phifertex

So I love working with phifertex!  We used the 70% white for the aft deck shown in previous posts, but chose the 90% for everything else.  All house windows, galley windows, and windshield have 90% phifertex in white covering them.  Thanks to my Sailrite sewing machine, and Sailrite.com, I was able to create cool lovelyness on Hope's exterior while making the interior brighter, cooler, and more open.  There is a nice sleek look in the salon now.  The visual weight of the interior curtains was too much.  I think this was a much needed change.  You can still see out just enough to avoid a claustrophobic feel too.

I might as well point out the exterior paint as well.  I repainted the exterior (most of it) last summer with Awl Grip.  I just used the roll and tip method and as you can see, a year later, it's shiny and beautiful!  We should get close to 10 more years out of that paint.  Yeah!

Reminder

A year after moving aboard our first boat, Reef-Runner.blogspot.com, we had the opportunity to move from Myrtle Beach, SC to Key West, FL...and took it!  My dad wrote this song for our bon voyage party.  That's Rob's mom singing harmony.  It's a nice reminder of how adventurous our choices have been.  We have an amazing life and sometimes we forget how incredible it is...

galley

So the galley was a fully functioning space, nothing wrong with it, though it reminded me a bit of a college apartment.  One Thanksgiving Break, my dad and I replaced the headliner.  We added insulation and rewired some new fixtures.  But the big change occurred when we decided that it could use the mid-century modern touch when the microwave went out in December.  We asked ourselves, do we just replace the microwave OR do we

1. replace the microwave with microwave convection oven
2. remove the stove/oven
3. remove the dinnette
4. build custom cabinetry
5. replace the countertops with corian
6. add tile backsplash
7. add a breakfast bar with tile floor and mini-chair rail/toe kick/not sure what to call it
8. custom buffett
9. relocate and build in the dishwasher
10. refinish old appliances to match the new micro-convection oven

So of course we chose the list.  Here are some before and afters.

Ok, so maybe we're at an almost "after" pic stage.  

But we're grouting today and if the guy on VarageSale will answer me, I might even have some bar stools.  Then I'll be refinishing the dishwasher in stainless-look, making new curtains, and the fridge will be converted to a custom cabinet look (because we have no idea how somebody got it down there, so no way to get it out to replace it with stainless like we would prefer.)

Aft Deck

After we finished all that hard work in the yard last summer, we thought a new place to relax was well deserved.  Though the original Pompanette furniture was relatively comfortable and very sturdy seating, we decided to make the space more practical for our lifestyle.  We wanted an inviting area to entertain and relax.  Here's what we did...

So then, I decided to make all new phifertex panels for the salon windows (exterior) and for the windshield rendering the interior curtains useless.  Well, since they were made from a nice heavy canvas and had a fun pattern, I re-purposed them as new exterior cushion covers.

Best gift ever!!!

The sailrite sewing machine is my new best friend. 

I've made all sorts of things...

None are perfect, but they all work just fine. I started exterior window coverings today:

Final flooring pic

The laminate floors look fine...for laminate. I really love the easy clean sisal rugs that prevent our sweet old dog from slipping. 

And so it begins...

New flooring in the salon and steps down to galley:

The old carpet, installed in 2009, was beyond yucky. I used a carpet cleaner on it at least once a month, but I think carpet is gross. Here's proof, we moved the end table and could see the original carpet color.