So, since I don't get to work on Agnes every weekend, I try to get a little trailer fix when I can. I went to the Vintage Trailer Rally in Lodi in 2014 and it was amazing! I wanted to check out to see if Agnes would fit in. I think when she is done she will totally be able to hold her own. She may not be perfect, but she has some personality.
Here are some trailer and random sightings from the past year...
Davenport, CA Along the beautiful coast. Swanton Farms
Wow, I hadn't realized how long it has been since I have posted...
Agnes is still here! I am still working on her. I just have only been able to see her a few times in the past year and a half.
I really wanted to finish her before moving, but things change and I made a quick decision to relocate in December 2013 and was gone in about two weeks. I felt a tinge of guilt and a bit like I was abandoning her, but I knew I had to take a leap for something drastic to change in my life. I was very fortunate to have the situation which made it easy to move and have a cushion. It is really the first time I have lived outside of San Diego (besides three questionable months in Minnesota-just, no) and I was excited but a little nervous. Or just more anxious. Agnes had been my main project for so long and I could see the end of that in sight. And I wanted to get the ball rolling on some other areas in my life. Agnes has been an amazing therapeutic process and also given me confidence to pursue some other random quirky ideas.
My goal was to finish her and take her on a road trip to go find a place to settle down and get some land. Well, I ended up taking road trip just in my car (and using airbnb.com ~which was amazing!). Now I want to finish her and move her to wherever I end up. Check out that adventure here: http://tallulahrubysanctuary.blogspot.com
I will be going back to Agnes later this year and will finally finish her up as well as renovate my other trailer, Felix. He pretty much needs a good cleaning and some serious TLC. Not the complete rebuild that Agnes was. I still have as much passion and excitement about the work and effort I put into Agnes. I can't wait to get back to finish her and finally get her all dressed up. Can I just decorate already?!
Spray painting was most fun! Too bad I chose a really cold day and it took forever to dry. But I had to paint and get windows in before winter.
Improvising
Catching up on news while waiting for paint to dry
Star and Cali. RIP Cali :(
Not sure about paint on these. May be too busy and just make solid later.
Finally! She feels transformed a bit
Don't set metal window frame on top of exposed battery. Yikes!
Getting ready to cut the front.
Not vintage, but still pretty cool
My workspace
The front window was the very first thing we removed. Pretty amazing to finally see it back in all shiny. She's come a long way.
Agnes has a proper covering now
Can't wait to decorate!
Mornings with Agnes
The door was not fun to hang at all. I never did find the missing door hinges :/
Christmas 2014
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Agnes' theme song..
So today was the day that Agnes got her color. Finally. I have been around and around with various color palettes. Want her to be different, not the typical retro look, but still classic. She is after all, a classy girl, strong but subtle. Has her own style and doesn't give in to tradition or trends. I love color and there are so many options. But in the end I decided to keep her fairly simple with a few fun details (to be added later).
Because there are tons of variations on what the color white actually is, I decided to keep her just basic. As much as I wanted her to have "Polar Bear" white, I did not want her to be in any way cream. I think the actual white is "ultra base white", but I've decided to call it "marshmallow cream". For her color, I wanted a vintage-y look without being retro. I want richness without being dull. Extremely challenging to try to select in the store as really looks completely different on. And so different in sun or clouds or shade. Her color changes from a kind of apricot to a dusty rose. I had originally wanted to add black accents, but seems too harsh. I think brown suits Agnes and me much better. She is warmer that way.
Teaching my brother-in-law how to use my Dremel cutting wheel
Design ideas..even cottage white is far too yellow.
Nature helps out as a backdrop
Mom helping dry so we can make most use of paint in sprayer
So we masked her off. It would have been really nice to follow one of the ribs all the way around, but of course she is different on every side. And even following the imaginary line left us about 3 inches off when we got back to where we started. We decided to lower the front side to match the front. Really have to accept improvisations when working with old crooked girl. It's ok. I actually kind of like a little quirkiness. I'll just pretend it was intentional..
We intended the front part to be lower, yeah...
Protecting my girl
My uncle left this tool. Worked much better than I expected.
I think Agnes is blushing
Damn, that Frog tape works a hell of a lot better than blue painter's tape. So impressed.
Her color changes in the light. All I can think of is calamine lotion from when I was little.
It took us a bit to mask off the areas, but the actual painting took about 10 minutes for each coat. I used frog tape and was anxious to see what happened when we removed. I have painted a lot and always used blue painter's tape with disappointing results. I couldn't believe how perfect the line was! I think maybe 2 spots that bled through. I'm sold.
Met a most awesome couple on the side of the road. They've been traveling the US for 25 years. Immaculate bus.
