Second Storey Bed

Another project I've got on the go that seems to be stuck at the moment is remaking the second bed slats.

I bought an old set years ago out of excitement and without really looking at them properly, but after trying them out, safe to say no one will be sleeping on them!

I put them in last weekend to have a look at how they go in etc and what ill need to remake them.

Thought it would be interesting to lay on them, never again. The whole time I thought the boards were going to snap! The ply thats been used before is only about 1cm thick so theres alot of give when you put a person on them, and getting on is very difficult because you dont want to put all your weight on the last board for fear of falling through!

Mission; to get thicker wood (or stronger ply etc) and then to recover in new material probably a plastic vinyl similar to what was previously used as that seems to have worn quite well.

Bed in! (would hate to have to go to the toilet during the night if i was sleeping up there!)


Laying on it, please note how close I am to the edge as it feels slightly safer there. (ha!)


Charles & Monty

Seats Back In & Wobblier Than Ever!

Figured seeing as the flooring may take a while to get going I should put the seat back in so that I can have more than just one passenger!

Slight issue, its very wobbly.

Im not sure if this is because I got the wrong sized bolts to hold the metal arms in place (highly likely) or if it was that wobbly before and I just didn't think anything of it.

I figure the cabinets that used to run along the stretch of the van used to stabilise it when its as a bed, Im sure when I have cabinets back in it will sort out a lot of the problem, in the mean time, no funny business will be taking place in the bed (ha!) and I'm going to get the correct size bolts.

It works great as a seat though so theres a sigh of relief! Also a lot more comfortable as the foam means you're more upright compares to practically laying down because the foam had disintegrated!



Charles & Monty

Sun Visors

I cant believe I hadnt cleaned these sooner...



Revolting to say the least.

I decided to give them a splash of colour to bring the red/burnt orange through to the front!

Finished product;


Charles & Monty

Feeling A Bit Simple

So recently I thought I'd do a good thing and clean all my windows and dashboard etc, and whilst cleaning was pleasantly suprised to find that....

MY CAR HAS AN ASHTRAY!

Its not like I smoke but holy moly it was exciting to find a hidey hole that I never even knew about even after having Monty for nearly 3 years!



Would youuu have found it?

Charles & Monty

Flooring Preview

So ive decided on 50's style kitchen flooring just because i think it will look good with the colours going etc!

Ive bought Ply wood to fix to the floor and then to stick lino tiles to, only hassle now is getting the shape of the ply right as the base isnt even (boo)!

So have to wait for Dad to help me jigsaw the shape right as theres no way in hell dads going to let me use a jigsaw machine by myself.. I thought it would have been fun!

Had to figure out how many tiles id need so took a snap as a sneak preview, will update as the ply goes it etc.

Roo Bar

Ive come to the sensible conclusion that if im going to drive around Australia Im going to need a roo bar. Just incase!

I managed to find one off Gumtree for $50.00 was so chuffed cos its in great condition


Ive sent it off for sand blasting and repainting, and all the guys doing it asked for for payment was a carton of coronas! SOLD! Gotta love tradies.

Will post a pic of the results when i get it back.

Charles & Monty

Time For Some Colour!

Now the fun really starts.

After making the curtains I decided that i quite liked the orange and the blue and the interior needed some colour to brighten it up a little bit.

I had struggled alot with the interior curtain trimming and wether or not to paint it like i had with the front flooring carpet.


I wasnt sure how the paint would stick and what colour it would turn if the paint colour wasnt quite dark enough.

In the end I chose to have a crack at it and worse case scenario i would paint over it with black (not ideal but worth the risk)

Again i went with a burnt orange to keep the colour going (dont want too many colours going on might get a bit crazy!) So i set off taping everything off…

And then started spraying!


I was really happy with how the colour was coming out, big sigh of relief!


I had the same dilemma with the bed base re colour and surface etc, but yet again thought why not have a crack at it, whats the worse that can happen!

Before

After


News paper everywhere


All finished!


Charles & Monty

Sliding Door

Ive been avoiding the sliding door since I started as I wasnt sure how to get into the nooks and crannies around the door without making a complete mess of all the other paint work.

I took off the template and gave it a good clean so now its ready for painting and have been shown how to remove the sliding door so this weekend ill hopefully be able to remove the whole door and do it properly!


Charles & Monty

New Curtains

New Curtains

Monty was in desperate need of new curtains, as i'd left them up all the time over the 2 years they'd been pretty badly sun bleached in places and were pretty dirty.

I thought we'd go for a different colour to the yellow this time and decided on a nice burnt orange.

The lady in the fabric shop suggested backing them (which i hadnt done last time due to finances) so this time i broke the bank and went all out! (not really the block out was only $1.00 a metre.

I managed to make all the curtains for the back in one day. Thats 10 curtains, so I turned into a bit of a curtain making machine!


And the finished product!


Ive made the crucial decision not to keep them up all the time so that i dont find myself remaking them in another 6 months so will just keep them folded away for the rare times i do actually sleep in the kombi.

I also replaced all the wiring that the curtains hang off so that means these ones wont get rust marks all over them which is a very good thing!

Charles & Monty

Back Floor

Now that all the walls were painted it was time to paint the floor! Before painting it though i cured it with a rust oxidizer to make sure that ontop of the rust kill paint i was going to use that it really wasnt going to spread any further.

Looking much cleaner and finished


Not quite sure how but i managed to sit on the paint lid.. twice

After painting the floor I wasnt 100% about wether or not to paint the back base, as the original paint wasnt in that bad condition. In the end I thought I should while all the seats etc were out and I had access also I was worried it would look like an unfinsihed project if i didnt.

Original paint
(before i took the panel off the LH side and painted)

Once the back base was painted


Very happy with how it turned out. It all looks uniform and CLEAN!

Charles & Monty

Captains Seat & Rock n Roll Bed

Replacing the Captains Seat

As previously mentioned the front seat of the kombi had a spring that was a bit savage when it came to peoples backsides so after 2 years of dealing with the nuisance of having to sit on a bit of plastic to stop it ripping what ever i was wearing i decided to have it proffessionally reupholstered as it was starting to hurt my back - about time!

Unfortunately i dont have a photo of the before, but the man who fixed it up for me said that it was well and truley stuffed and couldnt believe id actually been sitting on it for the past two years OOPS!


Its not a pleasure to sit on and waaaay more comfortable!

I took out the rock & roll seat for ease of access to get to the back panel and to be able to give the kombi a good wash down.

While it was out I figured now was the best time to reupholstered so that was the next project! The seat didnt seem in that bad condition untill i started pulling it apart..



The foam inside had completely discintegrated and was in desperate need of replacement.


I kept the material as templates and the wooden base was okay to be reused along with the brackets, bonus!


I went to the local foam shop and had all the foam cut to the right sizes and started on reupholstering it!

I gued and stapled the foam to the wooden board to make sure it wasnt going anywhere fast



Id made new covers by using the previous covers as templates.



And the finished product


I also had a new bit of foam cut for the back area as that foam had had it too. I asked the foam guy if it might be reusable and he said it had probably had it about 10 years. Yep! Time for replacement. So heres the new back mattress.


Charles and Monty

Wall Tackling Time

Before i could get to painting the floor i thought i needed to see to the walls as they were looking a bit revolting


Above was the worst section which ended up being alot of dirt much to my horror!

So gave it a good clean




While cleaning was pleasantly suprised when i took off this and realised it was a tyre holder.


Success! Somewhere to keep my tyre so its not just rolling around in the back


After all the cleaning I then tested a swatch of paint just to check colours and couldnt believe the difference!


I set to work masking the windows and sectioning off anywhere i didnt need painted and then got busy!



Very pleased with the results, makes the kombi seem alot bigger due to the bright colour, and feels unimaginably cleaner!

I used a rust killing paint to make sure if there was any surface rust going on that it would kill and seal it so it doesnt spread any faster!

Charles & Monty

The Project Commences!

After the camping expedition i decided to get started on the Kombi revamp and the front carpet was first in the firing line!

I called around to try and source some carpet dye but no where seemed to stock it, so called a carpet dyer and he suggested just spray painting it and rubbing it while wearing a latex glove so that all the fibres didn't stick together, thought why not as after all its underfoot anyway so isnt the biggest issue if it doesnt work out quite to plan. Luckily for me it worked a treat!

Before


Getting There..


Finished product back in kombi, made such a difference!



Next on the agenda was the flooring in the back!



I started by pulling up the flooring, yet again unprepared and only armed with a screw driver (turns out thats all you need)..


I started off thinking i'd just take off the cork squares and see how I go with that, so id still have a level surface but decided halfway through when the tiles became more difficult to get off that it was all coming off.

So pulled it up and set to work on cleaning out the 30 years worth of dust that had accrued underneath the masonite. GROSS!

Came up okay after id swept up, bit of rust but nothing unmanageable.


Will get to painting it after i tackle the walls.

Charles & Monty