Next Up! Dining Room and Living Room Facelifts!

With the kitchen renovation finally finished, it was time to turn our attention to the dining room and living room. The dining room definitely needed to be painted, but the living room was in pretty good shape and we really liked the color that was already there. We felt there was no reason to paint it just for the sake of painting it.

For the dining room, we chose Agreeable Gray, which was the same color we used in the kitchen. We also decided to paint the walls in the hallway leading to the bedroom. Just painting over all the little grooves and imperfections I had to spackle after removing the splines that ran up and down the walls made a huge difference. The room looked so much better and actually seemed to open up the space quite a bit.

To finish off the dining room, we added a light fixture to the ceiling fan. This appeared to be a pretty easy job, but let me tell you, it was a pain in the butt! Of course, while I was at it, I also replaced a few broken electrical outlets. 

While all of this was going on, Sharon was using ChatGPT to help us figure out how to decorate both the dining room and living room. We already had a beautiful dining table, so we really just needed to figure out what to put around it. Before we could put the finishing touches on the dining room, though, we needed a new sofa. The one that came with the place had seen better days. It took us a while to finally find one we liked, and even after we bought it, we still had the old sofa sitting there until we figured out exactly where we wanted everything to go.

We also bought a couple of ottomans to make the swivel chairs a little more comfortable. We decided to keep the chairs already there when we bought the place because they were really nice. Once the major pieces of furniture were in place, it was back to ChatGPT for more interior decorating advice. It gave us lots of ideas for using things we already had and also gave us some suggestions for things we didn't have.

There's a boutique/thrift store nearby we  heard about, and one Monday everything in the store was half price. Let me tell you, it was amazing! We found so many things there that we could use to decorate the house. We had been looking for artwork for the living room for quite a while, and we really scored. We found lots of artwork at some seriously discounted prices.

Once we brought our bounty home, we started putting everything together. We moved things from one place to another, moved them back again, and consulted ChatGPT along the way. Eventually, we finally placed everything where we wanted it. We only had to buy one more piece of artwork, which we found on Facebook Marketplace, and then we were done. And I have to say, it's starting to feel a lot more like our home!

    

We still have plans to paint and decorate our bedroom and the spare room. The bathroom, however, is going to have to wait a while so the budget can recover! But for now, Phase 1 of our redo is finished.

It's amazing how much of a difference some paint, furniture, artwork and a few other changes can make. When we first moved in, it still felt like somebody else's place. Now, little by little, it is starting to feel like ours. Of course, we won't be sticking around to enjoy it for too long. We're going to escape the desert heat and head to North Carolina to visit our daughter and our grandkids.

And that's not a bad way to celebrate finishing Phase 1!

Kitchen Renovation - It's a wrap!

With the walls and cabinets in our newly acquired home finally painted, it was time to turn our attention to the rest of the kitchen remodel. Before having the new countertops installed, I wanted to replace the two windows over the sink. The original single-pane windows faced west, and since we plan to live here year-round, upgrading to double-pane windows made sense. They would be much more energy efficient thus keeping the kitchen more comfortable during the hot Arizona summers.

Replacing the windows turned out to be a fairly easy project. They were secured with screws from the outside, so I simply removed the screws, scored the old caulk with a utility knife, and carefully worked each window out of the opening.

The hardest part of the job was removing all of the old caulk. Once that was finished, I set the new windows in place, made sure they were level both horizontally and vertically, and fastened them with screws. A generous bead of exterior caulk around the perimeter sealed everything to prevent any future leaks.

With the windows finished, it was time for the countertops. We found a local fabricator who offered a solid-surface product similar to Corian. After he came out to measure everything, a few weeks passed before he returned to install the new countertops along with our  larger single-basin undermount sink.

Once the installers finished, all I had left to do was reconnect the plumbing under the sink. Then it was on to the next project—the backsplash.

We decided on a simple white subway tile. During a trip to Lowe's, we got lucky and found the tile on clearance for just seven cents a piece. In fact, the tile, mortar, and grout together cost about the same as the tile saw I had to buy to complete the installation.

The kitchen has now become exactly what we envisioned. Someday we'll probably replace the refrigerator, but for now we're very happy with it. We also found a few finishing touches on Facebook Marketplace which helped pull everything together without spending a fortune.

Looking back, this was one of those projects that made a dramatic difference in the look and feel of our park model. Best of all, we were able to accomplish it without breaking the bank.

Kitchen Renovation: Out With the Old, In With the NEW!

After the walls were prepped in the dining room and kitchen, we also tackled the hallway. Every single little wooden stay was pulled out. Each and every crack was filled with sheetrock mud and sanded flat with the wall.

Once all the walls were prepped for painting, our focus went right to the kitchen. This is where we wanted to make the biggest changes. Our first change was to move the end island cabinet  and shorten the cabinet to the  otherside of the stove. This kitchen originally had a small 30-inch wide stove, so we wanted to replace it with a standard, full-size unit. Thus, we needed to move these cabinets to account for the 6-inch difference in size.

We also planned to replace the microwave so I started to remove it and encountered a real challenge! This old microwave was mounted unlike any microwave I have ever seen before. It took me several hours of wrestling with it to finally get it off the wall.

Once the old microwave and the old stove were out,  we went shopping for new ones. After looking around Lowe's, we found nice replacements for the old units. Before the stove could be installed I would have to put down new florring under the moved cabinets. Fortunatley the previous owners left just enough old flooring to make the necessary repairs.

Once the flooring was in I installed the new microwave which was a snap compared to taking out the old one. I will put in the stove later after we paing the cabinets.  Since we already had the walls prepped for paint we are ready to prep the cabinets.

So next we focused on painting the cabinets. After using ChatGPT to help us experiment and pick paint colors, we finally settled on a variation of sage green called clary sage. It took us about 10 days to paint all the cabinet doors because we had to first degrease them using TSP and then we sanded them. Next, becasue these cabinets aren't real wood they are partical board covered with wood film, we used two coats of shellac based primer since it was rated as the best to stick to them.  Lastly we put on two coats of paint on each side of the doors.

While the cabinets were curing we painted the trim white and the walls with using a color called agreeable grey. With everything is painted I installed our new stove after rebuilding the shortened cabinet. Next the focus will be on the windows, sink, countertops and backsplash.

Making Our Park Model Feel More Like Home

Closing day has come and gone, and we are now the owners of a park model at Towerpoint RV Resort!

While we're excited about this new chapter, it's no secret that our new place is showing its age. Built in 1995, the home has good bones, but there are definitely a few features that remind you of its vintage.

The good news is that we've never been the type to simply move into a place and leave it exactly as we found it. Even though we know this won't be our forever home, we still want it to feel like our home.

One of the first things we noticed after moving in was how much the interior still felt like a trailer rather than a home. After all, park models are manufactured homes, and some of the design choices from the mid-90s haven't exactly aged gracefully.

The wooden trim strips which appeared every few feet along the walls were at the top of our list for removal. They may have served a purpose at one time, but to us they just made the walls feel busy and dated. Another feature which quickly caught our attention was the decorative wall cornice above the dining room windows. Let's just say it wasn't our style. Both of those items were among the first things to disappear.

As we looked around the house, it became clear that the kitchen would require the most alterations. Not surprisingly, it's also the room we use the most. The cabinets were functional, but definitely due for a refresh. Painting them was high on our project list, and we decided replacing the countertops would give the entire space a more modern feel.

Of course, those won't be the only updates. Like most renovation projects, we'll tackle improvements as we go and see where our inspiration leads us.

One tool that's been surprisingly helpful throughout this process is artificial intelligence. We've been having a lot of fun using ChatGPT and other AI-powered design tools to experiment with ideas before picking up a paintbrush or opening our wallets. By uploading photos of our rooms and asking the software to show us different design options, we've been able to visualize changes that might otherwise have been difficult to imagine. It's a great way to test ideas, compare styles, and avoid costly mistakes.

We'll leave you with a few of those AI-generated images that show our vision for the space. Whether the finished product ends up looking exactly like the renderings remains to be seen, but they certainly provide plenty of inspiration as we begin transforming this 1995 park model into a place that feels a little more like home.

Stay tuned—there's much more to come as our renovation adventure continues on our road of retirement!

The Next Chapter: Trading Wheels for Walls

For the first time in nearly 15 years, we don't own an RV. It’s a strange feeling, and it’s led many of you to ask: What now?

Well, the next chapter is already unfolding, and it involves something we swore we’d never do again: buying property. After over a decade on the road, we were convinced that renting was the only way to go. But life (and the economy) had other plans. 

When we first set out, we only intended to RV for two to five years. Fast forward 15 years, and the rental market is unrecognizable. When we finally decided to hang up the keys and settle in the Mesa, Arizona area, the math was impossible to ignore. Between the astronomical rent prices and our desire for the same resort-style amenities we enjoyed while traveling, buying a "park model" simply made the most financial sense. It’s actually cheaper to own a home that depreciates than it is to pay current rental rates.

It wasn’t a perfectly smooth transition, though. We were originally set to buy a place in Mesa Regal RV Resort, but the seller backed out at the eleventh hour. Fortunately, things happen for a reason.We are now the proud owners of a park model in Towerpoint RV Resort! The best part? The purchase price was almost exactly what we made from selling the RV. We even walked away with a few thousand dollars to spare, which we’re already putting toward renovations. 

Our new home is a 1996 model with an upper Arizona room; it’s had some updates, but we have plenty more planned to truly make it ours.We’ve been here about a month now and have already tackled some big projects. I can’t wait to show you the progress as we navigate this new version of on the road of retirement...