Paint It Beautiful

  The Air Fresheners Should Have Been My First Clue We bought this RV from a crook. Before anyone says it: yes, looking back, the signs were there. The seller insisted it had never had a leak of any kind . Not once. They claimed there was zero water damage . The RV was supposedly in mint condition. Then there were the air fresheners. They were everywhere. At the time, I didn't think much of it. Now, in hindsight, the overwhelming attempt to make everything smell “fresh” should have been my first clue that something wasn't right. But hindsight is always crystal clear. By the time we arrived, we had already driven hours to see it. We had invested our time, our excitement, and a substantial deposit. We were already picturing future trips and adventures. The seller seemed confident, the RV looked good on the surface, and we wanted to believe everything we were being told. So we bought it. And we paid far too much. To be honest, we paid a premium price that would have been...

  Playground & Mud Kitchen Makeover One of my favourite projects this year was transforming an old recycled plastic playground and building a custom mud kitchen to go along with it. We started by picking up a used recycled plastic playground manufactured by Playground World. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find much information about this particular model online, but the structure was solid and had plenty of potential. The restoration was a labour of love. I spent countless hours sanding, cleaning, priming, and painting every single piece—front and back. I also replaced all of the screens, 4x4 posts, and hardware to ensure everything was sturdy, safe, and refreshed. Once all the pieces were restored, one of my dearest friends generously helped me reassemble the playground. The installation took a day and a half, but seeing it come back together made all the hard work worthwhile. Designing the Mud Kitchen With the playground complete, it was time to bring my mud kitc...