1964 Cardinal 10 Foot Travel Trailer

Here she is; the 1964 Cardinal Deluxe 10 foot travel trailer. In need of work... but when has a little work ever scared us away from anything?



In need of a paint job, and better patches. We'll keep the original "wings", but brighten up the yellow and silver a bit along with a brand new white paint job on the rest.



The appliances all work, though the ice box does not keep things as cool as hoped. Perhaps a block of ice instead of those blue ice packs will help. The cabinets need sanded down and refinished, as the old finish is flaking off. We hope to match the paint on the icebox so we can repaint it, and perhaps fill a few dents.

The eating area, complete with cowboy themed curtains and a "rustic" branded table. You can just see the bunk bed over the table; as three of the four inhabitants of the trailer this weekend hit their heads on this bunk (and we see no need for the additional storage), it will be removed and stored in our garage. It isn't original to the trailer; a cot was there. The carpet is likely original, and is very worn. I'd like to replace it with some of those commercial tiles in a checkerboard pattern.

The benches and table folded down into a bed. A very comfortable bed, I might add, with more than enough room for two people and one dog. (Our other dog sleeps in a crate on the floor for her own security). You can see waterdamage on the edges and under the window. The trailer does not currently leak, but we may have to rebuild some of the frame if the waterdamage is too severe.


A little floorplan of the trailer; just perfect for us!

Lots to do to restore it... but I promised I'd finish the house first. So... let's get this Tiny Old House finished up! (Or at least at point where there are no half finished projects!)

Our First Trip in the Cardinal

We just returned from our first overnight trip in the 1964 Cardinal travel trailer. We drove into the mountains northwest of town. It was just overnight, due to classes and work... but just enough to want more!




Easy to pull, even for our 2.2L Subaru wagon. We cleared the mountains just fine, albeit rather slowly. Here's to the travel trailer! Detailed pictures tomorrow.

It's HERE!

It's a 10 foot 1964 Cardinal Deluxe travel trailer. The perfect tiny trailer to go with the tiny old house! It needs work, just like the tiny old house, but is usable as is. Lots of birch paneling, cabinets, etc, and the original ORANGE appliances. Off to go camping! More pics when we get back.

Exciting New TINIER Addition to Tiny Old House

Coming soon... the newest addition to Tiny Old House. It's MUCH smaller, but not nearly as old. I'll post pictures and more as soon as it arrives; we're think Saturday will be the "day"!

Look at Our Bathroom NOW!

Our bathroom is finally not an embarrassing room! Here is the bathroom after installing the new trim:






We used Valspar Faux Venetian Plaster in Olive on the walls, Minwax Red Mahongany water based wood stain on the pine 1x6 trim, and Minwax Tung Oil finish on the trim.

There is more to be done; the water heater closet needs a door, and the doors need trim around them. Plus, I would LOVE to replace the flimsy stand alone cabinets on either side of the vanity with one or two true built ins. And, finally, the popcorn ceiling NEEDS to go. However, it looks finished enough now!

Stained the Bathroom Trim Today

We used Minwax Red Mahogany stain on our pine bathroom moldings. I decided to NOT use the wood conditioner as recommended for staining pine, as it seems to have a very mixed record for preventing blotches. For those who want to know, gel stain is recommended for the most even results on pine... a fact that I didn't learn until after I had opened and tried out the liquid stain we bought.



We are hoping to match the mahogany bathroom door...

... a pretty close match! Most of our replacement doors (for the hollow core monstrosities) are mahogany; we are planning on staining pine trim to "match." I'm glad to see that it is going to be fairly easy!

A Little Black Paint Makeover

Our mailbox has been living on a front porch chair for over a year... ever since we removed the asbestos siding. I don't like our mailbox, and I was hesitant to drill holes into the brick for a box that wouldn't stay long.

Here's the old mailbox:


I removed the stick on numbers, lightly sanded it with 22o sandpaper, and spraypainted it with a can of black paint we had lying around in the garage:


I then realized that the stick on numbers were the only numbers visible from the street...

... the other house numbers had been painted white. Even though we intend on replacing the posts soon, we can't have the house unidentifiable! They were too delicate and paint encrusted to remove for stripping or proper painting, so I used a paint brush to paint the numbers black.

Here's what the mailbox and numbers look like on our house:


Much better than an ugly white mailbox sitting on the green chair! If it wears well, I may not even need to buy a new mailbox. Here's to a little paint.