Ms. Maisy Grace

Spring has been too wild of a ride to write many words lately! So, here’s my crazy sunny season in a two-minute read.

I bought this funky little camper, now known as #maisygrace. She’s a cutie, but I’m way under prepared to know how to work all the things.

It had been on my radar to move but knowing it would be less than a year until the move after that, I downsized even more and sped up the camper purchase. To live in it short term was my first plan, but someone offered me a sweet deal on a great spot for me. Having a washer, dryer and big shower won over my inner hippie screaming ‘do the RV lifestyle’.

#maisygrace came in handy to move boxes without having to ask for help! You’re welcome, friends. But that was the first time I’d hooked her up solo and only the second time I’d hauled.

The day I was moving into the house, I went to pick up a loveseat I bought from someone I’d worked with eight years ago. While there, some weird cosmic camper spark set off. I saw her totally redecorated, inviting and comfy camper and got all googly eyed over it. It was beautiful and she lit up when she talked about the refinishing process.

She (Gina) wants to turn her passion into a business. I’d been obsessed with van life for a while and really admired van to camper remodels. Beautiful results, but I decided I don’t have the skills or desire to DIY a camper. So I bought one ready to roll. It was not on my radar to redo anything. Though, remodeling could make great content for her and make mine so pretty! I liked the idea.

Was I crazy though? I had only spent one night with Maisy! I’m not a decor girl. My camper was fine. It was fine, functional, but not fabulous. Ah shoot, let’s do it. So, basically . . . the dates went like this:

moved into the home June 4th
vacationed the 16th to 20th
our office moved on the 26th
camper renovation started the 27th

I underestimated how much work and upheaval this would be.

Gina showed up the first day and when she discovered there was no power, it’s a miracle she didn’t bolt right then. First lesson in camper owning, plug it into your house power you goofball. But wait, there’s an adaptor for that?! You have no idea how underprepared I was. I mean, the level of ignorance stunned me.

I’ve blown breakers, melted an extension cord, covered holes in walls I shouldn’t have made and made a mangled mess of the holes I did need to create.

I hadn’t unboxed my stuff, when boxes of things I never knew I needed started arriving. Cushion covering happening in one room. Cabinet doors were being painted in another. The cashier at ACE hardware had memorized my rewards number. I hadn’t been to a decor store twice in a year and I had been twice a week lately. Whew, what was going on?

July flew by. Time just evaporated, much of it inside the camper. I cancelled a camping trip to work on the camper. Ironic. The camper was a lot of work. So. Much. Work. A lot of sweat and tears have been shed.

For those who thought I did all this, that’s cute. But no. We both stripped it all down, sanded and sanded and sanded and primed and sanded and painted some walls. Then we split the cabinet doors between our houses, by color. I painted light ones, she painted the blue and green. They all looked great, except three of them were painted the wrong color . . . all my fault! The two dark ones were at least the same size, so I found a solution that didn’t require sanding seventy four more times. Clearly, I hate sand/sanded/sanding.

Total chaos everywhere. Every surface of my home, office and camper were tool covered for five straight weeks. Thank you, Lord, that was over this week.

At several points in camper life so far, I have been embarrassingly ill-equipped. But it’s here! Wheels roll soon and I’ve watched so many videos on leveling and hookup. Not entirely confident, but I’m about to charge forward! I will be part blissfully ignorant, part brave until I get to the campsite. That process could end in tears or go perfectly.

I’m going to embrace either.

If I need true rest, I know now it can be found. #maisygrace is so transformed. When I cleaned up for ‘new look’ photos, I finally gave myself the moment to really feel it. I sat down and sank back into the dinette with all those pillows. It was divine and it answered a question that haunted me for at least three of the last five weeks.

‘Is this (stupid, sandy, blasted, hard, sweaty and exhausting work) going to be worth it?’

Indeed it was and then some! I looked at before pictures. Remembering the fun of bare legs on vinyl, I decided it wasn’t just worth it, it was the best camper thing I’d done so far.

The funny thing about “best things”, is they are not often on your radar. The plan right now is to move again (much more permanently) in April of 2022. It will be a great move financially, but I remain completely open to things I can’t see coming.

I had almost zero to do with the mural wall. I picked it out and helped hold it as Gina was going around the lights. That lady is amazing and so very patient in doing that stuff. I would have been a raving lunatic before the first panel went up, and there were five of them. Gorgeous, right???