VW Bus TV Stand

It's done! Check out the photos:

VW Bus TV Stand

As you may have read elsewhere, friends Niamh and Grant made a deal with me where I wound up with a '78 parts bus. After salvaging most of the good parts, and idea was formed.. Why not cut the back 16" off the bus, hang it on the wall, and put a flat screen TV inside?

Well, that's what I decided to do. Problem is, the rear end of this bus was pretty rough, so it has taken a little more work than I would have liked.

The other issue is how to support it. It has quite a bit of mass, so simply hanging it on the wall may not be wise. I decided to make a wood support structure, the legs of which will be hidded witha cut up tire later on. The support also has a large plywood cabinet to hold our subwoofer and DVD equipment. It will also support the bumper when it is reinstalled. The bumper will hide the opening in the wood cabinet...

The Basement is Done (Well, almost...)

With a few noteable exceptions (trim, countertop, accent painting, etc.) the basement project is done!! Last week Vanessa sanded and stained all the bare oak, then varnished some of it. We got a great deal on carpet this weekend past, brought it home in the Escape, and I installed it. What a difference!! We also picked up a 300W home theatre DVD system for $65, an open box special at Zellers, and I installed that as well. Just last night I put the suspended ceiling in the low section that covers the ductwork. For now it is useable space. In time we'll finish the outstanding issues... Here are some pictures: Me installing the carpet.
Here's the TV Murray and Judy gave us, in the finished cabinet.
The Schmidt's Beer sign is all lit up.
The old Ikea furniture fits nicely down here.
Soon the old IMAC will get hooked up to the 'net. Vanessa may even start painting again!

The Basement - Grouted and Painted

With a few diversions (working on Stacey and Bryon's bus, camping - check the other blogs for details...) we've been progressing steadily on the basement. The last post showed the tiled floor pre-grout. I took care of that handily one morning - there's a sample picture below. For the full effect, come visit us soon. After that was done I needed to finish the back door landing area. I tore out the drywall and continued the tongue and groove pine by meshing new, thinner stock into the old T&G that is original to the ancient back room addition. It was also a good time to wire in an overhead light in that area and combine it on the switch for the lights in the stairwell.

I also began the arduous process of painting, my least favourite endeavour... I've captioned the images below, so I'll spare the rhetoric here:

Here's and example of how the grout looks. This was easier than I remember, and with Vanessa's help the job was done quickly, using only the two bags of sanded grout mix I purchased originally.

The picture doesn't do this feat justice. I'm standing on a 16' extension ladder, about 75% extended, with its feet on the stairs and the top resting in the top of the stairwell. I'm priming the old, smelly, stained tongue and groove with KILZ primer.
My belly is particularly stunning here. It's a 14' drop straight down from where I'm working.
As soon as I was done up high I moved the ladder and finished things with a thick roller on a pole.

Ultimately this area (the T&G, brick, and new pine at the back landing) used one gallon and and additional quart of the oil based stain-blocking and smelly primer.
Using a roller I primed all the new and remaining old drywall using close to five gallons of latex primer. After the four hour priming extravaganza, I broke down and rented a professional paint sprayer from Home Depot.

This thing can blast paint at over 1500 PSI!

It was especially handy on the uneven surfaces.

The unit picks up the paint right from a 5 gallon pail.
My bald spot is getting bigger with every project I take on.
Though one coat covered perfectly, it took close to nine gallons of paint. Good thing we used the cheap stuff!