MOTORHOME MODIFICATION- Removing the Couch and Adding 2 Recliners

Oh that Steveio.....

He has had 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 retire and live in our motorhome full time.

The newest thing to noodle around in his brain was to get rid of the couch and add two recliner chairs.  I said no, we can't afford that right now as heating season is upon us.  Our house is pretty efficient to heat, but the propane bills are not part of our spring, summer and fall household budget.  Gotta think about filling that big ole propane tank soon.

Soooo he still had this in his brain, and we went to a few stores to "just look"   ....    you know how THAT works, right?



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, 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.  

Steve got it in his brain a couple years ago 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. 

Here is the link to that blog post

(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 to this year.  

Now, as I said at the beginning of the blog, 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 into a vehicle.  But, our little Saturn car was about an inch too short at the door way of the back seat to get in some of the parts, even if we could fit one whole section in the trunk.  We would still be making 2 trips, 40 miles one way, that is 160 miles total to get those chairs!~

Lucky for us, our son Dan has a pickup truck!   And he lives near that store.  We made a quick call, drove over to his house, swapped vehicles and went back to the store for our chairs.  It was pouring rain, but Dan has a nice covered tarp device over his truck bed.  We loaded up the two chairs and headed up to Oconto. 

Once we got to our house, 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.   Easy peasy to detach it and we will just put a nice 20x10 household vent cover over that space left on the wall.

We never use that built-in RV propane furnace; it's a big energy waster, uses up a lot of the battery power to run the fan, and doesn't heat very well to the back of the rig either.  That is the unit that comes in most RV's.  We use an Olympian Wave 8 catalytic heater instead that doesn't wear down our batteries overnight, and heats our rig up nicely.

Here is the blog post about installing the Olympian Wave 8 heater

We will leave the ductwork in place if we do want to use the big furnace, but we shortened up the duct so it's behind the grid we are putting up.  That furnace does heat our basement compartments if in a freezing situation, we would have to kick it on from time to time to keep the tanks from freezing.  But we would rather be spending time in warmer climates than fight with freezing tanks, right?


Here is the living area now without any furniture in it!  Embarrassed to say I guess I gotta steamclean that carpet, eh? We take our shoes off all the time, but the dogs go in and out, tracking in dirt and leaves.  On the next nice day, I will haul out the steamcleaner and tackle that job.

The pic below is my playing with the panoramic feature on my Galaxy Tablet... heh heh...  ain't that how they do it in those fancy motorhome brochures to make them appear even more roomier and wider?

We carried in the chairs and set them up, 

right before the start of the big Packers vs Bears football game.  

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.

 It was raining outside, so we decided to sit right down in our chairs and watch the game! 

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.   

See the powered windshield shade setup instead of the wrinkly curtain of last year?

Link to the blog post about putting up the powered windshield shade

We enjoyed trying out the comfortable chairs, watching the Packers trounce on Da Bears, and watching the rain pour down outside.   When the game was done, the rain was done too!   

We loaded up the old couch into the back of the pickup truck and hauled that down to Dan's too.  He wants it for extra seating down in the basement bar/rec room of their house.

I wonder what Steveio is going to change next?????

Some Cold Weather... Some Grandson.... Some Mother's Day....

It's been a crazy weekend weather-wise here in Wisconsin.  We woke up to snow and cold blowing winds.  Brrrrrr  and because of that, dear Steveio had to give me my Mother's Day present early.  Otherwise it would freeze and be ruined in the garage where he hid it after work.  I just LOVE fuchsia plants!

 

It is just HUGE!   The horticulture program at the university was selling them and he put in an order weeks ago for it.  I was eyeballing some (much smaller) at the store the other night and he kept saying NOOOOO  you don't need that!     LOL   We will wait till it warms up a bit before moving it outdoors to hang on the gazebo.  For now it can set on top of the entertainment center to get the southern light exposure.



Well, little 21 month old Jameson is keeping us hopping this weekend.  We took him out to a little restaurant for fish fry last night... and he was a perfect patron.  He ate his food, didn't make a mess, and we kept him occupied with a few things his mommy and daddy pack in his carryalong diaper bag.   Well-prepared parents with some crayons, a few tiny toys, a snack pack of fruit chews and his own spoon and bib.   They take him all over and he behaves quite well.  So we are proud to take him with us in any situation.    During our wait for our food, he *helped* me make a shopping list for the grocery store, our next stop.  We drew pictures of bananas and cookies on his list.   Then we tucked it into my purse to take to the store.

I know this pic is blurry.. it seems fluorescent lighting and my digital camera do not get along too well. 

We loaded up the cart and he later bailed from the front part and rode in the seat up close to me to keep an eye on the cookies!   Then granfaddah let him play with a big red ball..... well..... you guessed it:

Here is the ball... in the car.... going home with us! 

After we got home and unloaded groceries, this little guy was totally gung ho about hopping in the bathtub!  We have a large triangular whirlpool tub with lots of room for tub toys, bubbles, a big red bouncy ball and one squiggly little boy!  After wearing soap bubble goatees and a few shrieks of delight as he splashed granmuddah hanging over the side, we finally got his hair washed.   He refused to come out till his toes and fingers were wrinkled up like little raisins.   Once he was towel dried off in a thick terry bathsheet, he was ready for flannel jammies and bedtime!   Ten minutes flat and he was out like a light in the portable crib.  Peace at last!  Whew!


The next morning (he slept till 6 am)  he woke up with a stuffy nose and coughing.  So much for going out to play in the newly fallen snow overnight!   Instead he curled up with a good book.......  I just LOVE this pic!

We have a bookshelf with kids books on them, and he can choose from them and read them carefully.  He doesn't rip pages or wreck them either.  From baby on, he was never let to rip pages, only getting the heavy cardboard page books till he could be trusted.  

One of his most favorite book is called The Book of Snappy Numbers... and each page is a pop-up of a different animal.  We had to watch him with this book for quite a while because he wanted to take each animal off the page and outta the book!   The last page, which is now his favorite, is of a big snapping crocodile!  At first he was scared of it as it came out to snap at him, but now he loves it and knows it is coming at the end of the book.

Some of our kids books are from when I was a kid at Grandma Kafehl's house  (would be his Great Great Grandma)  as our some of our toys on the shelf too.  It's my collection of "Grandma Toys"


Right now as I type this, he is playing with the tiny rooster and hens from the Fischer Price Farm that my kids played with at her house.   He has one stuck on each little finger and is dancing around the house making cockadoodledoooo sounds... what a kid!   (See? the snow melted outside already too)

This morning, I ran to the store to get him decongestant and expectorant (after calling his mom to double check that it was O.K. to do so)  and brought it home to dose him.  He seems to be feeling fine now this afternoon..... So it was time to break out the clipboard and the fat crayons!  He squeals with DELIGHT when we bring them out... and our fridge now has new artwork proudly hanging on display.

Now after a dinner of "skettie"  and some green beans and mandarin orange slices.. it was time for a few of his cookies he chose at the store.   White and pink frosted animal cookies.. yummmm!

In our home, we keep a baby gate across the steps going down to the studio, but the rest of the house really isn't babyproofed.  He is good about gently touching things and not getting into trouble.  Sometimes he looks at me and questions if he can check something out.  For instance, right now he is turning on and off the button on the weather radio, listening to the ever-repeating weather forecast.  He thinks it's hilarious to be able to turn it on and off by himself.  My table loom and sock knitting machine are also here in the living room and he is really good about not messing with them.  

It's amazing watching what he thinks is fun.... it's not TOYS... no... its beating out a rhythm with two lotion bottles, or playing with a tube of chap stick.

He looks at all the pics of the family members on the *Wall of Fame* at the bottom of the stairs... and knows each person, even his Uncle Mike who passed away in 2006.

He names them all and loves to sit on the steps and look at the framed pictures.    The steps are made of half logs cut lengthwise and are open in between... and quite scary for a little tot not quite 2 years old yet.

Well, life is an adventure with the grandkids that is for sure.

After he woke up from his nap, he cuddled up to me, clinging tight as I rocked him.  We stayed that way for about 10 minutes, while I sat cross-legged on the floor.  I know he is growing up, fast, and it isn't too often he will want to be so cuddly.  Gotta get those in while I can, and cherish the sweetness I felt with him clinging tight to me.  Smelling his hair and listening to his raspy nasal breathing from his stuffy nose.

Grandkids...   grandkids..... grandkids.....   we are blessed!

Exercise for the motorhome day… and a new chair~!

We took the motorhome for it's exercise run.  The motorhome needs to be run at least once a month... we did it in November but missed December.   So we decided that it was a good day to do so.

It was above freezing, though it was rainy and icky. 

Steveio is the happiest when driving his rig.

Yes, the dogs get to come along too, they have a conniption fit if we don't take them along

 

We drove 28 miles up to Marinette and stopped at Shopko to buy a new Euro Chair and ottoman for our motorhome.    We had previously discussed getting this chair and ottoman. We currently had 2 couches and Steve thought we could use more room by taking one out.  So we decided we could remove the couch on the right and use that space with a Euro Chair, ottoman, and slide over the coffee table during transit.  Sometimes I have my table loom set up, so now that can ride behind my passenger chair.  The passenger chair also swivels around to face the livingroom too.

 

The chair had been $240 bucks, but now on sale this week for $99 bucks!   We decided we could stop and pick it up right from the store.  We loaded it up into a shopping cart in pieces right out of the box, leaving the box in the store at the service desk. The box was too big to fit through the doorway anyhow.  One less thing for us to dispose of.   We assembled it in the motorhome while parked right there in the parking lot.  Pretty nice chair for the price, made from microfiber; It reclines, swivels and rocks as does the ottoman too.

Goodwill was located right across the street, and was open and accepting donations on a Sunday.   2 guys came out and helped carry the extra couch right out the door of the motorhome and into the store. 

Then we drove on back home, and parked the rig again till next month.... 

wish we could keep going and going and going-----