"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!" - The Who
When we first remodeled our 1957 vintage camper back in 2011 - 12, we thought we were just creating a short-term home for a year, maybe two. Nearly 11 years after first rolling away with everything polished, shiny, and uniquely mid-century, the road has taken a heavy toll.
We've completed some minor repairs before, slapped some new shellac in places, and completed one major exterior overhaul in 2020, but this month we finally tackled a complete makeover of the inside. Now, when we say makeover, don't go thinking HGTV land, our big reveal looks shockingly like a newer and shinier version of the very same Hamlet in which we first rolled out of our driveway.
The process is simple: remove everything, sand every wooden surface with 80 grit sandpaper, repeat with150, repeat with 220, vacuum everything 3 times, and remove dust with a wet rag and finally a tacky cloth. Paint a thin layer of amber color shellac over everything, repeat, repeat, and repeat until you like how it looks! Fun fact about shellac, it's made from the secretions of the female lac beetle in India and Thailand, it takes anywhere between 50,000 and 300,000 beetles to make 2.2 lbs. of shellac. Considering that we used nearly a gallon of shellac, well you can do the math.... but there's enough for us to maybe call Hamlet "Beetlejuice!"
Here's to another decade of adventures in the newer, shinier and oh so cute, Hamlet!