Here is the large window trimmed and curtains back up. Paint is still needed but that will be after we finish the rear cabinets.

This is the trim on the front window.

Another little item that took a little time, was making the medicine cabinet for the rear of the closet.

I loaded the airgun in it and it held, so I'm happy.
The next picture is the over all front of the trailer.

Well I hope you like our update. There won't be one for a couple of weeks but I'll try to take a picture of us using the Inkwell this week.

September 14, 2007
Last week on Thursday we managed to get some done on the upper cabinet. Here is a pic of the uppercabinet with the primer on it.

Here's a pic taken today with the second coat on the exterior of the cabinet.

Here's an updated side view of the exterior. Note this is the second coat of the primer paint, next is finish paint and color.
Also, if you look real close to the right of the door in the upper section of the trailer you'll see a tiny dot this is a rubber door stopper. We drilled a hole, sent a bolt through it and adhered the rubber stopper. We like that it is very small but does the job.

Here is a picture of the clothing rod in the closet. This rod is made from the roller of an old typewriter.

We took down the curtains in order to put up the framing around the windows. We've only got the corner pieces in but I thought you might like to see them. The first picture is the entire window and you can see the white squares in the left hand corners better than the right.

This picture is an upclose of the corner pieces.


We're enjoying the small details to add to the interior design of the Inkwell. However, this is the really slow part of the process.

September 4, 2007
Here's a pic of the work we did on Saturday. You'll notice the wall on the side of the counter top, as well as the bottom of the cabinet for the upper front cabinet that has the faux bookshelf. Also the shelf in the closet has been put in. Paul began spackling the interior wood to get it ready for paint.
This next picture Paul is holding the door up to give you the impression of how it's coming.
On Monday we drove down to my parents and picked up the cabinet door my dad was fixing for us. We also have a better idea of how we're going to build the faux Victorian Secretary desk.

August 30, 2007
Hip, hip horray we were able to work on the Inkwell today. August has been a busy month with two camping expeditions as well as a ten day visit from our three granddaughters. Unfortunately I ended up with a really bad cold after they left and Paul and I just haven't had the time or energy to work on the trailer.

Enough of that, here is what we got done today. We finished off the framing for the upper front cabinet. We also finished the faux bookshelf that makes up the front of this cabinet door. Here's the picture of it being held in place by Paul.

We also had to redo the frame work under the couch due to a mismeasurement I made when my dad made the doors for us. Here's a picture of the new framework under the couch. The cabinet doors are being stained and painted and we hope to get them in next week.

Paul and I will be taking the Inkwell on a week long camping trip while he's out of town for a district conference. We're hoping to get more done on the exterior paint, we shall see.

Thanks again for watching our build of the Inkwell.

Aug 2, 2007
We managed to get quite a few things done today, inspite of the weather. We cut and painted two coats of primer on the rear hatch door.

We also have the trailer powered up with one 12 guage extension cords. This is to cover 15 amps of drawing power. With the ac and the fridge and any lighting this is a good thing. It is probably far more wire than we need but we decided to err on the side of caution.

The other major event today was finishing two cabinet doors and installing them. This morning the doors looked like this.

It took several days to stain, paint and cover the stain with two coats of poly urethene.
Here's the two doors installed in the front section of the trailer.

We also put the counter tops in temporarily for our camping weekend that we leave on tomorrow afternoon. Here's the overall look of the front as of the moment.
There will be a stained green trim that will face off the front of the counters. This is the same trim that you saw earlier when we put in our ceiling trim. We're very pleased with the overall look of the interior. There's a lot more to do but it is coming. Oh, one last shot this is at an angle so you can see the top of the counter top that's still not finished but getting closer.

As always I hoped you're enjoying our little adventure of building Our Inkwell.

July 20, 2007
Well believe it or not I'm able to write of progress on the Inkwell. We took our vacation earlier this month and I returned to a week of copy edits on a book scheduled to be released next year. All of that is to say, we haven't had much time to work on the Inkwell this month. Here's a run down of what we have done. On the interior I've continued to sand and add layer of poly on the counter tops. This process is going to take at least 5 more applications of the poly before it is done. Earlier I thought two more but I've done those and it's just not where I would like it to be. However, this is on hold until I get to the store and purchase some more high gloss poly. I've also drilled out the center of the wooden knobs for our cabinets. I drilled down about 3/16" of an inch. This gives me enough depth to place a typewriter key in the center of the knob.
The first pic is the knob the second is with a letter put in. The knobs still need to be sanded and painted again.

The interior is really on hold but if we have bad weather, we work on pieces for the interior. Paul sanded half of the cabinet doors the other day.

Now to the really big news. We have PAINT!!!
Yes, we finally have some primer paint on the exterior.

This shot is of the undercoating just before Paul painted the primer.

This is the trailer after the priming.

Here's Paul painting the window frame of the front window. Gotta love that man.

And last but not least is a shot of five of our grandchildren watching grandpa paint the last pieces of the frame.

Tomorrow we are expecting a lot of rain so I doubt we'll be able to get much done. The left side of the trailer, if you're facing the front, still needs to be sanded and a bit more of the MH Patch before priming that side. We ran out after the store was closed. Which in this heat is a good thing.

As always I hope you've enjoyed reading of our progress on the Inkwell. I can't wait to work on the interior and finish paint the exterior but all in good time. We started this project in Jan. of this year. We are right on schedule with finishing it by Dec. I'll post soon.

June 28, 2007
Okay it is Thursday morning and I'm about to go outside and join Paul working on the Inkwell. Today's work will show little or no progress. We are sanding the exterior to work out the rough spots in the bondo and get it ready to be painted. We need to purchase another gallon of bondo and I hope to do that tomorrow.

If however, in our work something is accomplished that a photography will show the progress, then I'll certainly take a pic and add it to this page. Have a great day.

June 23, 2007
Okay here are the shots of the exterior of the trailer. No work was done today, well I did cut three boards...but there was a lot of work to be done at the church, so the Inkwell sat, all alone and under visited.
Seriously now. Here are the pictures of the exterior. This is a view looking that the right side of the trailer.

This is the left side.

And this is the rear. Note that the back door for the exterior storage has no bondo on it. That's because it started to warp, so we'll be building a new door and have it completely fiberglassed before we attach it to the trailer. In the meantime, we're still taking advantage of the protection we're getting from this warped door.

June 21, 2007
Well, today is Thursday, Paul's day off and our day to work on the Inkwell. We had rain all day today so we had to alter our plans and worked on the interior. Our primary goal, right now is to get the outside ready for paint and paint it.

But that wasn't meant to be today. We had to do some reframing of our cabinets in order to fit the beautiful cabinet doors that my dad made for us.

So the first part of the day was removing some framework, taking new measurements and putting in the new frame. I took one picture to show the progress we made today. In a way it doesn't look like much was done but there was a lot done.

Here's the pic:

The left hand side of the cabinet with the two 2x4's laying on the floor is the opening for the fridge. The right hand side that extends into the trailer is the area where the sink will be one day and a portapotty will be stored. This means you have to pull it out to use it. Maybe the next build we'll put in a bathroom...Maybe. We'll be camping most of the time in campgrounds with good restrooms and be using those.

The counter tops have been removed and are in the garage to be sanded and additional coats of poly put on them. I'm hoping they'll be done by the end of next week.

I'll take a picture tomorrow of the exterior, I forgot to take a shot today and we definitely need an updated exterior shot.

Well enough for now. I'll report back in, soon.

June 15, 2007
Wow! I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I posted last. Truthfully little has been done that can be shown in pictures. We're halfway there to paint. We're hoping to get the primer coat on before we go on vacation this summer.

Paul and I will actually leave the Inkwell at home for this trip. We're wanting to get the paint on before we travel again. One of the problems we've faced with traveling before it was finished was road grim and bugs. Which means we have to sand and clean once we get home.

I hope to have some pictures and further updates by the end of next week. We shall see. Again, I'm sorry for the long delay between posts.

May 20, 2007
Here's the pictures I promised plus a few more.
The first picture is an example of the cabinet doors. They still need to be sanded, stained and finished before they are installed in the trailer. I really want to thank my Dad for doing such a fantastic job on these. Paul and I would never have been able to do something this well. Thanks DAD!! Love ya.
Cabinet Door
The next picture is of the ceiling with the tiles and trim in place.
Ceiling Trim
The next set of pictures in the counter top. The original plan was to take newspaper nameplates from all over the country and decoupage them on the counter, covering with the thick coat of poly. Problem! The poly drew out the ink from the backside of the paper and the images were horrible. This meant I had to sand off what I'd done and rethink the counter. The first picture is the failed counter-top. The second and third pictures are the current counter-top that is still being coated with poly.
Original Counter Design
Left side of the counter
Note that family picture in this shot is actually the oldest photograph I know of that represents my Dad's family. It was taken around 1863 or 1864 just before my great, great, great grandfather went off to fight in the Civil War. Flavious Josepheus Putnam died in 1864 in Anderson Prison.
Right side
My great grandfather and grandmother are represented on this side of the counter and this too is the oldest picture I have that represents my mother's family.
Unfortunately I don't have any photographs from the 1800's of Paul's family. I'm still on the look out, so I'm hoping something will turn up someday.
Finally, I want to thank a member of our church, Donna who sewed the curtains for the Inkwell. You'll see one set in this next picture. I think they'll look great once the walls are painted.
Curtains
Another item that was started last week and finished today was the ceiling panels and trim. Here's a picture.
Ceiling & Trim

May 18, 2007
Thursday is my husband's day off and today we had planned to work on the Inkwell. However the smoke from the fires made us switch our plans. Today we spent the day at Crescent Beach. Our son and his family also spent the day at the beach with us.

We had rain today. This is great news, however, the rain brings the ash from the upper atmosphere down. So, breathing is a bit difficult for me tonight.

Hopefully on Saturday we'll be able to put a few hours in. Next week we're on the road and won't be able to work on the trailer.

May 14, 2007
Okay we've been having fires in Florida. Major Fires. However, for me, the fires allowed me to leave home and visit with my parents. My Dad has been a tremendous help with the next part of building the Inkwell. While I was there, he framed and routed (not sure of the spelling of that word) the cabinet doors. I returned home, today, so I don't have pictures of the work that was done. Paul and I will have to purchase the right hinges for the cabinets as well as finish the shelves and interior of the cabinets before we put the doors on. I do have to brag on my Dad, he does amazing work and Paul and I would never have been able to accomplish the quality of work he produced for us.

While I was there, I continued to layer the counter top with poly and still have quite a few more coats to go until the surface is high enough to resists scratches.

I also put up the trim around the ceiling tiles. I ran short on the trim and we'll have to purchase more to totally finish the job but Paul and I are pleased with the results.

I have some work I really must do to catch up on my writing after being out of town for nearly a week but I'm hoping to take some pictures of the recent accomplishments.

While I was on my way home from my parents I stopped at a gas station and a gentleman came by and asked about the Inkwell. It was a lot of fun to share the build and he and his wife live in their trailer year round. Then as I continued to travel north a man rolled down the passenger window hung out of it and waved at me, then gave a huge thumbs up and mouthed the words great job. I was really tickled by the excitement others share with us about the Inkwell. I can't wait to see what the reaction will be once it is finished.

As always thanks for your interest in reading along with us as we build our little Travel Trailer. If you have any questions feel free to email me at Lynn@lynncoleman.com.

Paul & Lynn

Earlier Days Earliest Days