Canned Ham Progress - The Bad, The Bad and the Ugly

Before moving on to the ugly, this is the one thing I've gotten done art-wise. Trying again to create a page that doesn't detract from the page already there.  I WILL complete this journal, someday.

 So many projects, not to mention art, go through a really ugly phase before starting to look good - and this project is no exception!

You'll note however that the damn clock is still there!  I WILL conquer it sooner or later though, hopefully without destroying the paneling.

Guinness thinks we're building him quite the doghouse.

Above are the old roof panels, and below are the new ones.  Kind of a shame we'll barely see any of it!

I've been spending most of my time scrubbing 50 years of grime off of the aluminum surrounding the windows, and then polishing them.  It hasn't been pretty, gloves, mask, oven cleaner, steel wool, metal polish, - the kitchen looked like a disaster zone, but you can see a proud grouping of the smaller windows all clean and polished, below.  I think my favorite thing about this trailer are the louvered windows, opened and closed with a little hand crank.

I've also removed all the cupboard doors and drawers, and sanded and painted them.  They're going to be a light cream color except for the lower part of the kitchen area, that is going to be the green from my inspiration old enamel hooks piece that I posted previously. I may tone them down some and distress them, I haven't decided yet.  I tend to start twitching when contemplating something so flat and one dimensional, and want to grab sandpaper and some stain.  Drawer pulls will help of course, I still need to decide on those.

My next big project is figuring out where to get the bench seats reupholstered, and with what.  My mind is spinning.....

Canned Ham - The Before

She's home!  Last weekend we got her moved - a day I thought would never come!  And so now, the work has begun.  There are some water stained panels inside, and after trolling the internet looking at nightmare restoration projects, we decided we needed to peel off the aluminum skin from the front and top to see just how much damage there was to the frame.  A million screws, nails and staples later we got to see what were dealing with, and I am so relieved to say it's not bad!

The corners have some staining and we're going to need to cover or replace some paneling on the inside, but overall - WHEW!  The top looks similar but the aluminum is in worse shape up there so we're going to replace those panels (depending on how much that costs).

So, now for the inside. Ready to enter this time warp?

 This clock WILL NOT COME OFF!  I think the whole cabinet is going to come off with it by the time I get it down...

The orange curtains were made by my friend Val when she was about 12.  She's given me permission to replace them!

This is the bed area, with one of the table benches pulled out partially blocking it.

The empty space above is where the fridge goes, if we can (please god) actually get it running. It's the original propane one.  

So, that's it - lots of work to do, and lots of decisions to make!  I'm wrestling with how original I want to keep it - I'll keep you updated as I go and will welcome any advice!