Home Improvements (shutters)

As a homeowner when we had our home in Appleton, WI, I tended to be what I call "project oriented", meaning that I enjoyed "do-it-yourself projects around the home. I always felt that it was better to tackle a job that you could do yourself rather than pay someone else. My theory was that I should at least start the job and if I got in over my head then that was the time to bring in the experts. And through the years I gained valuable skills in carpentry, roofing, plumbing, electrical etc. I would be working on a project and heading out to the garage for something and my next door neighbor, Norbert Schemm would yell over at me, "What'cha doin' now, Larry!" and my standard answer was always, "Home Improvements, Norbert." Well...when we sold the house and started the full-time RV lifestyle I originally thought that my home project days were over, but it was not to be. Owning and living in an RV presents the same if not more challenges as living in a "stick built" house. As well as normal maintenance I am always looking for modification ideas. (see our blog of Sept. 24)
The latest was to replace the pleated curtains in the Cardinal with something more substantial. Pleated blinds and soffits are de rigueur In just about all of the pull-behinds, fifth wheels and motorhomes sold and ours was no different. They look nice and work reasonably well for occasional casual use. However, with the repeated use of a fulltime living the pull strings wear out and/or the pleats get distorted. So when the strings on the large blinds on our rear picture window failed recently Teddy and I decided to go with something different rather than restringing them. On a shopping trip to Lowes we spotted moveable shutters and I decided that I could adapt them to the Cardinal. I just finished the job and we are well pleased with the result.Here are the original pleated blinds...

...and here are the new shutters.

They should outlast the blinds by a long shot.