all! 
Peace💚&the Pipeline Life



A little about me!

Hey y'all! Welcome to my blog! Here's a little about me - my name is Callie. I'm 22 years young and on the road with the love of my life! I never asked to live this crazy life, and sure never thought I would. But God had other plans for me! My handsome man is Jake; he's a welder and we live in our '08 Jayflight camper. I've always been a bit of a decorator, have a crafty mind, and love being creative! After much back and forth on the idea of making this camper "our own", we put aside the cons and are going for it! So aside from some random posts I may have about beautiful Midland, Tx, that's where we are at for the moment, (gag!!), this blog will be mostly about my adventure in remodeling our house on wheels! 
Peace💚&the Pipeline Life