Warning: RV remodeling projects can be habit forming

RV remodeling projects are like potato chips -- you can't have just one.

Somebody who owned "our" trailer before we had, let a leaky faucet go, and the result was the particle board underlying the countertop swelled and rotted, leaving us with a "lumpy" countertop where any spills ran off and puddled. We put up with it for a couple of years, but finally, we'd had enough.

Enter our friend John. He won't admit it himself, John is a top-notch craftsman who delights in helping people transform their sticks and bricks homes from the ordinary to the fantastic. He probably never had it in his mind that he could extend his skills to RVs until we approached him about working over a fifth wheel we owned years back.

So, could he "fix" this crummy countertop problem? "Sure, go pick out some laminate for the countertop," was his easy response. We hit the countertop showroom, and soon found a "remnant" piece of laminate that went well with the galley interior. And since it was such a good deal, why not order another piece to do the dining table -- after all, they ought to match, huh?

Naturally, you have to order certain minimums when it comes to laminate goods. So John had all this "extra" laminate. It didn't take long before it was determined we ought to use some of that to make a couple of covers for the galley sink -- don't ever have enough countertop space in an RV do you? And hey, since we're at it, perhaps we ought to cover the "lift up" shelf at the end of the galley counter. But since we're at it, why not just enlarge that shelf just a bit?

And since we yanked out that old abandoned gas furnace from underneath the refrigerator, don't you think we ought to convert that space down there to something useful? How about a drawer? Hang on a minute, let's make it a drawer for canned goods. And can we make it so we can read the labels on the cans? Deep enough for two drawers you say? Sure!

All this one-thing-leads-to-another business has to end somewhere. Since we're living in the trailer while John performs the transformation, it started and ended in the galley/dining area. It's rough enough to have to flush the toilet with a gallon bottle of water, since the water system had to be shut down for the duration of the project. Thank heavens we don't need a remodel in the bedroom. But hey, John, how versed are you on installing Murphy beds?