Two days without wind or rain last week meant two days back in the van unpacking my water system from its carefully packed delivery boxes, moving wood around, and generally getting back into the swing of things. I am at a stage where the puzzle pieces of the build are getting truly complex. What I do when adds new layers of obstructions that make it tougher to get to the layer below if I need to add anything. This is made more complicated still by having reached the end of my savings. Soon enough I am going to have to pause so that I can save up for the next stages. When that happens, I want to press pause with as much foresight and forward planning as possible. And so, each new step I am working on is being done ultra-carefully, as I think about what it means down the line. If I put this thing here, will I be able to add my gas system later? It I build this stud frame will it stop me being able to add something essential down the line? This carefully planning is slowing down my progress, as I need to make notes and sketches for each step, but hopefully it will mean little or no dismantling later.
Last week’s jobs involved more work on the overhead cupboards, working out the placement of the water heater because it couldn’t go where I’d imaged, and starting on the kitchen stud frame. Anyone who has been reading A Nomadic Rose for a while now will know how much the kitchen means to me. It has been at the heart of this build since the very beginning. I started the kitchen months ago and then realised that I was wasting my time. One, because I needed the overhead cupboards to go up first otherwise fitting them would be far more complicated than it needed to be. And two because I couldn’t work out the design without the oven. The measurements online couldn’t help me work out how much space was needed, or how the oven would be secured into place, or how heavy it is.
With all that in mind, and my savings coming to their end, I took the plunge and bought my oven. Unboxing it last week was thrilling, like all my birthdays and Christmases come at once. It is the sweetest, cutest, perfectly gorgeous little oven in the world. Two hobs, a grill, and oven just being enough to bake a cake or make a roast. It’s black and shiny and happens to be called Adventure, as though it is calling me to create and play and have new Adventures in the Kitchen.
With it to hand I began again on the kitchen stud frame, starting with the cupboard below the oven itself. Now I just need some angle brackets to securely fix my gorgeous oven into place. With more good weather days on the horizon that should be easy enough to achieve. As should spending the last of my money on Stuart’s help getting the solar panels on the roof and the electrics one step closer to functioning. I will let you know how I am getting on next week.
Rosie, that is seriously the sweetest little oven I have ever seen. Cheers to continued van build success & much love from Mexico. xxxx