Tag Archives: trailer renovations

trailer drainage!

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THIS is an exciting blog post (at least for me it is)!  Last weekend my always-so-helpful parents came out to the farm to help build me a grey water drainage system for the trailer.  For the last two months, I’ve been emptying my grey water tank (sink and shower water) manually (with a bucket) every day or two (depending on how many dishes I washed).  It was not fun.  It was, in fact, quite stinky, splashy and downright inconvenient (especially in the rain).

And so, it is with MUCH fanfare (at least in the form of a blog post) that I give a huge shout-out of thanks to m
y parents because trailer life has become so much lovlier now that I have a drainage system.

What we did:

After some conferring with Chris and Julie, we decided that it made sense to direct my rain water towards the empty side pasture (which is where I’d been manually dumping the grey water).  This seemed simple enough because it meant we only had to dig about 20 feet of drainage ditch space to lay the drainage pipes – and the land naturally declined in that direction. 

However, I’m learning that nothing is ever as simple as it first appears (on a farm).  My mom started digging out the ditch while my dad and I drove to the local hardware shop for some pipes and supplies.  When we got back, she delivered the bad news: she’d hit concrete.  Yes, lying just below the surface of the gravelly space we were digging across lay a big, sloppy, confusing slab of concrete.

Hmmm…it could have been much more problematic for us than it was, but luckily the concrete didn’t go on forever and we were able to redirect the ditch and pipes around the buried concrete barrier.  There was concern that, given the ‘bump’ in the plans, the drainage wouldn’t get completed that day (which, given that I’d already internally celebrated never having to manually empty the grey water tank again was super disheartening), but it turns out my mom is a super gravel digger and, with some late-in-the-game help from Julie and Chris (with Jordan and Kai looking on), we got the ditch dug, the pipes laid, and my drainage complete.  YAY!

Thanks mom and dad.  I love my new drainage system! 

(Ohhh…life in a trailer on a farm – celebrating things like grey water drainage systems…)

making the motor home *almost* ready

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So, my labour day weekend was spent doing a lot of work on the motor home as well as some really fun farming stuff (but you’ll hear about that later this week).  And thank the Good Lord above that I have such a supportive family because there’s no way I would have gotten everything done without them.  I was feeling pretty stressed late last week about getting everything ready so that I can move into the motor home this wednesday when Chris and Julie get home.  The biggest stress factor was related to the toilet, but when I admitted that it just wouldn’t be done in time, I relaxed a lot.  I’ll still move into the motor home – just making trips to the house for bathroom breaks once in awhile :)


So, in point form, this is how my family and I spent the last few days:

  • dad removed the tile in the bathroom so we could access the hidden black water tank;
  • turns out the tank has two big, jagged holes in the top of it and a leaky valve;
  • I considered alternatives: portable toilets (no thank you) or composting toilets (super cool, but the space is too small), so looks like we’ll be replacing the black water tank and then putting in the toilet;
  • dad picked up a table stand for the beach seating area (he’s making a table top for it this week);
  • dad tidied up ‘unfinished’ areas, including putting wood panels below the fridge (previously stuffed with previous owner’s socks), added finished wood around the heater as well as a screen that covers it up while letting the heat out;
  • I picked up insurance and license plates for the truck;
  • I did an IKEA and Home Depot run;
  • I packed up most of my clothes and remaining belongings and found homes for them in the motor home;
  • I installed blind on the kitchen window;
  • Steph helped me clean Chris and Julie’s place from top to bottom (superwoman cleaner!);
  • mom finished all the remaining curtains;
  • mom made a tailor-sized bed sheet for my extra long sleeping area;
  • dad re-routed the electricity cables & water hose up along the rafter line of the pole barn to keep them off the ground and out of people’s way;
  • dad put up wall panels in the bathroom where the wall and wires were exposed (had previously been hidden by the sink that was in there);
  • I cleared the rest of my stuff out of Chris and Julie’s garage and found homes for it in the motor home;
  • ummm…I’m tired and I can’t remember any more right now….other than the seriously cool farm-related activities that took place, but I can’t tell you about it yet because it’s a surprise for Chris and Julie!

I’m sure there was more, but for now it’s 10:43pm after a long, long weekend of errands, manual labour, toilet strategizing, etc.  We got pretty soaked today because we were doing half of this stuff in the rain, which is why there are no photos of today’s activities (other than the trailer delivery ones that are two blog posts earlier).

Okay, I feel like I’m rambling.  Time for bed.  Motor home move-in in T-minus 2 days!  So glad most of the motor home stuff is done!

sitting area almost complete!

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The eating, board-game playing, wine-drinking, hang-out zone in the back end of my motorhome is almost done!  The only thing missing is the table (coming soon).  My mom stopped by today and dropped off the cushions she has beautifully upholstered for me (in Italian wool I scored at the Bensen/ Inform Warehouse Sale), as well as the curtains she made out of some old IKEA curtains I had in my last place.  She also contributed some unused throw cushions she had at home, as well as some new cushion covers she made me out of left-over wool to make the space inviting.  I’m SO happy with how it all looks – fresh and clean and comfortable – exactly what I was going for.  Thanks mom – I love it all!


I’ve also started decorating the space.  My ‘centerpiece’ is the antelope head hanging above the table (bought it at Front & Company a few months ago specifically for the motorhome).  I also used a painting (picked up from Value Village a few months ago), a brass horse (that I’ve had since I was a kid) and my journals to fill the shelf above the bench that used to house a flat screen tv (that I removed and recycled – who needs a tv?).  Photos of everything above.


Getting excited to finish this project so that I can invite some friends over to toast the new space!