Welp. It's been over a year since I posted anything here. Last summer got really hot, then I had to have half of my thyroid removed, and then I had to recover from that, and then and then. We've done a little bit of work here and there on the van since the last update. So this post is to catch up on that stuff.
Kitchen Vent:
We installed the vent that will go over the kitchen area, for use in very poor weather when we need to cook something inside. It required a small amount of creative construction, because the depth of the ceiling was greater than the depth of the vent cover I found that suited our needs best. The ceiling and insulation added up to quite a thick layer:
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Last weekend we finished installing the ceiling boards! Very exciting, and also very pretty:
A couple more views just for good measure? Sure, why not!
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This weekend picked up where we left off with even more ceiling excitement!
Last weekend saw the ceiling's tongue and groove boards getting a coat of stain. Here's a shot of some boards before staining (left) next to some after their trip to the Board Salon (right).
We chose this color because we wanted something that was interesting to look at but wouldn't make the ceiling feel dark, heavy or oppressive. The boards have a lot of character in the form of knots, interesting grain situations and modest splitting (translation: they're cheap) so we're just leaning into that with a rustic look. Cabin vibes.
I followed the stain up with applying two coats of urethane, since I had the day off Friday for the holiday. It really did take basically all day--each coat was about 2.5 hours of patient brushing. Why do the staining and finish coat before installation? I've painted enough ceilings to know that I don't want to do that if I can avoid it. Much easier to do it with gravity pointing in the most helpful direction.
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This weekend we got the vent fan (mostly) installed! This is the result:
Pretend the blurring is just, like, artful hinting instead of questionable photography. And buckle up! This is a long one.
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