Well work is continuing at a break neck pace.  Today I installed the piece of obscure glass over the toilet area and then began the woodwork around the tub.  Chris reupholstered the front of the bed frame after I had repaired all the damaged parts on it.  I also refinished the cabinet doors and frame work below the bed frame.  Alot of the original mahogany paneling, partitions and cabinet doors is in pretty rough shape so I’m having to cut parts away and replace it with maple plywood which will be painted.  The “glory” work is done now, and we are entering the phase of doing alot of little puttery, time consuming jobs that are not as obvious as the new floor or paint job.  Never the less, it’s all part of the job, and when I turn this RV over to the owner I want to be able to say I did my best with the resources in hand.   Great craftsmanship is found not so much in the showy  big parts of a project, but in the little details that make everything else look wonderful and work smoothly.

I hit the ground running today.  Chris went in and washed down all the dirty wheel wheels, walls and ceilings, removed double stick tape residue (her pet peeve), then sanded every surface that needed to be primed and painted.  While she was doing that, I repaired the futon frame which required some new wood on one end and the sliding mechanism was not working properly either.  After getting that structurally sound once again, I match stained the new wood parts, then applied sealer, sanded it, and added a coat of varnish.  This is now ready for Chris to apply some fabric to the leading edge of the frame which she will do tomorrow.   Checking on her progress, I was pleased to see she had all the surfaces sanded and primed by lunch time….no small feat since there is a lot of cut in work which slows one down.   After lunch, I tackled the remaining structural detail at the back of the trailer to accommodate the new toilet and worked on the bumper detail as well.  Chris came back out later in the afternoon and got the entire inside top coated with a beige eggshell paint.   What a difference a coat of paint can make!  Just as a side note….Chris has painted through about 25 gallons of paint in the past 3 months and she is totally sold on the Coventry brand….we get it at Jacksonville Paint and Decorating or BLP….there’s locations around the south.  They sell to mainly contractors, but will sell to the public.

Today, with everything that was touching the floor out of the way, I installed the laminate flooring.  I used an acrylic urethane glue, very aggressive and you have to work quickly with it, but it holds the floor great.  There was lots of cutting to make the boards fit around the curved front of the trailer , the wheel wells and the lavatory area, but all in all the entire floor went down in about 7 hours.  You probably are thinking we are doing this project a little backwards, but remember that we don’t have all the necessary new parts yet like the toilet and water heater, and while I have an extra pair of hands to help, I need to keep the project going full speed.  Typically, I would not put the flooring in until all the painting was done and alot of the cabinetry finished and installed.

I spent the first half of the day making a list of priority.  Since I have to turn this job around so fast, I can’t afford to get bogged down on some things that could wait to be tweaked after hunting season is over.  I worked up a material list, went to Lowes, and got my sweetheart wife to start cleaning out the leftover trash from the cabinets.  Chris also pulled up all the carpet, removed the futon and sofa cushions,  a bunch of the beyond repair damaged woodwork,  the dinette, refrigerator, and water heater.   Now I can see how extensive the damage is in the floor and where we  will need to cut new parts for some of the partitions.   I removed the sink from the lavatory, some of the old pipes, the kitchen sink and counter, and was able to set a good workable plan for both Chris and I to be working at the same time without getting in each others way.

While the inside of the RV has definitely had some wear and tear over the years, the outer shell is in very good shape for the most part.  A future consideration for this unit would be to replace all the windows as the ones presently are not energy efficient and the operational hardware is mostly not working well.

So along came a rush job that needed to take precedence over the conference media center I’ve been working on.  A good friend bought a 24′ 1965 Airstream travel trailer and wanted it to be repaired and renovated for the coming hunting season….hunting as in wild hogs in So. Carolina. Hmmm….anyway…his desire was to keep as much of the original woodwork, cabinetry  and look of the trailer realizing that there was going to be a good bit of repair and some up-to-date creature comforts that were necessary.   First on the agenda is to replace the toilet…our friend is a kingsized guy (in stature and heart) and the floor was already rotten in the lavatory area.   He also had a good amount of laminate strip flooring left over from a previous upgrade on his condo and wanted me to take up the old carpet and tile and use the flooring throughout.  I had to take out the lavatory sink to give more room around the toilet, but will do a new sink area in the kitchen which will be adequate for such a small space.  I took out the dinette (old 2 seat set from McDonalds and a prior fix up) and will replace the refrigerator .  I removed some of the old cabinetry as it was unrepairable, as well as the front futon/sofa and the pull out bed.  The owner has ordered a new mattress custom made to fit this space as it it not a standard size.   I think a good cleaning of the front sofa cushions is all that is needed.  There will have to be extensive plumbing and electrical work done, as well as repair of windows,  screens, varnishing some of the existing repaired cabinetry, and interior painting.  The back bumper is pretty rusty so I hope to get that cleaned up and repainted.  I have a time line of about 12 days to get it ready ( I will be out of town for 5 of those days) with the agreement that I can “fine tune” some things after hunting season is over.  Here a few “before” photos.

A common problem we run into in lots of kitchen redo projects is the ceiling light fixture. The most popular styles are either a small round 2 bulb light found often in homes 20-40 years old, and the standard 2 bulb florescent light. When you take these fixtures down, and have a popcorn or knockdown plaster finish, there’s a space where that finish isn’t in place and it can be very difficult to patch and match it so it looks right without doing the entire ceiling over again. I found a solution to this issue with one of my favorite customers as we were redoing his kitchen. I covered the”scar” with a piece of finished wood, built an attractive frame around that giving it some layers and depth, and then hung his choice of a new fixture. Now it looks like it all fits together, and gives the ceiling space some interest as well.

A period of fabrication at the shop…

A diversion from the hard decisions of the kitchen, what to do with the master vanity?

Vanity and Matching Mirror Frame

Media Display Center

Media display centers are good way to organize postings and general information sheets.  All the openings are back loaded with a rigid backing and a non-glare covering.  To access the panels, simply lift the entire light weight board off its double hanger and change the information sheet.

The center green portion is a felt covered tack board.  Use push pins or staples to post the display.

The two extra large units on top are used for the company logo and motto.  This display was custom designed and produced for American Cargo Logistics, based in Jacksonville, Florida.

The framing was constructed from maple with a cabinet grade finish.

This board also provided space for the electronic time clock, mounted into one of the posting openings.

These boards are custom designed and UPS shippable by MCKen.

Project Background

Erin and Joel have a cute little house in a lovely development. It’s approximately 7 years old and sits on a nice sized lot.  They have been blessed with two children and now are feeling very crowded in this home.  Making the decision to put the house on the market has not been an easy one in the present economy and while the home has been maintained very well, it is not much different than several others in the developement which are also for sale.They have been hard at work to put some “WOW” factor into their home by repainting, curb appeal touches, hardwood flooring in the dining room/hall and have decided to upgrade the kitchen from a modest amount of   entry level thermofoil cabinets to  custom wood cabinets,  re-configering the space to maximize the amount of cabinets and then to finish off with solid surface counter-tops.  The appliances will stay the same with exception of the new microwave oven above the stove.

Erin and Joel tackled ripping up the old vinyl flooring and installed ceramic tile.  Never having done anything like this before, they watched some videos, made numerous calls to MastercraftsmenKen (aka Daddy) and over the course of a weekend, did an outstanding job.

We hope you will follow and enjoy the story of this kitchen redo.

The Baker’s Unit

This is what we refer to as the refrigerator wall.  The pantry will be torn out and    the and the refrigerator will be moved to the corner.  This will allow for 8′ of counter/base cabinets.  Erin will have 4 nice sized drawers instead of two.  The upper cabinets will be removed and new ones will be installed to fill in the space.  The cabinet above the refrigerator will be as deep as the appliance, and the cabinets will go to the ceiling.   Even though she is loosing the pantry ( with non adjustable shelves and wasted space) she will end up with more efficient usable space for all the things she stored in the pantry.

These are the drawer fronts and cabinet doors for the baker’s unit base.  The custom color is called Cinnamon on maple.  Also shown is the first half of the 8′ bank of base cabinets.  All the bases are lined with a plastic  laminated liner for easy clean-up.

What is a good starting point for a new kitchen once the overall concept has been drawn?

My answer…the breakfront facing the living room.

This kitchen has  solid maple details with maple plywood fillers.  The question…what finish will make this one pop?

Starting with a background; “pecan” penetrating stain color and seal.

Follow up with an “oak” micro spray grade color over.

Two coats of pre-cat clear…GLOSS!

The WOW- factor to less than perfect materials.

This completes the breakfront and all needed components.

The next group;  “The Bakers Unit”.