How do you decorate the outside of your trailer?

[Miriam]

My husband would just fall over if I started to bring things for the OUTside!

I'm not even sure I'd want to bring much, since I'm quite lazy and I like to travel very light just cause it's easier!

If we were ever to go somewhere for extended periods of time instead of just fast weekend jaunts, You bet I'd start making even the campsite look more personalized, however!
I LOVE all the kitcshy ways everyone does things! It really makes you smile, and that is one thing we can use a lot more of in this ole world.

Thanks, Deb! We like to travel pretty light, too.
Pssst...so if you WERE going to bring something for the outside...what would you like to bring?


I was wondering if anyone had used some of those new plastic-weave floor mats and what they thought of them. Right now we bring an outdoor rug (kind of like rat fur) that we bought for that purpose (Totem was selling them for $20 a couple of years ago). It's great for smoothing out the lumps, hiding the gopher holes, and keeping the dust and dirt outside. Only problem is when it rains and I have to pack up. It can get pretty heavy with water and has to be stored outside in the box of the truck.

I'm still looking for the perfect picnic table cloth - flannel backed, not tacky-looking, and that covers the WHOLE table.

I'd also like to know how some people hook up their outdoor minilights.

Any thoughts, anyone?

- Miriam

[Miriam]

[quote]We take a string of colored lanterns that hang from the awning. We only hang them when we're staying somewhere for more than two nights.


Attachment 3301


Where do you plug them in? And how do you attach them?
- Miriam

[Miriam]

Attachment 3283


Interresting lights and something for Byron A
and no they are not mine

Oooooh...thanks for sharing! Those lights are ADORABLE! I want! I want! Where and how much, please?

- Miriam

[Miriam]

That's my thought too. I just added some vinyl stick-on letters to a plastic container:

Clever! And cute, too! [I love the ideas I get from people on this site! Thank-you!]

[Miriam]

I mounted a towel bar on the inside of my entrance door. When I latch it open it creates an outdoor place to display this dish towel I found on a trip to Bisbee, AZ:

WOW! love it! I need one for hubby! And for the office......

Thanks, Frederick!

[Miriam]

Flo, the watch flamingo
While Flo was AWOL recently, we brought the plastic duck decoy I received from my hubby for Christmas ($4 at Cdn Tire) -- don't ask, don't tell

Original awning (faded red now pink and light blue)
Huge big blue tarp cleverly draped and staked with special sticks

Blue water jug with tap on back bumper

Three green folding loungers
Coolers for coffee tables

Attractive and practical fire pit made with local rocks
Pile of seasoned wood

Large tupperware lidded container: "Crash Action Box" which has everything you need immediatey.

Photo to follow.

Charlynn,

I can hardly wait for the photos!

hmmmm...got me thinking. I usually bring wood from home (lots of construction in my city - I go dumpster diving and usually pick up some nice, square, easy-to-stack, long-burning pieces of pine (no treated stuff). No problem taking that from place to place in Canada, but will I be able to take it into the States? (I hate paying for campground wood if I can 'recycle" stuff that would go into the garbage anyway.

- Miriam

[BOBSMITH]

Where do you plug them in? And how do you attach them?
- Miriam

There's a receptacle on the awning side of the Casita. We plug it in there. It just clips onto the awning by a series of plastic clothespins.

[Mary F]

Oooooh...thanks for sharing! Those lights are ADORABLE! I want! I want! Where and how much, please?

- Miriam

Look at PartyLights.com, in their "Outdoor & Leisure" section.

[Mary F]

Personally, I'd like a string of these:




Skeeter Hawk lights.

[Suz]

Well, the more I go, the less I take to decorate on the outside. Mine is kitschy on the inside. As one person recently said, "the plainess of the outside sure doesn't speak for the inside!" I did recently make an awning for my rear window A/C but that's more for function than it is for form.

Sadly, this last trip finally made me admit that I am getting too seasoned to continue to carry my deck along. Yes, I have recently given my trailer's deck over to a home project. Needless to say, it was snagged before I could change my mind. I'll miss it ever so much. I loved to sit on my deck and drink my coffee, but alas, it was just too heavy to carry around with me not to mention loading it in and out of the trailer.

I'm heading out to purchase a folding platform, but I do have plans in my head for a lighter weight deck.

[Frederick L. Simson]

[b]1- I was wondering if anyone had used some of those new plastic-weave floor mats and what they thought of them.

[b]2- I'd also like to know how some people hook up their outdoor minilights.

[b]1- That's what's on the ground under my "Trailer Trash" container in the photo above. I love it! It's very lightweight, even wet, and it was easy to fold into thirds (along the seams) and roll up and toss into the back of the minivan, during the rainstorm as we left Cambria. I have a protective mat on the van's floor to keep it's carpet clean. After we got home, we laid it out on the back lawn, hosed it off and let it dry. Then fold & roll it into a 36" long by 15" in diameter cylinder that I stuff into an old cotton bag (from a car cover that wore out long ago).

[b]2- I have a light extension cord that wraps around the awning pole, from the light string on the roller, to the side of the trailer. I tuck it over the door's drip edge, and run it down the hinge side of the door, and into the fridge vent, and plug it into the fridge's 110 volt outlet. If I'm boondocking, I have an extra 20 amphour battery on an inverter to run the lights.

[CharlynnT]

That's my thought too. I just added some vinyl stick-on letters to a plastic container:

Funny!

[CharlynnT]

Charlynn,

I can hardly wait for the photos!

hmmmm...got me thinking. I usually bring wood from home (lots of construction in my city - I go dumpster diving and usually pick up some nice, square, easy-to-stack, long-burning pieces of pine (no treated stuff). No problem taking that from place to place in Canada, but will I be able to take it into the States? (I hate paying for campground wood if I can 'recycle" stuff that would go into the garbage anyway.

- Miriam

Dear Miriam,

Two summers ago, on our big long trailer trip, we were greeted at each western province border with a warning not to bring in any fire wood from elsewhere, as various bugs were being quarantined from place to place.

Pine beetles will make it worse these days, I guess.

Think local when recycling. And buy local. (But the wood at one Sask prov campground was SO overpriced and SO wet, we were glad we picked up KFC for supper in Melburn on the way....)

[Gina D.]

Yes, PLEASE.. leave YOUR wood at home.

Over the last 3 years, My mountain has been voided of it's pine population from Bark Beetle and horrible wildfire directly related to the trees they killed.

Now.. back to your regularly scheduled thread.

I forgot to add.. I have a doggie "Yard" that sometimes goes with me. I should probably hang lights off of it.

[james kent]

And on a wet day you can zapp the dog?

[Gina D.]

They glow on thier own!

PS.. it's plastic

[Gigi]

Thanks, Deb! We like to travel pretty light, too.
Pssst...so if you WERE going to bring something for the outside...what would you like to bring?
I was wondering if anyone had used some of those new plastic-weave floor mats and what they thought of them. Right now we bring an outdoor rug (kind of like rat fur) that we bought for that purpose (Totem was selling them for $20 a couple of years ago). It's great for smoothing out the lumps, hiding the gopher holes, and keeping the dust and dirt outside. Only problem is when it rains and I have to pack up. It can get pretty heavy with water and has to be stored outside in the box of the truck.

I'm still looking for the perfect picnic table cloth - flannel backed, not tacky-looking, and that covers the WHOLE table.

I'd also like to know how some people hook up their outdoor minilights.

Any thoughts, anyone?

- Miriam

Miriam, one can buy this same flannel backed tablecloth material off a bolt. You can get just the length you want. I think some hardware stores carry this. I'll keep an eye out for you when I'm shopping. What color and pattern are you seeking? Best width and length?
Cheers!

Gigi
Gigi

[Charles Richerson]

A couple of fly rods leaning against the front of the Casita always helps its looks.
Texas Charles

[Deb in MN]

OKay, Since hubby has his heart set on an awning.... I DO want to get some patio lights for it! I've looked online and found a couple that would indeed go along with my space theme! AND I have seen the nice tarps, too- to use under the awning. For sure those would be nice.

Gigi- in regards to the vinyl tablecloth by the yard, oh yes I've seen it at Jo-Ann Fabrics! What a great idea. Now you've got me thinking about stopping there each time I am by one to find the right patterned one for me!

[Raunie Aasland]

I forgot to add.. I have a doggie "Yard" that sometimes goes with me. I should probably hang lights off of it.

Gina - please, where did you find a plastic doggie yard? I need one almost immediately for my "new to me Peke"! She's short on camping manners at the moment -- I'll have to change that.

I don't need the lights, she "lights up my life!"