I know it’s hard for a lot of people to really “get” what it is that we are doing. Not only hard to understand why, but hard to visualize what is literally going to happen. Or maybe that’s just me? To tell the truth, I think my mind’s eye needs glasses. The Mr has lots of grand (yet tiny 😉) ideas, and vision enough for both of us, but I think he got tired of that blank stare I tend to give him when he describes exactly how things are going to look.
So he did what any self-respecting designer would do: he designed detailed, fully-furnished renderings of our new living room/dining room/kitchen space. Not only does this help me to see The Mr’s full vision, it also helps us to finalize our plans and know how our furniture and appliances will fit. And it’s been an ideal winter project for him to work on while it’s been too cold be accomplishing anything in the Spartan.
This view includes our “front” door, the main entrance to Etta. The details amaze me! Some of them are actual pictures of my Fieast dishes, blender, etc. Notice the pattern we laid out for the floor tiles? The Mr took pics of the 3 colors and individually “laid” them in here for me to see the full effect. Have I mentioned before that he’s a keeper?The “port side” elevation woukd be your view walking through the front door. We’ve since realized that our current sofa sleeper will not clear the mini-split (HVAC) system that we want once it’s unfolded, so it will have to change. But it’s much better to have realized this on paper now than when our first overnight guest shows up later!
If you have any questions about our plans, please ask! 😃
One last thing…being inspired by the fun throw pillows on the fictious couch, picked up some coordinating fabrics and tried my hand at making a pillow! I’m pretty happy with the results. 🤗
It’s been two months since we brought home our big blue beautiful 1950-something fridge, so it’s time for an official update. Not much else has been happening on the Spartan front through winter, just a few odds and ends and wrapping her up for safe-keeping.
We’ve basically taken a break from working on the Spartan since Thanksgiving, but I do have a bit to report on. Namely, we have power!!
That’s right, up til now, we had no idea if the electrical wiring was intact or even functional. Our original goal was to have an electrician out to evaluate it before Christmas, but we haven’t gotten that done yet. Our friends in who are building a proper tiny house in their driveway mentioned that they just strung an electrical cord out to the Tiny to test their electrical work. (It may have been a bit more complicated than that, but this is what I heard. 😉) So after a few times of me asking The Mr “why can’t we just pull an extension cord out here and plug in the house??” he made it happen. But it wasn’t quite that easy. Here is the plug we had coming out of theSpartan: Some of our helpful Spartan friends online pointed out that this was actually a 50 amp dryer plug and NOT the receptacle we should have. So a trip to Lowe’s and I think two trips to Camping World finally resulted in a fancy-dancy replacement plug that The Mr re-wired onto our existing cord and a heavy-duty extension cord that was EXACTLY the right length to reach. And those were connected by a spiffy adaptor thing. (And this is why we’re gonna hire a professional electrician!) There’s that spiffy adapter. 😉The over-the-bed light fixture in our master bedroom, with original shade. But the end result was such a major relief to me, because WE. HAVE. LIGHT!! There are a couple lights that aren’t working, and a few outlets that aren’t getting power, but those will be issues for the pro. I’m just excited to know that we have a good base to start with. The eventual game plan is to have a new “bigger” panel installed for any extra outlets we add and to feed the large kitchen appliances, while the rest runs off the original panel with LED lights. If you want more detail than that, you’ll have to ask The Mr. We’ve officially exhausted my current knowledge of all things electrical with this post. And I’m only 80% sure about most of it. 😋A gratuitous pic of the electrical service door. It’s so cool!
Oh, and on one of those trips to Camping World, The Mr happened upon a Class A RV cover on clearance. It was new in the box, and basically exactly what he’s been telling me we need but we weren’t willing to drop the cash on it. It was almost 1/2 off, so he went with his gut and we fought the dang thing onto Etta over the weekend. Here she is, in her fancy new dancing dress: This cover will protect her from the filth that keeps collecting from the tree above. It has zipper access to the doors so we can continue work at will.
And yes, we named her Etta.
So the last entry I made was about that AMAZING “new” 1950’s oven we found on Craigslist, but I’m about to one up myself with this one. The Mr’s early morning Craigslist searches paid off yet again in the form of a road trip to Cincinnati to bring home this beauty:
Recently the Spartan kitchen has been a source of contention between my heart and my head. It’s made me want to forget all thoughts of downsizing and fantasize about McMansions with room for every amenity known to man. But today I got a repreive from all that because we bought our first appliance, and I. Am. In. Love. Seriously. Continue reading →
We’ve had a few rainy days on the homestead, which has been unfortunate for the Spartan. Over the past few weeks I’ve been working on removing the old, original foam gaskets from the windows in preparation of The Mr installing the new rubber gasketing we found at Vintage Campers. But a funny thing happens when you have a window without gaskets and it rains outside… Continue reading →
The floor of our Spartan beauty has been an ongoing project since before we ever brought her home. So as to not disappoint, I bring you another blog post about the floor! More specifically: new tile.
I’m sure our large readership **cough cough** noticed the radio silence these past couple weeks, and for that we are sorry. The truth of the matter is, The Mr was working some serious overtime, which cranked up my Momma duties, and we have barely even noticed the 43′ monstrosity in our backyard in the midst of life. BUT! The work deadline has been met and normal life shall now commence! Woo Hoo!! And to celebrate (a couple days early), Continue reading →
In the world of vintage trailers, and really vintage anything, there is a distinct difference between “remodeling” and “restoring”. Those who “remodel” are changing the original design or functionality of the space. Those who “restore” are using every original part & piece possible to reclaim the glory of the day it rolled off the factory line. This seems as good a time as any to point out that we are going to REMODEL our ’56 Spartan Imperial Mansion. Continue reading →
A Simple (Love) Like That 