New Pretties for Tilley

Back to more of the design aspect of our work on Tilley...

I was out at our local Canadian Tire to get a few things for a renovation of our back room - sandpaper, wood filler, stain blocker, the basics.  I happened to notice that they were having a huge sale on all of their winter things....and....they were unloading all their new spring items!

Last year when we were looking for general houseware items for Tilley I was looking online for some nice dishware.  I was also looking at every possible store in our area that would carry the same thing - unbreakable but stylish dishware.  The online pieces were beautiful but expensive and by the time we were looking in stores, most of their stock was already sold.  We would find something we like, but they would only have one or two pieces left. Most annoying.

As I noticed that the Canadian Tire spring stock was being unpacked, I also noticed that the spring outdoor dishware was being unpacked.....and "Oh Glory Be" I found it! 

If you look a little farther back in our posts, you will see that we had decided on green for our glassware and dishware and had found ourselves some lovely cups and goblets.  Well now we have dishware to go with them! I absolutely love the Victorian style botanical pattern and perfect green.  When I first saw them I was thinking "nuts they're porcelain" and I had to actually walk up close and  tap them to see what they were.  I was incredibly pleased to find they are melamine.  I purchased four of each so we can accommodate guests as well.  I am very much looking forward to using them this season!

Intermission

Pat has started working on Tilley's electrics.  He even took some nice photos to share with everyone.  Then I asked him to clear off the card....of course forgetting about the photos.  Sorry!  So until he can retrieve them so we can show you what he's been up to, I would like to share with you a couple of Canadian sites dedicated to the Boler:

The first is Bolerama  The site is dedicated to the preservation of Boler trailers. It was established in 1999 by Linda Vanderwiel in Saskatoon.  There is a great history page.  It has an interview with the father of the Boler, Ray Olecko.  It also provides a forum, a page of rallies across Canada, photos, tips and even manuals!

Another site is Boler Life Here you can find how to's and information to restore and repair your Boler with lots of before and after photos.  You can even buy Boler decals.

There are also two Facebook Groups for Boler lovers : The Boler (US based) and I own a Boler (Canada based)  

Some of the restoration work people have done really shows the love owners have for their Bolers.

Check out the beautiful exterior work on this Boler owned by Mark Bergen.

There are a lot of people who like to restore their Boler to match their fabulous antique car!

(photo and owned by Beverly Wayne Armstrong)

Cheers to all you Boler fans out there!

Behold the Magic of the Guru!

We have our dear Tilley back!  It was a long wait, but well worth it.

First, let us revisit the sad and pathetic condition in which we dropped her off at the guru's home....

Cream of Blah and peeling off the walls - not very cozy or plush in my opinion....


But now....

In this one you can see a copper horn that Pat had made a long while back and left at the guru's home.  The guru repurposed it into a decorative way to hide the wires going to the top cupboards.

Yes, you are seeing it correctly - upholstered wainscotting - the man is brilliant!

The colour is actually called Oxford Oxblood and it looks like distressed leather, like an antique men's club chair.

The pièce de résistance! Part of the Steampunk Canada logo is forever a part of our Tilley...I almost cried!

Here we have put in the new handles, the current curtains and the cushions.  The newly painted cooktop matches wonderfully with the copper horn.

And one last picture with cushions, curtains and the guru's fabulous work!

We highly recommend Brad McDonald for any interior upholstery work.  He listened to what we wanted and added his creative flair.  Make sure you have lots of time to leave it with him, but it's well worth the wait!

Teaser.....

We will be picking up Tilley from the guru tomorrow....yes you heard right....tomorrow!

The first part (and a big one) will be done.  We will be one step closer to our steampunk dream trailer for two.

You can trust that there will be many photos posted when we have her back in our hot little hands.

Not being able to wait on buying luxury items for her (read us), we bought a feather bed.  It squishes into a zippered case that will fit nicely under one of the benches.  At night, after we set up the bed and bench cushions, the feather bed will go on top of those and under the sheets to give us a cozy, soft, luxurious sleep....aaaahhhh I can just imagine it now......Oh, sorry about that....

The big reveal will happen in the next day or two... until then a little ditty (on film ) from Tilley

http://www.nme.com/video/Vesta Tilley doing Burlington Bertie

Inspiration!

This past weekend we attended the Steampunk World's Fair.  While there we were able to meet Jake von Slatt and tour his steampunked bus.  It was a great place to get ideas for Tilley. 

Here are a few things we liked the most

We liked his shelves.  There are many books we would like to take for reading on rainy days.

We liked the embellishments.  Making the space cozy and rich with pillows, trims and Victorian style pieces like the clock and globe.

Lastly, while we most definitely have no space for a bathroom, we liked the homey feel of the space and the wonderful lighting fixtures.

For a more detailed account of Jake's project, go here Jake's School Bus Conversion

We hope to have Tilley back from the guru in about 2 weeks.  Once we have her back we can finally take our design ideas out of our heads and start putting them into reality.

The Waiting Game

You know that anxious feeling you get when you have ordered something special online, or it's the night before Christmas, or your parents just promised to drive out on Saturday to get you your very own puppy, well that is how I have been feeling.  It has been a few weeks now since we dropped off Tilley at the guru's house to have her interior done and we are still waiting.  We know the demolition is done, we know the wiring and the leaks have been dealt with, we know the material has arrived and we know that he is working steadily on making her perfect.  What we don't know is when she'll be ready.  It's making me crazy!  Not postal crazy mind you, but cranky, anxious, want to call him every day and ask "Is she done yet?" "Is she done yet?" crazy.  It's not a pretty picture.

So to try and tame my impatient beast I decided to start thinking ahead to when we have Tilley back home. I like to do something I call imaginary retail therapy.  How does that work?  Well...as Inigo Montoya would say  "Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up".  It is very much like window shopping, but with a plan in mind and more information gathering.

There are things we know we will need for Tilley after her makeover.  Practical things like storage boxes, dishes, cutlery and so on and so on...   The easiest way to do imaginary retail therapy is online.  You can easily Google items of interest and see what pretties magically appear.  Like these lovely storage solutions:

 Or how about...

Restoration Hardware storage solution      A little pricey, but so beautiful.


The other thing I have been searching for are plates (dishes in general) that are non-breakable and practical, but fit with the steampunk look.  This is a little harder. I would like to get melamine or similar but not in crazy summer colours like bright orange or lime green - not that I don't love these colours but not for Tilley.

This I do love!

http://bongenre.com/patterns_detail_marvista.html

  The Bongenre website is amazing!  Bongenre Elegant Melamine  Who knew you could purchase such lovely melamine dishware. 

So to conclude - the therapy continues (with a little occasional dark chocolate thrown in) to help me relax until our Tilley is home again.

My Precious

Vesta Tilley (we have been calling her Tilley - quicker/nickname) has now been out at the guru's place in the country for one week.  He has not only torn out all the peeling vinyl, but also all the strange bubble wrap as well.  Thank goodness for his thoroughness - he found leaks.  Lucky for us it has been raining here recently and he found exactly where they are....and he is going to fix them for us.  He is a man of many talents.  We love him!

While Tilley has been in his care, we went to a place of great evil.  A place of great temptation.  A place of many many pretties..... Lee Valley Tools.  http://www.leevalley.com/   We are very lucky that we live in the same town as the main and original store and yet unlucky because we are not millionaires and able to buy everything that they sell...oh well...one can dream.

Tilley originally came with wooden knobs on every cupboard and drawer door. Blah!  It's not that we don't adore wood, but for knobs there are so many fantastic options.  We picked up some new ones that reflect our style a little better.

Luckily for us we were buying with a generous gift card we received at Christmas, and had been saving knowing that we were going to buy a trailer this year and that we would be doing a steampunk interior.  After picking our lovely handles and knobs we also found two 'necessities' that will be added when the interior is finished.

 
Although we made a very good dent in our gift card, we still have a little for future pretties.  There was an old style barometer and a wonderful small clock that need a good home....

Our Gift to Us

For our 20th Wedding Anniversary we wanted to do something really special.  As we have entered our "mature" years, we decided that camping in a tent was no longer the enjoyable past time it used to be.  On the other hand we could just skip camping all together and go on a trip far away to a foreign land....but of course after our foreign adventure we would still return to friends and camping opportunities....and a tent.

So we decided to invest in something for camping that was NOT a tent.  We thought about a tent trailer, but canvas is not water tight, and one of the things I have always hated about camping  is those late nights of listening to heavy rain hitting the top of the tent and wondering and waiting for the first leaks! This does not make for a restful sleep.  It was finally decided that we would get a hard fibreglass trailer.

Next we needed to decide on size.  We are light packers to begin with, so we really did not need something with all the amenities - like a livingroom with hydralic walls that opened out to give you even more room.  Then we saw the Boler trailers.  Compact, fibreglass and Canadian made.  Small and compact and easy to move.  Lovely.

Fun fact - the inventor named his trailer the Boler because it reminded him of a bowler hat.  How perfect for a couple of steampunks.  Thence the name of our blog Victorian Bo(w)ler.

On March 25 we found our dream Boler.  By the next day we had paid for it, had it registered and licensed and home!

And here she is

Say hello to our little friend.... until next time.