Canned Ham Interior, Take 2

Yesterday I blogged about my blue + red Ralph Lauren hopes + dreams

for our canned ham’s interior.

Natch, a lot of blue + red stripe upholstery fabric was involved . . .

 . . . + I was going to add even more red

by replacing the ham’s existing refrigerator + microwave . . .

. . . with these red beauties:

Daewoo retro microwave — $89

Daewoo retro compact refrigerator — $249

OMIGOSH, WOW!  Am I right?

Those 2 would be just the things

to propel our ham’s interior straight over the top!

But wait.

There seems to be a pesky issue with camper appliances.

It involves complicated things like voltages + propane fuel.

Whaaaaaatt!!??

Anyway, the bottom line is this: I can’t have my retro appliances.

Heart break!

So, as one does, I immediately went to plan B.

We (+ by “we” I mean G.O.)

would spray paint the existing black appliances red!

Sounds so easy when I just type or say it, doesn’t it?

Not so fast.  Let’s break it down.

The burner top + range hood might not be too problematic,

 but that microwave was gonna take rolls + rolls of masking tape!

Meaning I didn’t insist (for once) when G.O. nixed the idea.

I just said to myself, FINE.

Let’s embrace the black.

Stay tuned for how I plan to do said embracing.

Here’s a sneak peak at my design + color inspiration:

Canned Ham Re-Do, Part I

In my last blog post,

I casually mentioned that we’d gotten ourselves a used, vintage-style camper.

Here ’tis — a 2013 Riverside Retro-Style RV:

I am not normally the kind of person who names my vehicles,

but I’ve broken with tradition

+ nicknamed our new camper “the canned ham” 

or “the ham”, for short.

Believe it or not, G.O. bought it on eBay!

In fact, this was his 4th eBay vehicle purchase — who knew?

Anyway, the seller was from southern Illinois — Sparta,

which is not far from my hometown of Greenville!

We picked up the ham on Sunday, spent the night at my dad’s house,

+ here we were, heading back home again on Monday afternoon:

I shan’t lie — I love how well our ham + our new/used Flex go together!

Now let’s get real.

The camper’s exterior is pretty awesome, yes — but the interior?

Not so much.

Kinda hiddy, actually.

Exhibit A:

Disclaimer: today’s weather is gray + gloomy, which isn’t the best for photo-snapping.

But please!  That fabric!  So not me.

I shall also sew new curtains, but first, back to those cushions.

I am going to reupholster them with an indoor/outdoor fabric,

which is hard-wearing + very easy to clean + won’t fade in the sun.

I’ve already been online shopping on Fabric.com

+ just this morning, I ordered sample swatches ($3 each) of these 2 stripes:

Fabric A:

OR

Fabric B:

My inspiration is classic Ralph Lauren — could you tell?

I’m going for a coastal-cottage-farmhouse look,

+ we shall use many of the same colors that we have in our Dutch colonial.

Another project is to remove all the beige (+ there’s lots of it!),

starting with the original dinette top:

In its place, G.O. shall go old-school + iron on some faux marble laminate,

Wilsonart White Carrara from Lowes:

Continuing with the retro theme, I want to find some metal edging, like this:

Time to start shopping, so stay tuned!

GUY WOLFF POTS

People.

Surely we’ve all noticed that houseplants are a ‘thing’ again.

I’m on board, of course,

but, sadly, one of our naughty kitties thinks they’re SALAD.

Thankfully, there’s an excellent Plan B,

+ that would be the deliciously realistic-but-faux plants that are available now.

Get thee to IKEA, where I bought these faux lavender plants,

which are now nestled in my beloved Guy Wolff pots on our kitchen window sill.

Let’s talk a little bit about these awesome pots.

Here’s the fabulous potter, Guy Wolff . . .

. . . whose Bantam, CT studio is on my ‘must-visit’ list**

(more on that later!)

His pots are stamped with his name, the date,

+ the number refers to the wet weight pounds of clay used to make the pot.

I bought this pair in the year 2007 (obviously)

at the late, great Smith + Hawken store in Geneva, Illinois.

I bought my very first Guy Wolff pot in a wonderful store called Hammertown,

in the Berkshire mountains of western Massachusetts.

No doubt we’ll be stopping there again on our way to see Guy Wolff in Connecticut.

This inaugural pot of mine is currently buried somewhere in our potting shed,

so I can’t share right now, but it looks something like this one:

Are our heads spinning yet?

If not, here are dozens more on Guy Wolff’s Pinterest board!

Perhaps, like me, you’ll be wanting to purchase his book.

You can buy Guy Wolff pots at his studio**, on his website

+ at various shops around the U.S.

**My planned visit to see said studio will no doubt be very soon,

+ here’s why:

We bought this ‘canned ham’ cutie on eBay this week!!!

We’ll drive to southern Illinois on Sunday to retrieve it,

after which we’ll perform a little re-do

+ then set sail for somewhere — anywhere — sunnier + warmer than here!

Stay tuned!