Snug as Three Bugs

Well, December finds us still in the Willamette Valley, but we're fully moved into the motor home!  All three of us are pretty thrilled about it, too; not in the least because it's a good 10-20 °F warmer than in the house.  No more sleeping in our hats!

Happiness is a south-facing window.

We had a lovely combination yard sale/housewarming last weekend, taking full advantage of friends, family and neighbors to help us lug the hideabed couch and dresser into the 'Home.  Thanks, team!  At the same time, Bob was finishing up the ceiling covering that we finally decided on: CORK!

Adios, plywood!

We purchased a 4'x50' roll of 1/4" thick cork underlayment online at a "contractor's special" price.    Since this material is intended to go underneath flooring, we wondered if it might turn out to be kind of funky-looking.  Nope!  All 200 square feet arrived looking perfectly uniform and lovely as could be.  Then came the fun part.  As usual, Innovatin' Bob ended up testing the limits of his creativity to figure out how to keep the cork pressed against the (curved) ceiling long enough for the glue to dry. 
 

The original curve was formed out of plywood, so it seemed logical to bend another sheet of plywood the same way and sandwich each section of cork up against the ceiling.  Bob laid a piece of cork onto the plywood, secured it temporarily with a couple strips of painter's tape, brushed wood glue onto the cork, and wrestled the whole contraption over his head and into position.  Next we wedged four 8' lengths of wood between the ceiling and floor to really smoosh it up there.  Then we left it for 4+ hours, came back, and...voila!

 

An unusually advanced level of multitasking.

Of course, it didn't turn out to be that simple.  After unveiling the first piece of cork we installed, we realized that the two halves of our plywood sandwich were not curving in exactly the same way.  The cork stuck really well where it had pressed against the ceiling, but there were several droopy places where it clearly hadn't had contact.  Hmm.  Bob resolved this by affixing one of our (many) pieces of extra egg carton foam to the plywood sheet, which helped to equalize the pressure it exerted across the cork.  Whew.

I had wondered whether the 'Home would feel significantly smaller after we moved the couch and dresser in, not to mention plants, books, kitchen stuff, cat cushions, etc.  Turns out, not really.  It all fits in here pretty comfortably so far (including the four enormous speakers and boxes of LPs which are temporarily crammed under the desk).  The color scheme has self-directed into a kind of neutral background, rainbow accents thing.  I like it.

The back.

The tiny-yet-functional kitchen is probably my favorite aspect at the moment.  I really relish being able to stand in one spot while I put all the clean dishes away.  Almost as much as I love setting down a smoking-hot pan on ANY part of the kitchen counter.  Paradise!

The front.

Now we just need a few days of gentler weather between here and Mariposa so that Bob can safely drive the pickup and horse trailer down, fully loaded.  THAT'S a subject for another photo essay, or possibly an episode of "Extreme Engineering.  Stay tuned for pics of the pickup, all Joaded up and ready to roll!