Coach Upgrades

So the day has finally come!  As you know we are at an rv rally at the Elkart County Fairgrounds in Goshen, Indiana.  We took this opportunity to do some upgrades to our coach while we were in the area.

While on our winter trip we had run into two different people (one in California and one on the east coast) that gave us the same guy’s name for woodworking in Nappanee, Indiana (where Gulfstream is located). 

That made the decision real easy for us on where to go and who to do the work. Luckily the couple we met on the east coast had a brochure, so now we knew how to contact this Amish gentleman, Carlyle. They also gave us the info on the window blinds.

It’s so hard to pick a favorite upgrade. Mine is probably the pantry, or the blinds, or the valances, no…the pantry. Before we had one door and a metal slide out rack. So much wasted space. Now, nice double doors and adjustable shelves! Thanks Bob and Pat for giving us the idea. I now have more shelves than I know what to do with. How often can you say that in an rv?

We also had all the cloth window valances removed and Carlyle made wood valences. So much nicer. It really opens up the rv. We also had side tables made for each side of the couch. It’s really annoying when you have a cup of coffee and you have no where to put it down when you are sitting on the couch. Then there are the small things that are really annoying but once fixed, really nice. Like in the spare bathroom there was a cubby hole below the toilet paper holder. Basically it was an area that held your extra rolls of TP. No one likes staring at that. So we had Carlyle make a door for that cubby. We also have, as many of you, florescent lights on our ceiling. So we had Carlyle make frames for them. It really ties in all the woodwork now.

He also had this really cool table. It telescopes to any height you like, opens to a nice table size, has a magazine rack inside and has a topper that you can use between the drivers and passengers seat. The topper has twp cup holders and a table top. As you probably are aware, cup holders are a hot commodity. As you can see from the above picture, we’ve already had dinner on the table portion of it. I can’t wait to put this between us and use the table topper with the cup holders when we leave. It’s the little things in life isn’t it?

So here are some more photos of our coach before and after our changes.  We are really pleased with Carlyle’s work and would highly recommend him, if you’re in the area.  Oh…I forgot to mention the time frame.  We met with him Monday morning at 8am so he could take measurements and such.  Then we were back at his house/shop on Friday at 8am for everything to be installed, and out by 4!  Can’t beat that!  We’ve already talked to him about doing another cabinet for us and possibly redoing our entire kitchen table area.  We will see.  Here’s his info if you are in the Nappanee, Indiana area and are looking for some woodwork to be done, www.focalwood.com.  We called him ahead of time to set up this appointment because he is a busy guy.  He does all this himself.  Here’s the link to the blinds.  No more ugly pleaded shades that break and are a pain in the but to open and close! http://www.mcdinnovations.com/.  It makes life sooooo much easier.  A must have for any rver.