About The Trailer

When we bought this trailer for $1,000 in December, it was already planned that we'd drag it down to Pioche for us to live in while we're there working on the house.

We're not going to be decorating it as so many people do, its just a trailer after all.

But I did paint the cupboards 'Forest Floor' green and even though its a little dark, I really like it. I think it makes the trailer look more modern.

It was a wet winter, since we live in the PNW, so Lan parked it in the covered arena and kept it dry.

Good thing, because theres more water damage than previously thought. Thats all fixed now, whew.

The kitchen pre-paint. I did paint all the cupboards in this photo except not the bathroom.

The bathroom will stay like this as long as we have the trailer.

We did add shelves to the bedroom cupboards, the closets are useless to us for hanging clothing. The metal bars are too tight to the ceiling & plastic hangers don't fit easily plus we don't hang clothes. I bought baskets for our clothing and a LOT more fits in each side with everything neatly folded and tucked in them.

I haven't put much of anything in the cupboards above the bed yet, thinking thats going to be for the items we won't need often.

We will be leaving in 3 days. Our first stop is in Winnemucca to watch some of the Gypsy Horse Fest at the fairgrounds. Its 700 miles away and I KNOW we're not going to get there in 1 day so we'll need to find a camping spot about 500 miles from home. Bend, maybe.

OK, who in their right mind thinks we could ride a bike 1000 miles in 4 days??

Or walk it in 16 days? They're out of their minds.  When we were in Ironman condition we'd have been able to do 62 miles in 1 day but not for 16 days straight.

Many, many years ago I bought these tire covers for the horse trailer. Never used them, have had them stored in the garage with all the camping stuff.  Now we're going to take them to Pioche and they will be used on the trailer tires while it sits down there.

 

Next Updates

 We will be taking a trailer down to Pioche to live in while we work on the house, it will be left there until we're finished.

We will be rewiring the interior as this is what's there now.

Some of this wire is wrapped in fabric, some is newer but its all gotta go. We've purchased a couple dozen outlets and switches and I've watched several youtube videos to learn how to do these things.

This is the current electrical meter.

This is the inside. I do not know if this is going to be OK for us going forward but Lans dad is a retired electrician and he will be able to tell us a lot.

We have replaced a few things temporarily.

I've found a dozen of these simple illustrations I can print out to use so we don't do it wrong.  

 

 

Where Do We Even Begin?

We began with shoring up the exterior walls and rotted out floor.

All the old insulation was saved, I guess they were going to put it back up

But we thought differently and took it all to the dump.

THese photos were all from June 2024, it was HOT inside so I put these car windshield things up on the windows. They cost $1 at the dollar store and with only days to get stuff together, this was a good way to help cool it.

Lan put these lights up so we could see

Here are some updated photos:

This photos shows the new 10x10 section Lan had to replace. It is the safest part of the house now.

 

 

Bathroom Is Almost Finished

I found this mirror yesterday after searching high & low for one to fit the space. I really didn't want to get two, felt it was too narrow for that & most larger ones are just a titch too large. I knew this would be perfect as soon as I saw it & it was installed before the end of the day.

We have decided to NOT use the tiles that are partially installed here. They keep popping off & if they do that now, will they do it later? I'll get something different that might have a bit of color.

 

A Room For A Boy

We finished this room for Soren to use, it's got some toys, his bed & in the drawers there are all new clothes for him. 

I'm going to take down the blinds & put up curtains that are easier to use.

The closet needs dowels that are kid level 

The floor is waterproof so he won't have to worry about spills

We have installed a small fan light in the ceiling and the door is a barn door slider

The Reno Is Almost Finished

 Last January our bedroom looked like this, with blue tape marking an imaginary wall, there was a doorway into the Jack & Jill bathroom and the white carpet was wasted because we knew it was coming out. In early February the work began.

This is what it looks like now. 

The shower has got 6 built in corner shelves.

I love the western style mirror I found at Lowes, on clearance.

We put this light in but its small, it might need to be replaced in the future.

There is another light that's also a fan & heater, works great.

The floor is waterproof click together rubber tiles, it's perfect. 

We found brushed bronze towel holders to match the other items in there.

It's Taking Forever

I just need to remember that we're doing 3 rooms, not just adding a bathroom.

MASTER BATHROOM

This is the old vanity in the Jack & Jill bathroom, photo taken January 1, 2020.

This is that same wall, April 26, 2020.

I had these boards ready to put onto this wall for a month, it took 1 hour to put them up. 

Still needed:

Light replaced

Mirror hung

Mirror frame made

Backsplash

1 Piece of trim on floor

caulk around sink & tub

This was the longest/fastest of all the projects

The tile we got for the side walls & between the backsplash & wood, now that I see them all together I think I want something with more color, this is pretty but drab.

NEW BATHROOM

The shower is in and drywall has been sanded

Today texture was sprayed on the walls, it should be ready for me to paint tomorrow.

New Bathroom So Far

This is when the room was the ending of being our bedroom. Whoever put white carpet in a farmhouse bedroom was nuts. At this stage we knew the carpet was going to be removed so we didn't take huge steps to protect it & keep it pristine like we did for the first 4 years we lived here.

We removed the carpet and I painted the wall, not knowing quite where the shower would be 

When you don't know exactly how to do plumbing, it will take you a lot longer to do projects. It also takes longer when you get two different sets of parts.

Plumbing finished and it doesn't seem to leak. Drywall looks good. 

Jack and Jill door in the beginning

Door removed, plumbing partially finished

Drywall inside master bath

Drywall inside new bath

Its almost ready for me to paint the first coat. 

Today the fan hole was cut to fit the new fan, which will have a light, fan and heater. The light and heater will have one shared switch so they will come on at the same time. The heater will have its own switch. I'd prefer that the fan & heater be on timers.

Almost Finished Master Bath

The master bathroom is going well, we've got the new double vanity installed & the under sink leak fixed. I had anticipated this & put down a puppy piddle pad, glad I did. 

The vanity top came with a 4 inch tall back splash but since it fits PERFECTLY into the area, we'll need something on the side walls also. So we picked out a matching tile to go up about 12 inches on the sides & above the backsplash. 

We're putting shiplap on the back wall, I've already painted the wall & the boards, cut them to size and they are ready to go onto the walls. 

A mirror has been purchased, its just wide enough to fill the area & we'll put a frame made from the flooring around it to match.

There is very little painting left to do in the master bath, just a bit on the ceiling & around the tub. Then we'll put new caulking around it.

 The flooring looks very nice, its a gray & the vanity is brown. I like both together, they aren't too much of one color. The flooring is also waterproof so we won't be worrying about wet floors.

It is no longer a Jack & Jill bathroom, today the doorway was covered over.

And what the other side looks like currently. 

And what it looks like looking from the door on the right toward the left, where the shower is

Our FINISH goal date has been April 6th for the last two months but with Covid19 happening, we're not even sure we can list the house for sale. We definitely won't be able to show the house but we're going to continue to work and keep as tight to the schedule as we can so we can take some time off before it IS listed.

Once the building is done I'll need another two weeks to clean all the dust off everything.