DW and I used to be traditionalists. Wait - let me start over. I used to be a traditionalist and DW has always been - and will always be - her own woman! But she kind of went along with the traditional home color choices too! You know, lighter wall colors, and an even lighter ceiling. Flat, so it didn't show the imperfections up there.
Then we moved to Alaska. In the first week we put 600 miles on the truck (we got there a week before my work started) looking at the area trying to research our living options, you know - buy or rent, where for either. We got to know the area real well in that week! Leased the two month hotel thing with kitchenette you know? Timed it to end with our expected purchase time-frame.
And we looked at some really awful stuff! By the time we put in an offer, it was on a "great bones", but in "dire need of maintenance" place that we flipped. Here's one "Before" picture of the front room looking toward the kitchen, with the upstairs loft and bedrooms above and the stairway on the right. That's the realtor.
Look at all the wood! And it was just like this in basically every room. Now wood is great, but takes some effort. By the time we moved in, it was like our campers - years of original thin finish coming off and leaving almost bare wood. But who would want to sand it all? Not me. Not DW. So while I was at work for 10 hour days (swing shift the first several months) DW worked - on the house. It was here where she discovered both darker tones, and tinted poly (not really, she'd discovered those quite earlier, but this makes for a better story).
This is the same shot when we sold.
Yeah - we made money! Or at least recouped what would have been spent over three years on rent. We sure would have loved to move that place down here to the lower 48! But alack and alas, only Zillow still considers it ours.
When we returned to our place in Wyoming, which we had fortunately been able to retain, we changed it up too! Brought in the richer, the glossy, you know? Went over to the dark side.
We never looked back. We talked about all that over in Lil' Queeny's chapter on
Finishes & Finishing The other day our grandson told me, I think Lil' Queeny should be green and brown. I thought "huh?" I said "how so?" He said "watch". So I followed him. Following grand kids at a starting point like this is indeed one of the great joys of life, and old age.
He showed me the avocado colored range and said, "that green". Then we went to the front of the camper and he pointed out the V-shape brown panels on the front cab-over part and said, "leave the brown, and paint the part above with green. I've always thought that, but when you and Dad are talking nobody ever listens to me".
Well now, there is a lot spoken in that short sentence. We'll have to make sure his little voice is heard from time to time.
But DD's little Roadrunner isn't a green and brown kind of camper, not with Tow-Mater soup red appliances. (Some call it corral, salmon, burnt orange or just plain orange - we call it tomato soup red). And you work with what you got!
Those old vintage appliances colors are one of the funnest things about this hobby, I think. Lil' Queeny's Avocado, Roadrunner's Tomato Soup Red, others with the "Robin-Egg Blue". What else? You guys know what I mean!
DD had started Googling "Roadrunner Trailer" pictures and soon discovered most restorations were painting the exterior side arrow in the same color as the appliances. She liked it. So yes, this little camper will be cream colored (later edit - not necessarily, probably bare aluminum) like Lil' Queeny, but the exterior highlights (side panel arrows, front diamond pattern siding, wheels) will be Tomato Soup Red. And the
Roadrunner Decals we just bought - the last set BTW, have a Red too! I might even pinstripe in Roadrunner Red, against the more orange tone of the Tomato Soup Red exterior highlights. Time will tell.
Now on the inside, when DD and DSIL (that's dear daughter and dear son-in-law) come over to see status on Lil' Queeny, they both LOVE the feeling and sense of her darker colors. Being inside doesn't feel confining, it feels more like a warm embrace.
And the many windows in both units, provide (during daytime) an ample source of light, in both illumination and in color tone. While at night, with curtains pulled, there's that embrace thing that helps you drift off to sleep.
We are not duplicating colors between units, but kind of.
Here's our sample sheet.
The original woodwork will be stained "Gunstock", bottom right. Then that will be finished in the "Honey Pine" tinted Poly for the medium colored paneling (top, right center), and the "Bombay Mahogany" tinted Poly on the dark wood panels (bottom, right center).
The Zero 1-2-3 white primer is for primer surfaces under whatever paint. In the center left is two quarts of "clearance find" by DW (we loves those kinds of finds).
Yes it is flat finish, but that will make a good base for Poly over. These were $1.39/quart. DW had it tinted to "Tomato Soup Red" from memory. You just wait until you see how close it is! But for now you just get that one little sample dot on the lid.
And the pint at the right? Cream, for some details.
So let's get our Gunstock on. And this was at the end of the day after doing the rebuilding reported on yesterday.
This facing surface is the cabinet bottom. Visible from the seating areas in the camper. The surface toward the ceiling is of course the cabinet face - the surface that is closest to "in your face" while in the camper.
Here we see the minimal, if any, effect of the Gunstock on the "big ugly black spot".
Then with the "Honey Pine" tinted Poly on the outer surfaces, and the "Bombay Mahogany" Poly on the inner cabinet shelf and sides, to both hide the dark spot, and to bring in the darker contrasting color for sampling. One coat. You don't want to just do one coat of Poly, especially over extremely dry wood. It soaks in real fast. And it gets better. ;)
Now we'll let that dry over night and check it in the morning. Wait 'til you see the curtains!
