Every winter we find new things that we want to change or needs to be fixed. Summer time is a great time to tackle those projects, so when we arrived back at my parent’s house in MN we got down to making a few of the projects reality.
Our winter travels have come to an end, and that means renovation season has begun! Part of our need to keep moving is the same need to change things up every so often. We are always looking for ways to make our life easier, better, or more interesting. This year we had several projects to complete.
After stopping by our oldest son’s home for a couple weeks to attend a wedding (the girls got to be flower girls!) we headed out to Minnesota to stay at my parent’s house for a week. My dad has a wood shop and we are always thankful to have the space, materials, and tools to complete the various things we wish to change each year.
Our first project was to tear out the step that leads to the bathroom and master bedroom. There were two reasons for doing this: first, so we could have open space below the step to store shoes, and second, to move the heating vent to a better spot. Since we bought our trailer we have been tripping over shoes in the doorway, despite having storage for them in the coat closet next to the door. Tearing out and replacing the step has been a great fix so far!
As for the heating vent, who wants to heat their entryway? We really wanted that heat to push out toward the living area instead, so we tore out the wall in front of the furnace and moved the vent to a better location. The girls had a lot of fun painting the glass on these doors with mom and grandma.
Our next project was to complete the painting we had done last summer, when there used to be a desk in the corner. We had removed the desk early last winter to make room for two new recliners from recpro.com (review on those later) and therefore had a large portion of the wall needing to be painted. The paint was also left over from my parent’s home.
Another major project was to remove the walls to the storage area under the kids’ bunks so we could access that storage more easily. We re-framed the area with scrap wood, stained it to blend in, and re-organized the storage area. We are very happy that we can get a laundry basket in and out of there now, and we are considering adding cargo nets to keep things from sliding out on moving days.
All of the wood, carpeting, spare doors, nails and screws, with the exception of a few screws we had to purchase at the local hardware store, are scraps my dad has picked up over the years or from their recent home renovation.
Last summer our RV awning was destroyed by hail and we just hadn’t gotten around to replacing it until last week. Doesn’t it look so much better?
We’ve got a few more things yet to do this summer, including replacing some caulking around the exterior of the RV, painting the girls’ spaces, replacing some quarter-round that we removed during the other projects, and maybe painting or adding backsplash to the kitchen. I’m sure next year will bring more changes, as it tends to do, and we look forward to seeing what else we can do make our lives easier.
What do you thing of the changes we made? Do you have any questions for us? We’d love to hear from you! Please leave us a comment below, find us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest @simplejoyfuljourney, or email me at alicia@simplejoyfuljourney.com. And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of the page before you go. Have a great week!