MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS *C* Couches To Chair To Recliners To Loveseat.

I am going to start off the new year with posting three of our motorhome modifications at a time. I will post repairs, modifications, or neato things we have found for RVing.  I have lots of pics in my files so I will do them in alphabetical order.

Underneath that stuff, I will post my regular daily stuff..... kinda sorta fun, eh?

So here it goes, we are up to the letter C now!

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS 

STARTING WITH THE LETTER C

Couches To Chair To Recliners To Loveseat:

Oh that Steveio.....

He always has it in his brain to do some more modifications to the motorhome.  He loves to think about stuff to do to it, thus making it more comfortable for when we travel.

When we bought our rig in 2006, it had TWO couches....  It made wonderful seating for when the family came along.  Sadly, the couches are very uncomfortable, but they both jacknife open into two twin/full sized beds.   We liked having the extra bed space for the family if they got rained out of their tents when camping with us.  With grandkids coming along now, it's nice to have a bed for them inside.  Let their parents sleep in the tents.. heh heh.

But... the couches were very worn looking and saggy and faded ugly peachy pink and frosty blue tiger stripes.  I am NOT kidding!  See?

I guess the designers chose Tiger Stripes for a Safari Serengeti?  

At that time, 10 years ago, I bought a big bolt of nice blue upholstery fabric in a corduroy with faint imprints of leaves....  and I re-covered those couches!  Hauled out my Grandma's old Singer sewing machine and went to work.  Whew, it was a job and Steveio helped me with it.  We didn't change the cushioning, just covered over the existing fabric.

It sure made a huge difference,

and although they were still uncomfortable, they were all we had.  

That was okay for a while, but later on Steve got it in his brain next to take out ONE couch.  So we did. We drove to GoodWill and had them haul it right out the door as a donation.  Then we drove across the street to Shopko where they had a Euro Chair and Ottoman on sale.   For $90 Steve was happy, but I still had an uncomfortable couch.  But hey, it was working, so I didn't complain. 

(note: see those crinkly fabric windshield curtains? More about that later)

Since then, we bought a nice heavy queen air mattress for when the kids slept over.  We just shove the Euro Chair up front between the pilot and copilot seats.... and that queen mattress sets nicely on the floor between the couch and the wall.  It was VERY comfortable and the kids opt to use that instead of the folded out couch/bed if they stay over.  And now with the couch gone, my passenger seat can rotate around to face the livingroom area to be used for more seating.  (the driver's chair will not turn with the other couch there)

Zoom ahead another year or two.  

Now, Steveio got it in his brain to take out the OTHER couch and the Euro Chair ---  and purchase two recliners instead.   This would leave us a lot more room for things like my table loom, or sock machine, or spinning wheel...  which could be left set up when in use and not stowed away each time.  (that was his reasoning and "bribe" to me) 

We stopped at one store that had some nice recliners, but the price was out of line.  Then we saw some fancy leather recliners, again wayyy too expensive for our budget.  $900 each!  ouch!    After a few more stops, we went out for lunch.  Then we stopped at ONE MORE STORE.... you know how that goes?   

Well, we found some very comfortable Simmons recliners,  on sale of a sale of a sale and top it off, a $40 rebate on each chair too.   Soooo at $129 each, we bit the bullet and he got his danged chairs.

PLUS----  THEY ARE MADE IN AMERICA~!!

The backs of the chairs slide up and off, like the Lazy-Boy chairs do, for ease of getting in the motorhome door. So they are shipped in two pieces, ready to load up.  

We had to remove the couch from the motorhome first.  It's fairly easy with extending it out flat, setting it up on end, removing the arms, and walking it out the doorway sideways like a mattress, with one of us on each end.

By removing the last couch, we are not losing much storage space, because we only stored a couple sleeping bags and a folding chair under the couch.  There was a snakey air duct from the furnace that also ran under the couch too.

We left the ductwork in place, but we shortened up the duct so it's behind the grid we adapted with a new hunk of wood, stained to match.

We carried in the chairs and set them up, 

They can be put both on the driver's side... or both on the passenger's side....  

I think I liked them both on the driver's side the best.

Or they can be put one on each side if we wish.  Kinda nice to have flexibility----

and they can be mounted down right through the floor once we decide where we want them.

Steve brought out a cute little table he had built a while back for in the house.  

It will now be an extra side table in our rig. 

Now we can turn the driver's chair around, like the passenger chair does, 

to add to the livingroom area seating.   

We had the recliners in our motorhome for only one year.

By that time, we had sold our Oconto house and were living in our motorhome while parked at a friend's cottage. We were near UWGB for Steve to finish up his work time there before transferring to High Cliff State Park.

One thing we noticed is that the recliners are not very practical.  They need to be pulled out sooo far into the room if you want to recline on them.  They waste about 12-14 inches behind each chair.  And if you don't pull them out far enough, they catch on the edge of the window frame when putting them back upright.  Even though the recliners were only one year old, it was time to make a change....

Sooooo we went shopping for the "wall hugger" style recliners.  We looked at all the big stores in the city.  Ewwww pretty high prices on the La Z Boy brand, but they seemed to have the nicest "wall hugger" design.  We discovered that we liked the loveseat idea instead of 2 separate chairs (like our blogger friends Janna and Mike had in their motorhome)

There is a small mom and pop style furniture store not too far from where we were parked, so we headed over there.  Not only did they have what we wanted, in a nice color, and in stock... but on SALE!   For a LOT cheaper than what the big stores in Green Bay had!   They will deliver it for FREE right into the motorhome!   Plus, I feel better supporting a small town store (McMahons of Luxemburg)  and Steve also knew one of the salesmen who had kids the ages of our sons and played ball together.

We gave away the two beige recliners to our son Dan and daughterinlaw Heather. Easy to take out in two pieces each and haul away in his truck.

The furniture store found us, and delivered our new loveseat! 

Backed in their delivery truck right up in front of the motorhome. 

Quick as a wink, they hauled in the seat base bottom piece

through our narrow 24" motorhome door. 

(we measured in advance)

 They adjusted the bottom screws for the padded carpeting on the feet.

While they went to the truck for the back rests, I snapped a pic of the seat base

They snapped the clips on the backrest sections and pushed it into place! 

There.. no more hitting the wall when we recline!   The seat portions actually scoot forward when you want to recline, and it does not hit the wall behind.  Thus-- called a "Wall-hugger" design by La Z Boy.   We have a lot more room now in front of the loveseat.   With our recliners we need about 12-14" space behind the chairs to recline.  This loveseat is more practical.

The little bench type coffee table with the woven mat in the foreground also doubles as a stand for my table loom.  It can roll up to the seat for me to weave, or roll away on the casters to the other side wall when not in use.

This last change was almost five years ago... and we like it so much we have not changed it since.  I think we are done with the seating evolution of Couches To Chair To Recliners To Loveseat.

~~~~~~~~~

I posted ads in the local Buy Sell Trade Facebook pages and Craigslist to get rid of that big bevelled mirror we took down in the motorhome bedroom.  I just wanted to give it away to someone, anyone, to take it out of our motorhome without breaking it and take it away.  A gal came and checked it out, measured carefully, and her husband (a contractor) will come with a board to strap it onto and extra helping guys to remove it. It is almost 8 feet long and over 3 feet high.

They are coming back next Saturday to take it out and over to her house. It is going to be mounted on a wall in an exercise room.  Glad it will have a new home.  Now for them to just get it out without breaking it???? Stay tuned for next Saturday's adventure.  haha

Last night we headed out for our granddaughter Chelsea's 7th birthday party!  I got in the car and as Steve slid into the driver's seat next to me he asked ''Did you bring the presents?''  Oh my gosh, they were still sitting on the dining room table! Can you imagine going to your grandkid's party and not bringing a present?   He ran back in and got it and saved the day. 

Our tribe of all seven grandkids, their parents, extra friends and family all arrived at Happy Joes Pizza Parlor in Green Bay. Like a mini ChuckECheez, it has some games and tickets and cheap prizes for the kids to be entertained while the pizzas are cooking.  Our daughter Erin and husband Waylen reserved the whole back party room for our group so we had a nice space to spread out and visit.  The kids blew through their tokens awfully fast on the games, so this grandma had to go get more for each one to keep on playing. 

Our Birthday Girl, Chelsea

They spread out a buffet of pizzas and 

pitchers of root beer and of course big people beer for the adults

here is a little video clip I shot of some of the birthday fun

Present opening after our meal was next...

We got her an EasyBake oven (just like we got Allegra last year)

Now the cousins can bake together when they visit! 

Granddaughter Little Whitney loved her ice cream treat 

and oldest Grandson Jameson was making good work on his too.

These two giggly girls were full of the dickens

Birthday Girl Chelsea and Granddaughter Allegra

Grandsons Clayton and Mason gobbled theirs down toot sweet

Even little baby Claire got to join in, getting passed 

from grandma to grandma to aunties and friends

What a fun way to have a birthday party with 30 people

16 adults and 14 kids! 

Plus, we didn't have to cook or clean up afterwards! 

Today is Sunday, and it is a Packer Play Off game day this afternoon against the Dallas Cowboys.  We are heading over early to Steve's brother Pete's new construction house. They are going to insulate the ceiling in the sun porch room before the finishing gets done by the builder.  Insulation was not slated on the plans, but Steve convinced Pete that for under $100 they could do it quick themselves. It will make it more comfortable on cooler months when they might want to still use it.  

Then we will head back to their duplex to watch the Packer Game...  Steve's dad is joining us for a fun family football afternoon!