Life accumulates.
Empty surfaces quickly have things placed, then left, then lost on them. Families expand and curtains are made. Despite our constraints - sometimes because of them - the empty places are filled up, like rock pools.
I know this is part of the stage of life we are in. In many years there will be an emptying out again, as children move out, then as friends, family and spouses pass away.
But at the moment we increase.
Astute eyes will notice the table is slightly different. We found another member of the faux wood formica family, but smaller and more suitable.
Normally in a caravan all the furniture is built into the caravan. This is to improve the strength of the frame and to maximise on the storage to space ratio.
We however are in the generous position of being relatively spoiled for space. What’s more, down the line we may turn most of our living room into another bedroom. For these two reasons almost all our furniture is freestanding, and our place almost looks like a normal house on the inside.
We’ve made an exception in the bedroom. Here the dresser, bookshelf and bed are all built in. it’s all rimu wood, which looks and feels really nice. The handles are the same ones we took off of the caravan initially, and look nigh unrecognisable.
I struggled to get a photo that really captured the dimensions of the bedroom. The bed is a double bed, and the standing space is a bit over half the width of the bed again. It feels snug but sufficient.
I’ve tried not to put a lot of caravan renovation tips in this newsletter - this isn’t a how to and I’m certainly not qualified to be a how to-er.
I will say that if, somehow, you end up doing a similar thing, don’t do what we did here. All our built in furniture and storage are at the back of the caravan, away from the towbar. This is not a good idea - you want most of the weight to be at the front.
We will have to compensate when we move to prevent fish-tailing (links to a very good 30 second youtube video demonstration).
The next newsletter will be called: Acknowledging.
Kā mihi maioha,
Giles.