gardenjunkpickergirls: Big progress on the Alma

Inspired by the recent reality TV show Picker Sisters, we are fans of REAL picker shows. We relate to the thrill of finding something cheep. We love road trips and filling the truck with our unique finds. We love the reaction of your husband’s as we pull in the drive w/ junk. Unfortunately, Picker Sisters is like watching a train wreck. You know you should turn away, but something draws you to it. You try to yell at the TV hoping it will STOP, but they just keep heading straight into a disaster.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Big progress on the Alma

After the first day of work on the Alma we made pizza - Every morning we woke up sore!

This is Scott's work area- he has a good plan for the benches that will fold into the second bed. As you can see he needs to finish up so he can get the boat out soon.

This is the back of the trailer we will put the name - keep voting - and the blog name.

We have some ideas for painting the outside- but will need to get some tips on all the how to's.

Laura could not wait to put her mark on the outside.

Suggestions welcome - "the big brown turd" needs help on the outside... but inside is looking good!

We opted for 4 colors, red, turquoise, yellow and lime green.

Scott made the table out of a vintage 1950's tabletop my daughter used in college - the legs were replaced by a post that can raise and lower for when it is used as part of the bed.

The tile was a great find from Century Tile. The brand is called Excelon. It comes in a variety of colors and is easy to install with just glue. I made all the cuts and will glue down with Scott's help next time.

Laura painted the icebox silver - this is the before.

This is the one piece of tile I did not cut - the straight cuts were easy- this will not be!

Another job we still need to do is polish all the windows.

Check out all the wood- Laura did all the poly work while I put on all the cabinet doors and flooring.

The oven is another big project - we need to paint- we are planning on black but are not sure if we can remove it to paint it.

Laura wanted some splashes of yellow - this will wake us up in the morning!

Laura painted the outside - we need to clean up the inside.

The fridge is looking good.

The curtain pulls got some color - another fun touch. I think we are still on track to be done my June. Keep voting on names!

2 comments:

SusanJuly 7, 2012 at 11:47 AM
I love your Alma. I'm looking into possibly restoring one myself. The one I'm looking at has a strange fold down bed option. In your travels have you ever seen anything like that?
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gardenpickergirlsJuly 9, 2012 at 11:34 AM
thanks for checking it out- we are having so much fun. Check out the page above labeled "vintage trailer resources" I bet you will find others with that type of bed. Check in telling us of your progress!
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MO

I come from a long line of pickers. I learned from my mom, driving the station wagon around on garbage day looking for stuff others didn't want. She taught me how to search through old barns, and find the items everyone else missed. I was refinishing furniture and polishing silver at a young age, always looking for the diamond in the rough. Her passion grew into a fabulous business, but for me, I am still just a picker who makes a living more traditionally. Many of our trips stem from my business trips that Laura tags along on, or weekend adventures. Laura is more thrifty then I am, we are very different . . . I will always have time for picking, gardening and blogging. I have three blogs, none for money, just to share my interests and opinions. Click on my picture to get to my garden blog. There is a reason I do the driving, do not let Laura fool you- you do not want her to drive! Picking is hard work, not a glamorous Hollywood production. You can call us “the picker girls”, “garden junk picker girls” or “the REAL picker sisters”!

Laura

Picker, gardener, not that good of a driver. . . Is one of the "greenest" people you will ever meet. She uses a clothesline, saves everything, is still cooking with some of the pans we had in our college house in the 80's. It’s not about being trendy, it’s how she lives. . . . OK I need to speak for myself here . . . Mo is definitely the blogger, driver and boss. However, I need to clarify a few things in my bio. First and foremost, I am an excellent driver and have an almost clean record to prove it. Also, my job as co-pilot is equally as important. I am, after all, the navigator through unknown country roads; no GPS in the old pick-up for these gals! I also have to rummage in the cooler and prepare sophisticated hors d'oeuvres. Last, but not least, I'm in charge of tunes. If left up to Mo, all we would be listening to is satellite radio's all Grateful Dead station. Not trendy? Without a doubt. I actually started thrifting and picking to save money. I still do for that reason, but more importantly, I want my surroundings to be funky and meaningful, and am always up for an adventure with my "true picker" sister!

Fender Art - has a long connection to "junk"

No it is not a fender made into a chair, just a fender made into ART! DEFINITION: The Middle English word jonk, ancestor of junk, originally had a very specific meaning restricted to nautical terminology. First recorded in 1353, the word meant "an old cable or rope." On a sailing ship it made little sense to throw away useful material since considerable time might pass before one could get new supplies. Old cable was used in a variety of ways, for example, to make fenders, that is, material hung over the side of the ship to protect it from scraping other ships or wharves. Junk came to refer to this old cable as well. The big leap in meaning taken by the word seems to have occurred when junk was applied to discarded but useful material in general.