The $50 Paint Job
Just for effect I’ve included a “before” and “after” shot of Gina down below.
I now hear from EmBee and his buddy, Craig, that their first impressions of Gina were not very positive. EmBee even mentioned the dreaded words “junk yard” yesterday when describing a good place to park Gina before her transformation! It’s a good thing that *I* have an eye for undiscovered beauty and potential.
Before the plastic surgery restoration:
Prior to restoration
Ok, I have to admit that she looked a little rough back in the beginning. But her potential cute factor was underneath all the rust, rotten wood, and damaged paint. Really! If you look VERY carefully with your eyes squinted just right (or with cataracts) you can see it, can’t you?
But here she is just a mere four weeks later……
Post Plastic Surgery
After checking with local auto body shops and getting painting estimates ranging around $600 I took to the local Farm and Ranch store and bought 12 cans of tractor paint at $3.59/can. This truly is a $50 paint job when you add in the plastic tarps and blue painters tape. It’s not perfect…but it’ll do.
It is so satisfying to restore one of these old trailers and be able to preserve a part of American culture. And it’s not only the preservation aspect that is so appealing. I love the fact that a multitude of vintage trailer enthusiasts are taking abandoned trailers and bringing them back to their original glory. And then actually CAMPING in them! This isn’t like restoring a 1965 Mustang and showing it off in the summer at car rallies. This is about restoring, or reliving, the American culture of getting closer to nature and re-discovering the great outdoors! I’m looking forward to leaving the TV and internet behind and hitting the proverbial trail to ferret out lovely and lonely places.
When we’re not hiking or biking we’ll need a shady place to sit and relax outside with a nice cool beverage in our hands. This vision included one of those old striped awnings attached to the front of Gina. After an exhaustive search online I found that I couldn’t afford to buy one. They range from $350 for a small one on up to $1,000 or so. I’m afraid I have a bit of the Martha Stewart mentality in me and I figure that I can make just about anything. $46 in fabric and about 3 hours of actual sewing later and Gina has a nice scalloped awning to grace her new lovely paint job.
Gina's ruffled awning
Close up of awning workings
Some people have asked about pictures of the inside and when am I going to post them? Patience my dear readers, patience…..soon.
Love it….Love it…..Aren’t you two just the “bomb”.!!!! What a terrific job and I am thrilled to hear how you saved money in the process of making this a gorgeous trailer. I will be heading to Tractor Supply myself, for some of that great paint in the spray can. Plus, I am thinking how I can use my vintage awning for a pattern and make one of my own. Thanks for all your tips.!!!
By: Kay Coop on February 26, 2011
at 1:41 pm
Thanks Kay! It’s a terrible affliction to have the “I Want” disease without the deep pockets to go with it.
Use that vintage awning as a pattern. Great idea! I had no idea what one looked like so I winged it.
By: this montana life on February 26, 2011
at 6:59 pm
OK
By: dad on February 26, 2011
at 2:41 pm
OK.
By: dad on February 26, 2011
at 2:42 pm
Loooooking oh sooooo goooooood. See you guys in a few days, huh?
By: eembee II on February 26, 2011
at 4:09 pm
Yes, to beautiful snowy Sedona. Yikes! Hope it will be warm by then….
By: this montana life on February 26, 2011
at 6:57 pm
Nice job….I need to learn a few things about “do it yourself.”
By: Paula on February 27, 2011
at 6:30 am
I’m all for the saving money bit, but a spray can paint job……?? How do you keep the paint even……how do you keep from showing where you stop and where you start? I’d love to be able to do mine this way since right now it’s just sitting in my driveway for lack of funds to work on it. I’m frustrated….can you tell?? LOL.
By: sadieogrady on December 2, 2011
at 9:48 am
I was amazed at how good the paint job looked. The secret is in the prep, though. If you don’t get it sanded and steel wooled down to where the paint isn’t peeling, the new paint job will just start to bubble off. We used a lot of that blue painter tape and newspaper to mask off the areas we didn’t want to paint. That spray paint can get on places quite quickly if you don’t do this. We did about 5 total coats–pretty thin. I left about half an hour inbetween the thin coats to let them dry before I put on the next. This way it ends up looking seamless. Hold the can about a foot away from the surface–keep the can parallel to the surface–and move your entire arm so the can and spray stays parallel at all times. Don’t rotate the can to spray. Nice smooth sweeps of your arm works well.
If I were to do it again I would mess around with a self-etching primer I’ve read about and spray this on as a base coat.
Thanks for looking!
By: this montana life on December 2, 2011
at 10:34 am
Also, my trailer came with a 3-piece awning……..the two side pieces are zippered onto the main slightly larger piece……and I have yet to figure out how this is supposed to go on……..or even if it’s the correct awning for my trailer. I have a feeling it’s not, but it’s in pretty good shape and is a nice blue and white. There are several long and short poles included too.
By: sadieogrady on December 2, 2011
at 9:52 am
I think you have the awning and screen room and it probably is original. You will see that one side of the slightly larger piece has a cording or rope sewn into it. This side of the awning slides into a railing that has a C-looking slot that should be mounted to your trailer. If it’s not–it is fairly easy to find and install yourself. Then the other two sides zip onto the railing. Does this make any sense?? You can e-mail me at di_rae at yahoo dot com if you’d like and we can have further convos!
By: this montana life on December 2, 2011
at 10:30 am