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Today, I continued my quest of glueing birch veneer onto the remaining bits of wood in the camper that aren’t getting replaced. I was fairly successful, although today I had a few mishaps. Once I got all of the pieces measured and cut, I got out my new can of contact cement and opened it […]
Ok, so I know the statement in my title is incorrect (I sure hope so!), but at the rate I’m going it feels that way, and I was just trying to think of some silly way to incorporate owl into the title. 
I have some good news to share, my backyard is now home to three Eastern Screech owlets and two proud parents! I’m so excited to have a little owl family sharing my backyard with me. They are ridiculously cute, and the first thing I do when I wake up is look out the window to see if the owlets are poking their heads out of the owl house.
It all started a couple of weeks ago when I discovered that my two adult owls had returned from wherever they had been hiding since sometime last year. Then, last weekend, one of them was occupying the owl house (thanks previous owners of my house for building it!), and she was not at all pleased that I was planting some flowers near her house. You can see that she is being very protective in the picture below. I was a little worried she might swoop down and attack my head!
Little did I know, there were eggs in the house that she was guarding! A few days later, I noticed a little head poking its way out of the entrance to the owl house and much to my surprise, there were three owlets inside! I was so excited!
Since then, I have been outside every day to monitor their progress and try to snap a few photos without scaring them too much. Below, they are trying to squeeze out of the door of their house at the same time. I love how their bodies make a heart shape. 
They are growing up fast! 
Now that I’ve overloaded you with cuteness, I will get to my updates on Junebug’s restoration. I definitely made some more progress last weekend and today. Last weekend, I bought a paint sprayer. What a great invention! I wish I would have purchased it a while ago because it made shellacking a breeze! The only drawback was the light coating of shellac that is now all over the garage. That can be easily prevented by hanging some drop cloths, but I was being lazy because it was clear shellac. If I use the sprayer for colored paint, I will be more careful.
Just look at the result! So shiny and beautiful. 🙂 This is after three coats of amber shellac (with a brush) and then four coats of clear shellac with the sprayer. It almost has a mirror finish. I couldn’t be more pleased. 
This weekend I had a helper! It was nice to have a friend come to help me. He helped me get the stubborn sink faucet unscrewed so that I can repair it since it was leaking. I needed to remove it anyway since I will be replacing the laminate on the kitchen countertop.
My friend and I also removed one of the support beams from under the camper and placed a new 2×4 there to replace it. I had to borrow my neighbor’s drill bit again because I didn’t have one long enough to drill through the 2×4 in order to put the carriage bolt through to secure the beams and subfloor to the frame. It’s all secure now!
Here’s my friend cutting some of the wood for the frame.
Here’s the before picture.
And after! I still need to replace the paneling here, but you get the idea. I haven’t secured it yet, it’s just clamped in place. I had to run to the store to get stainless steel screws. I will not be buying any non-stainless steel screws in order to avoid any future rusting.
Here’s a pic of the other side of the wheel. I also cut new wood pieces to replace the old frame here because it was rotted. Looks so much better!
This is the curb side of the camper. I cut a new little piece here as you can see on the right to replace some additional rotted wood. Things are really starting to shape up!
After my friend left, I got to work on my next task, applying birch veneer to the closet wall and one of the shelves that I decided I didn’t feel like removing. Below are the before pictures.
I used Weldwood Contact Cement and a little roller. You apply a coating of contact cement to the veneer and the wood and allow to sit for 20 minutes. Then you put the two together and it works like a dream! If you don’t get it lined up correctly though, you’re in big trouble. Unfortunately, that happened with my shelves. Luckily I was able to cut a small sliver of veneer to fill in the spot where I was out of alignment, so hopefully no one will really notice my mistake.
Here’s the veneer with lots of contact cement on it. I wanted to make sure I had plenty so it would hold up in this Houston heat and humidity.
And here is the finished product!
Please ignore the other wood around it. That will all be covered or replaced in due time. I’m quite proud of the result here! I put a light behind the veneer in order to see where I needed to cut to trace the outline of the shape. The veneer is thin enough that you can see the light through it and cut to shape with a razor blade. It took a little time to complete, but it wasn’t too difficult and the result was worth it!
So overall, I feel like I got quite a bit accomplished today. I’m still wondering when exactly I’ll be done with this lengthy project. I’m really hoping it’s sometime this year, fingers crossed! I hope everyone reading this is enjoying their weekend! It’s a beautiful weekend here in Houston. I’ll see you all when I have more updates to share. 
Dear reader: I started writing this on Easter Sunday, but then I ran out of time before I had to go celebrate with my cousins. I am just now getting around to finishing the post a week later, but I didn’t want to rewrite the whole thing so it still has the Easter theme. 🙂
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For those who celebrate Easter, it’s a day to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. I was wondering earlier how in the world rabbits also got associated with this holiday, so I did a little research online. I’m not sure how I got by before the internet, I guess I would have actually had to get out of the house and go to the library. haha According to Wikipedia (which I will assume has been vetted by someone knowledgeable), hares used to be thought of as hermaphrodites, meaning they could reproduce while still remaining virgins. 
hmm This led to an association with the Virgin Mary which then led to many references to hares in medieval church art. Because rabbits are considered a fertility symbol and springtime is their mating season, they naturally became a symbol of springtime which later led to them being associated with Easter. Originating among the Lutherans, the Easter Hare originally played the role of a judge, evaluating whether children were good or disobedient at the start of the season of Eastertide.
So, in the spirit of the Easter Bunny, today I will be helping my cousin hide eggs for her son and his friend to find. Since I don’t have kids of my own, this is actually my first time participating in an Easter egg hunt since I was little. I think it will be fun and should bring back some memories.
I used to love Easter egg hunts! I was five years old in this picture, taken in 1984 at my grandma’s house. That’s her in the pink. 🙂
It would certainly take an act of God to resurrect Junebug in three days. Since that doesn’t seem to be an option, Junebug is coming back to life at a much slower pace. That being said, I did make some pretty good progress recently. I am really starting to see the how beautiful she is going to be when I’m done and it’s energizing!
I still had skin on the street side of Junebug because I hadn’t needed to remove it yet. I finally removed that last weekend. As you can see, my workspace is my driveway. haha
Once the skin and old insulation were removed, I could assess the damage. there was a bit of wood rot along the edges, although not nearly as bad as I expected to find. and there was of course quite a bit of damage around the old water fill hole, but that’s easily fixable since I am planning to replace all of the interior wood anyway.
I also finally removed the rail along the interior wall so that I could start cutting the pieces to replace the interior wall panels.
In order to get the shape cut right, I clamped the paneling to the exterior of the camper and drew a line with a pencil around the edge. It wasn’t perfect, so I had to make at least 30 trips back and forth to the garage to make adjustments with my jigsaw.
All of the rotted edging and paneling that you see here will be replaced when I completely replace the ceiling panels. I am just waiting to do that until I have them shellacked and ready to install. I don’t want to apply shellac once they’re installed because painting a ceiling is not ideal and quite messy. 
The end result still wasn’t perfect, but pretty close! What you are seeing here is new paneling on the curbside, the panel to the right is natural and the paneling to the left has one coat of amber shellac, hence the color difference. I also cut a small piece for above the door.
And here’s the street side! Once again, you can see that one piece has shellac and the other is still natural. I’ll finish shellacking everything later. I used the panel from the curbside to trace the pattern, and I still had to make adjustments but it wasn’t nearly as difficult on this side. You can see that I left some gaps along the bottom. I’m planning leave some of the old wood there except the really rotted portion, so I’m not as worried about this part because it won’t be seen due to the benches that will be put back in to cover all of that part of the wall. I may add more wood there for consistency, I haven’t decided yet.
I also ordered a quilted stainless steel backsplash to go around the oven. I’m excited about how it will look! I’m not even going to replace the wood there since the backsplash will cover it anyway and it’s still in good condition. That will save me some time.
I’m hoping to make some more progress tomorrow, so I will try my best to write another post soon with updates.
On another subject, I was super happy today to discover that my screech owls who were living in my backyard have returned! I have two and they are so cute!
This one is inside the owl house in my backyard that the previous owners built. His name is Otis.
This one is much prettier so I’d like to think it’s a female. I haven’t named her yet, but I guess I should think of a name if she sticks around.
I am way overdue for a post! I decided a month ago that I needed to take a break from Junebug. My yard was a mess, my house was a mess, and I was afraid my social life was suffering. I didn’t want to let my addiction to this restoration project become an unhealthy addiction…
To catch everyone up on what I’ve been doing instead of working on Junebug, here’s a quick rundown:
Ok now that we’re all caught up, I will get to the restoration updates. I got to work shellacking some of the panels because it has been raining a lot. I used a roller this time and the result was ok, however I think this wood is much darker than the first piece I shellacked, so I’m not sure if I can put on more coats or it won’t match. I think I may just do a bunch of coats of clear to give it the shiny finish I like. The shellacking process is probably my least favorite thing to do because it’s so tedious and makes a mess.
Trying to shellac as many pieces as I can at once to save time.
I was finally able to see a sneak peak of what the walls are going to look like when I put up the new birch paneling. It’s nice to finally be able to see how pretty it will look when I start to install the new paneling!
I’m not finished shellacking this piece, but I wanted to see what it would look like.
Today, I worked a bit on the shelves. I decided to rebuild new shelves because the old ones were just too hard to refurbish and still look good. Cutting the pieces for the new shelves wasn’t too difficult, but trying to hammer a twisty nail into the wood was VERY difficult! I ended up deciding to just glue the pieces together for now until I can buy an air compressor and palm nailer. I think it will be much easier if I use the palm nailer. I wish I already had an air compressor. I’m not even sure where I’ll put it since my garage is packed to the gills with stuff! I may need to do some reorganizing soon.
Old shelves
New shelf pieces cut out of 1/8″ birch paneling.
New pieces clamped onto the old shelf to see what it will look like.
New shelf framing glued down to base. After this dries, I will glue the face onto the base and then add the frame around it. Eventually I’ll nail it all together with twist nails.
I’m thinking I may stop for today and resume working on Junebug again tomorrow. I need to run a few errands before it gets too late.
What does the Super Bowl mean to me? Or maybe I should ask the question, what does football mean to me? The answer is nothing, and honestly I could not care less who is playing in the Super Bowl in any given year. The only things I find exciting about the Super Bowl are the commercials. And maybe the Puppy Bowl. haha I went to my first NFL game last year when I was lucky enough to get two tickets in my company’s suite at the Texans game. Unfortunately, the Texans had their worst year ever, so of course they lost the game. A lot of fans were upset, but I was just excited about the free fancy food and drinks in the suite. I could have been watching potato sack races for all I cared, and it would have been just as fun. haha I never have understood how people can get so excited about football, as if their lives depended on whether their team won every game. To me it’s just a game. But I guess those people probably look at me and wonder why in the world I want to spend hours and hours every weekend restoring an old camper named Junebug. One of my friends, who happens to be a football fan, said Junebug looks like a rusty old beer can. I definitely took offense to that! Does my life depend on whether I can restore Junebug to her former glory in the same way that some people get so caught up in a football season, tailgating, fantasy football and all the things that go along with it? Yes, I suppose you could say I’m equally obsessed. And if I look at it like that, maybe getting obsessed with football isn’t so bad. It’s just a way to distract yourself for a few hours during the week from the stresses at work or in your life and focus on something other than yourself. It provides a much needed escape and gives you a sense of community and purpose. All of the others out there who are restoring vintage campers are my community now, just like football fans can be for each other. These are the things that make life just a little sweeter.
Yesterday was a super frustrating day. I didn’t hear from the guy I like, despite sending him a text in the morning (although I did just hear from him this morning, but why it took an entire day to respond is beyond me, I just don’t understand men and I probably never will!). 
I made some progress on Junebug but ran into some difficulties along the way and may have to redo part my measurements on a piece of wood I cut to replace part of the frame.
The welder couldn’t make it to my house before dark on Friday, so he ended up coming first thing Saturday morning. He showed up at 8am and didn’t warn me he was on the way, so luckily I had just gotten dressed when the doorbell rang! He didn’t know I took his picture. hehe 
It took him about an hour to complete the work, not only did he replace the cross beam that was bent, but he also added two additional beams to extend to the rear of the camper in order to provide structure for the bumper that will be added later. I can tell a huge difference when I walk on the floor now, it feels sturdier. The floor is also finally level!
Beams are extending out the back but will be adjusted to fit the bumper and most likely shortened, depending on what it looks like when the skin is back on.
While the welder was working, I got out the skill saw and started cutting the paneling I received on Friday. I cut all of the 1/8″ birch to 78 cm/6’6″ in length in order to fit the ceiling. I think I may have gotten more panels than I actually needed but that’s ok, it gives me some wiggle room in case I mess one up. When I cut the first couple, the birch veneer splintered pretty badly as I got to the end of the panel. I realized after that that I needed to cut about three quarters of the way first, then flip the panel around and start from the other side to complete the cut. That seemed to help enormously with the splintering problem. I hope that when I use the jigsaw to cut out holes for the windows, etc that it doesn’t splinter. That will be hard to hide. Fingers crossed!
I made quite a mess in my garage with all of the wood cutting. Sawdust everywhere!
After the welder was finished, I paid him and then started measuring and cutting the lauan (that’s a type of wood) to go over the subfloor to smooth it out in preparation for the new tiles. That was a quick job, and I was happy with the result.
Now I just need to glue it down and bolt it to the frame. I still need to add a couple of bolts to the new metal beam because he couldn’t get the existing bolts removed and had to cut them.
After that, I went to Home Depot to buy another attachment for my oscillating tool as well as some more wood and other supplies. By the time I left there, I had somehow managed to spend over $200. 
I measured the lower frame around the baggage door in order to replace the wood there. It was pretty rotten as well as the beam behind the frame in that spot. This is where my day got frustrating. I thought this would be relatively easy, but what I didn’t realize was the new metal beam was sticking out a little too far on that side, so I had to cut a notch in my new frame to make it fit. Then I realized that the existing frame was a little too low in that spot, and I can’t pick it up to get it level. I noticed that the wheel well on that side is slightly bent, and I’m sure it’s once again a direct result of the previous damage to the frame, etc. So, after cutting a new piece of frame, it didn’t quite fit right and I was covered in sweat trying to get it wedged in there! It didn’t help that it was almost 80 degrees yesterday in Houston with about the same percentage humidity. It’s only a matter of time before the mosquitoes return in full force and attack me all over while I’m trying to work on Junebug.
Before. Frame is black and rotten. Yuck
I used my jig saw to cut the wood into the right shape. It worked great!
After. Not perfect and it’s not screwed in yet. I’m trying to decide if I want to remeasure this piece to ensure a perfect fit. You can see the notch on the lower right that I had to cut to leave room for the new metal beam that’s sticking out.
New floor beam. I used a 2×4 instead of a 1×3 3/4 (I think) just to make it sturdier. I’ve noticed that Shasta skimped on the construction when it came to the materials they used.
I’m not sure what project I’ll tackle today. I think I may try to glue some veneer onto a few more pieces. It’s raining outside, so it’s not a good day to work on the framing. I think I could use a break from that anyway! One thing is for sure, even though I don’t care about the Super Bowl, I will be going to a party to watch it later today. Or at least the commercials anyway. Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone!
I hate waiting. Waiting in line, waiting for my food to come at a restaurant, waiting for my friends to show up because I’m usually the first to arrive. I guess you could say I have a problem with patience. Today is my day off, and I had to spend the first part of it waiting for my beautiful birch to arrive from Houston Hardwoods. Luckily, they arrived around 10am, so I didn’t have to stick around all day long. I’m pretty pleased with the wood I picked out and can’t wait to start putting some shellac on it!
Look at the beautiful wood grain on this piece!
I am also on pins and needles waiting for the guy I went out with last weekend to call. He texted yesterday but today is Friday, and he still hasn’t asked me to do anything this weekend. Why do guys always wait until the last minute? Doesn’t he know I like to plan out my weekend in advance? haha I am apparently missing the “go with the flow” gene. I’m also waiting for some fun things to arrive in the mail that I ordered for Junebug. A few of them arrived yesterday and I was excited, but now I have to wait (once again) until Junebug is actually ready for them to be installed!
New tankless water heater 🙂
New plastic water fill (closed)
Plastic water fill (open). It even has a little hole so you can lock it if you’re worried about someone sabotaging your water supply. Hopefully other campers wouldn’t be that mean!
The other items I ordered should be here sometime next week. I’m really excited about my “new” Shasta emblem I ordered from http://www.vintagecampers.com . Also got a tank holder and a replacement glass globe for my gas lamp.
New propane tank holder. My welder is going to weld this to my trailer frame in the front. 🙂
Don’t ask me how much I paid for this. These are apparently in really high demand!
Yesterday, I felt industrious after getting home from the gym so I decided to do my first attempt at gluing the birch veneer to the cabinet door. It turned out beautifully! Now I just need to do the three drawers, the rest of the cabinet face, the closet walls and door, and the shelves. ugh Oh well, at least I have one item done. It actually wasn’t as hard as I thought it might be. I just had to be careful to keep the veneer lined up with the edges. I think I might leave a little extra next time just in case I don’t get it exactly straight. I can always trim the excess.
Cabinet door – before
Cabinet door with veneer cut and ready to glue
All done! Now just needs a few coats of shellac
I’m now about to head to the Boneyard Drinkery with Baxter to meet a friend of mine with her dogs. The Boneyard is the perfect place to spend an afternoon when it’s nice out in Houston. I can’t spend all my time on Junebug and I’ve been neglecting Baxter lately, so it’s time for him to have some fun too! http://www.boneyardhouston.com/
Baxter in the bluebonnets. He’s so cute!
The welder is coming to my house to repair Junebug’s frame at 5:30pm. I’m excited to get that done so that I can get the floor leveled. The picture below is what I’m having him do as well. He’s going to weld a bumper on with a spare tire mount. I’m also going to make a custom tire cover that says Junebug on it. Much cheaper than a personalized license plate and will have the same effect.
This is not Junebug, just a photo to give you an idea of what the bumper and spare tire mount will look like. (Just imagine a custom tire cover with Junebug written on it in lavender and white).
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I started on this post earlier today with the name, “Everything Must Go”, then I decided that the more accurate name for today should be the above. I’m feeling a little defeated at the moment. I know that oftentimes you must fail many times at something before you can succeed, but the failing part […]
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I had a rather crappy week at work. I was happy that yesterday was my Friday off (we get every other Friday off, a nice benefit, especially after a bad week). I’m glad I could work on Junebug to take my mind off of things. Unfortunately, the more I do to Junebug, the more […]
Today, I went to Lowe’s and Home Depot and bought a variety of supplies, most notably some acetone, sanding paper, a Milwaukee multi-purpose oscillating tool (with sanding attachment), two cans of Zinsser Amber Shellac, and two cans of the clear shellac. I wasn’t planning to start the shellacking process today, but I figured I might as well get prepared in case I feel like tackling it during the week sometime. I’m not sure if I’m excited about that part of this project or afraid. I guess I’ll find out once I start on it!
So I continued on my quest to remove the roof today, and I finally succeeded! I had more trouble removing the two pieces than expected, thanks to a bunch of screws holding them together that were, of course, covered in sealant.
Shasta Restoration Part 5
In this video clip, I show what the roof looks like before and after I remove the next two sections. I didn’t find any more surprising messages today. But I’m not done uncovering all the wood yet, so who knows what I’ll find!
I tried acetone on the tiles to remove the carpet glue and it is working! Unfortunately, it’s going to take me a million years to get it all off. 😦 Another problem I am seeing and haven’t decided whether to take on is that one of my benches has come loose from the floor, and the wood on the bottom of the bench is cracked. I think it was a result of the wrong sized spring that was on the trailer when I bought it. I’m not sure. I think I should probably remove the benches, but I feel like that’s an even bigger project than what i had planned to take on. Then again, this whole project just keeps getting bigger and bigger, so what harm is there in removing a couple of benches? Ok, maybe releasing some asbestos into the air is one problem. ugh
Whenever taking on a project such as this one, it is always a good idea to make sure your tetanus vaccination is up to date. That aluminum is razor sharp!
If you just looked at my garage, you would probably assume a man lives here. But you would be wrong! (unless you count Baxter)
More to come next weekend as I continue to remove the skin. I may also try to remove the cabinets and benches if I can get up the courage. 🙂
I was at work all week, so that’s why you haven’t heard from me in a while. The week was actually pretty eventful. I got a lot done at work, made it to the gym a few times, managed to lose six pounds (healthy diet and exercise really does work wonders!), and I had two dates! 🙂 The dates were with the same guy, a musician I met on this dating app called Tinder (http://www.tinder.com/). I figured I might as well try it since my friend met her boyfriend on there. I normally hate internet dating, but you never know, and as busy as I have been, I hardly ever meet anyone the traditional way. Working on Junebug is fun, but I guess it does make me a little antisocial. haha The first date was great, but the second one last night was kind of a let down. I won’t go into the details, but let’s just say I will add that to my growing list of internet dating failures. Oh well, at least I had this weekend’s project to look forward to instead of dwelling on my failure to find Mr. Right. 🙂
So, now back to my progress today with Junebug. Today, I had intentions of removing the entire roof from Junebug. Unfortunately, things took a little longer than expected, so I was only able to remove one more piece of skin. I didn’t anticipate that it would take me over an hour to remove the stupid vent on the roof thanks to 50 years and several layers of sealant applied around it and over the screws. Have you ever tried to remove a Phillips head screw with sealant in all the cracks? Doesn’t work very well!
Shasta Restoration Part 3
In the video below, I show you a few clips of my long and arduous journey to remove the sealant around the vent and ultimately remove the vent.
Shasta Restoration, Part 4
And in this video clip, the next piece of skin is removed and a lovely surprise is revealed!
And last but not least, I wanted to share a few more photos of the interior. I removed the seat cushions and the carpet to reveal the original floor tiles! I have heard that they may contain asbestos, so I’m trying to decide what to do with them. I would love to remove the glue and add a wax finish so that I can keep them in Junebug. I think they are pretty cool. I’m going to do some research to see if that’s risky. I already tried removing the carpet glue, and it wasn’t easy. I may decide to give up on keeping them, we’ll see. I’ll keep everyone posted on what I decide of course.
I also removed the wings the other day since they were sharp on the corners, and I was afraid they were going to poke a hole in my new cover. I figured I would need to remove them anyway once I got to that point. You can see where they belong, and Junebug can’t fly without her wings, so I can’t wait until I can put them back on! I read somewhere that I could cover them with a pool noodle to protect my cover, so I will try that once I have everything put back together.
I’m thinking that at the rate I’m going, I may finish this project in time for my retirement! haha
P.S. In case you didn’t watch the video and want to skip to the surprise. Somebody at the Shasta factory was having a bad day…
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