Saturday, August 14, 2010

Day Eighty Seven

Look what I found!  "The Vardo"  One little project at a time I am finding others who have completed a gypsy wagon.  This one has a number of innovations that I really like.  I have been trying to figure out how to get additional sleep space into mine.  I have this lovely notion in my head that I'll be on the road and one of my kids will have a break in their action and be able to meet me.  I'll send them a plane ticket and they'll join me on the road somewhere for a little visit.  It would be nice to have room for them to sleep inside the gypsy wagon if possible but no matter how I try to like it I just can't make a little convertible RV booth jive with the vision in my head.  Look at the solution in the photo below....the space under the bed that I've designated for storage can also be a sleeping space!  I can just haul the storage boxes out during those rare occasions when I have an overnight guest.  I love it.  Now it is Mike's job to figure out how to frame it so the bed is sturdy enough without "legs" underneath. 



Mike, are you reading this??

Uh-oh.  Upon further examination I realize this is only a solution if you have children that are under 36" tall!  Maybe Ava would be happy under there but I doubt any of the kids would be.  :-/  Definitely open to creative solutions for additional sleeping space.  Nothing over my head though.





Only for little people!  I'll have to keep looking.

Today I give up the following:


1.  A Corelle serving bowl
2.  A "Juice Master" appliance
3.  A tall, cylindrical vase
4.  Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza
5.  Alcohol Can Be a Gas! by David Blume




14 comments:

  1. First you boil the pasta.....

    It is a clever name for sheet mulching, which is my personal favorite among permaculture gardening techniques. You layer organic matter on the soil really deep and then plant right through it. The organic matter composts in place feeding the plants. Wonderful technique for our climate. The book is going to the local permaculture guild for their library.

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  2. Could you bring it today so I can look at?
    Do not need it just want check it out.

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  3. For your under-bed bed: make a bed roll that can be stored, rolled up during the day, & at night, can unroll perpendicularly, with the sleeper's feet under your shelf-bed & head & body down the center of your wagon. Bob & I used to have a van configured like that.

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  4. I think that is a great idea, Mary. That is thinking outside the box that I kept putting the bed in...that it needed to be a specific dedicated space. Why can't someone sleep in the aisle on a nice bedroll? Thank you!!! Now I don't need a little RV Booth for my workspace, I can do something much more to my liking.

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  5. A good tent could be a nice option for visitors. I've visited friends in campers, and tent camped with them. Who doesn't love sleeping in a tent? A bed roll is great to have, a blow-up air sleeping pad - - besides, you might just decide yourself to sleep under the stars!

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  6. Another good idea. I'll put my tent on my packing list because you're right, I might want to sleep outside on some of my stops. So a tent can double as a guest room as well, truly justifying its inclusion. Thanks, D. ;-)

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  7. I posted yesterday but it seems to have not gone through the magic pipes that are the internet. I just wanted to comment that the lower bunk in the above vardo is full length and can sleep a person over six feet tall. I think the mistake is in looking at the construction photo and seeing the storage area underneath. Hope this helps.

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  8. I am honored to have you here! I love your vardo so much. So I still don't understand; in the second photo above it really looks like the area under the bed is limited in width to the width of the well (did I say that right?). I don't see six feet plus of width in there, what am I missing?

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  9. Look at the picture made up with the bed roll on it. The well between the ledges ends up as a storage space under the bed. The lid of the box spans between the ledges. I stole this idea from the real 19th century British wagons. Maybe I should put up a better photo.

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  10. Maybe this construction photo will help.
    http://paleotool.wordpress.com/plans-projects-and-patterns/the-vardo/dsc_0046-2/

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  11. Aha! That DOES help. So, I could actually leave the ledge in place, put a big pull out drawer beneath it, and have removable bins in there which I'd have to pull out and set aside when I had a sleep over guest, right?

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  12. Yup! I almost did a drawer but decided to top load for a couple reasons. First, the drawer would need to lock to keep it shut during travel. Second, the drawer would add some weight. And third, if you have a bunch of stuff piled on the floor while traveling, drawer access could be limited. The upside of a drawer is the ability to leave the bed intact while accessing stuff underneath.

    By the way, I really like your idea of trimming down unneeded stuff by giving away every day. I did some major cutting down a couple years ago while moving and still have too much stuff.

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  13. It has an insidious way of creeping back in, doesn't it? I have declared my home to have a one way valve on it in preparation for hitting the road next summer. I am sure that even after 365 days of getting rid of 5 things a day it will still be a huge task to pack up a house where I've lived for 18 years and raised four children. This approach will definitely make it easier though.

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