I now have the furniture assembled, but got in a hurry with staining and sealing with shellac. I know better. I should have finished a scrap piece first to see how the new wood matched the old. As a result, my new pieces are much darker and redder in tone than the original natural finished Ash. It was actually worse than shown, because I initially used an amber shellac which was entirely the wrong shade. So, I stripped them and used clear. But the damage is done. I think the only way to get close to the old finish is to start over with un-stained wood.

Other than that, I’m happy with the shape of the bench end pieces and overall look and layout. Shari Davis reupholstered the cushions for me with a fabric I found on eBay, and they came out looking very nice.

This is what the layout and furniture looked like in 2002. The benches made into short twin beds, but for sitting they were lacking in back support.

This photo shows that I moved the streetside gaucho to the front of the trailer.

That arrangement allowed the gaucho, to fold out into a 60″ wide bed, as seen in the following photo.

Note the small table used for eating at the street side bench.

This made for an uninspiring dining table. The view from there was the galley – take your pick of stove, sink or refrigerator. We longed for a dinette that allowed us to face each other and see outside. So, the front gaucho is now a dinette.

Not quite finished but this is the “final” design.

It’s apparent to me that the old curtain color clashes with the new upholstery and wood tones. There’s a bit of funny story about the curtains. When we bought the trailer, we found them in an upopened box, brand new. They are very well made and looked okay with the finish at the time, but Patrice kept calling them pink. That gave me fits and I was always correcting her by telling visitors they were “rose.” Well, now they look really, really pink to me, and they have to go. Either I’m going to dye them or replace them, because I can’t stand pink.

In the last photo you’ll notice what looks like a large cylindrical pillow just under the window. That is actually a bedroll. When the cushions are down the sheets and memory foam mattress roll out flat and make for a very comfortable bed that is easy to put away the next morning – just roll it up.