Shelby Update: 99% complete!

It's hard to believe the end is in sight! Shelby is so so so close to being complete, it's almost as if she was never going to be finished. Some days when I'm working on here, I step back and look at the entire project in my mind, and how far we've come, and I get a big overwhelmed with pride. She is a real beauty. If you'd like to take a trip down memory lane, scroll through the posts marked Shelby by clicking here, or Shelby tag at the bottom of this post. You can go all the way back to our first demolition post, when we brought her home from the foothills of the South Carolina mountains in Greenville and ripped out all of her guts, most of which was rotten.

For the first time in this entire project, things are going our way. I think it has a lot to do with living in Florida. Our life is a million times less stressful, we're so happy in every way. Another big difference at our new home, we have a huge workshop and garage, where the tools are stationary and set up whenever we need them.

In Augusta, we had to haul all of our tools from inside our apartment, to the backside of the house, set up a card table, and run an extension cord out to the camper. If it rained, I had to drag out my 10'x10' pop up tent and try to work out of the rain. Florida has rain at least once everyday, but we're working until the cover of a huge garage with florescent lighting. Makes a huge difference when the weather can't control your workday.

What makes it so much easier now that we're down to the last little fine details, we already had in our possession all the tools necessary to finish Shelby. Early on, we only had a hand saw and card table, bought materials as we needed them, and had no idea what was ahead of us. When I knew we'd need reflectors, I went out and bought them. We've slowly accumulated three different saw, with a few more on our wish list, an air compressor, nail gun, and a ton of knowledge!

Last weekend, we finally finished those benches! They covered the wheel wells, and on the driver side, enclosed the electricity that goes to the sconces. The little door on the face of the bench, above, allows access to the power strips, wires, and access panel to the outside. For those of you that have been following along the entire time, you probably remember the dreaded solar panels. Ugh, that was the worst.

Just a few more days and she'll be revealed to the world. The curtains are up, painting has begun. Aren't you so excited to see the finished mobile boutique!? I know I'll be happy to have her at Riverside Arts Market.