Spring has Sprung

It is April 1st and that means it's almost camping season for us.  As the weather has gotten warmer and the snow has melted I have been dying to get Tilley out of the garage for a clean up and to figure out what to do next.  Money will be tighter this year as we're working on taking our girls to the UK in the fall, so any work on Tilley will have to involve little money and lots of creativity. 

Next year when we're not travelling out of the country, I hope we can get Tilley's exterior painted.  But for this year....hmmm... I'll have to get back to you.

Until then, here is the pillow from Ikea I want to purchase for Tilley.

 

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!

Nightmare!

We are still waiting anxiously for our friend Brad to finish Tilley's interior.  All we know is that he has ideas in place and surprises in store for us.  To me it really feels like being pregnant again.  Not the big, heavy, bloated, sore, breathless, crabby feeling one has, but that anxious, waiting to meet your new baby and see what they look like feeling.  Do they have all their fingers and toes, do they have hair, are they adorable.

Inevitably ever woman, and very often the father as well, will have a nightmare or two about the birth.  The baby is a giant, or comes out being 40 years old, or has three arms.  You get the picture....and it isn't pretty.

Well I had one of those about Tilley.  I dreamt that we finally go to pick up Tilley.  Brad is very excited to show us what he has done so I quickly enter and what do I see.....all the walls, the ceiling, everywhere is covered in vinyl with a pattern of hamburgers, hotdogs and french fries.  ACK !!   I said something in the dream like "what the...we wanted a gentlemen's club" and Brad says "I thought you meant like a sports bar".

(insert deep breath here)

I know Brad won't do this.  He's a smart and talented person. But if I see even one hamburger anywhere near the trailer when we get there I may just turn and run.

Off to See the Wizard

There is a lot Pat and I can do, but vehicle upholstery is not one of them.  Of course I am sure we could do it if we had the time and patience, and desire, to learn...but we don't.  We have the funds and the resource to have a professional do it for us and that makes us very happy.

What we can and did do was strip the interior of it's cushions, curtains and covers so that our upholsterer could get to the issues that need to be remedied...such as these

The vinyl that the previous owner put in has come off at the seams.  In some places it must have been hanging and they cut it off.  There is insulation underneath, but it is covered in a tacky glue. 

The other issue is the colour.  Cream of Wheat is NOT my favourite colour.  It is neither cozy nor chic.  The plan is for the decor to have the look of a gentlemen's club, so it needs colour and warmth and it needs to be POSH...Cream of Wheat...not so posh.

Our upholstery wizard / guru is our old friend Brad MacDonald.  He has been doing upholstery for many years and he is also an artisan and a steampunk at heart.  He knows and understands steampunk and he knows us well.  We have given him our colour preferences and given him carte blanche to work his upholstery magic on the interior of Vesta Tilley.

The results promise to be extraordinary and marvelous!