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Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Hi everyone! My name is Chris and I'm a first timer. I’m a single retired woman who has long wanted to travel in an RV. I live in MA and I'm the lucky new owner of the 2002 27’ MB that belonged to Bev and Ken Schultz. Lazybelle seems to be in excellent condition and I'm very happy with it--thank you Schultzes!

I could use some help with redecorating. I've searched but not found much about these topics. I want to hang curtains in the rear window, but between the valence, the shade, and the odd angle, I'm stumped. What’s the best way to do this and what type of curtain rod would work best? Can I leave the shade in (I prefer to)? I find all the pleated shades easy to lower but very hard to raise. Is there a trick to that? I also want to replace the sofa cushion with a twin mattress and still be able to slide it back in, but I think it’s too thick to fit under the board on the back of the sofa. Is there a way to do this?

I plan to be FT with my dog Jack by the end of October. Meanwhile I’m looking forward to meeting lots of LD folks at the NE rally on Cape Cod next week!
Chris and Happy Jack, soon to be FT in Lazybelle.
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #1 –
"I plan to be FT with my dog Jack..."

Welcome first timer, you've just joined a good group here, you'll get lots of good advice. However, curtains of any sort are not my forte so perhaps some of the LD ladies will chime in.

If you ever get out California way, my Jack-Chi, Cedar, would like to meet your dog Jack?  :D
Steve S.
Lazy Bones & Cedar
2004 30'IB (Island Bed)
Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery
Live for the day!
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #2 –
Quote from: Lazy Belle  - 
Hi everyone! My name is Chris and I'm a first timer. I’m a single retired woman who has long wanted to travel in an RV. I live in MA and I'm the lucky new owner of the 2002 27’ MB that belonged to Bev and Ken Schultz. Lazybelle seems to be in excellent condition and I'm very happy with it--thank you Schultzes!

I could use some help with redecorating. I've searched but not found much about these topics. I want to hang curtains in the rear window, but between the valence, the shade, and the odd angle, I'm stumped. What’s the best way to do this and what type of curtain rod would work best? Can I leave the shade in (I prefer to)? I find all the pleated shades easy to lower but very hard to raise. Is there a trick to that? I also want to replace the sofa cushion with a twin mattress and still be able to slide it back in, but I think it’s too thick to fit under the board on the back of the sofa. Is there a way to do this?

I plan to be FT with my dog Jack by the end of October. Meanwhile I’m looking forward to meeting lots of LD folks at the NE rally on Cape Cod next week!

Contrats!  The Northeast folks are a lot of fun.  I will miss the gathering in Cape Cod, you going to find a fun group. With respect to pushing up the pleated shades.  I get under the ones that push up (all but the rear window in my MB) so I have a better angle and better leverage.  This usually requires setting in the seat under the shad.  The rear shade I have to make sure the bottom has not gone past the valance or it sticks and bends the shade.  
I don't have a solution for extra curtains.  
Our dogs love the RV.
John
Currently: 2008 36' Tiffin Open Road
Previously: 2007 Mid Bath
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #3 –
Welcome Chris, I hope you enjoy your new adventure as much as we do!

Regarding mattresses, we had one made to our specifications for our LD, at a shop in Portland (OR) that was recommended. We had it made a bit thicker than the cushion, 34' wide, which we leave in postition. Not too wide to serve as a lounge couch, just right for a luxury twin bed.  My wife claims it is the best RV mattress ever, and she would give the Princess and the Pea serious competition. In a van Conversion we have done, we had a Seattle foam supplier build us a mattress, again to very precise measurements, from foam we specified.  She made a mattress cover and all the bedding for these mattresses from old sheets. 

In other words, I recommend finding a local foam supplier, or mattress builder and having yours made to what you need.  That worked for us. 
Paul
'92 Mid Bath
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #4 –
Welcome Chris,

I'm not certain how familiar you are with LD's and the changes over the years. What I know about the pleated curtains is limited, but I have read that they do require rethreading on occasion. This is something that I will never have to address.

Curtains may be a difficult project as the "gathering" of the material may be hard to do with the limited valance space and the size of the LD windows.

We are quite pleased with the way LD set up our window covers. Here are some details about this arrangement. It may be possible to retrofit this to suit your coach.

Our 2015 Rear Bath (RB) came with Roller Blinds in place of the Pleated Blinds. Each window has a pair of Roller Blinds. The first blind is nearest the window and is solid white and not opaque.

The second blind is a black (opaque) shade and is inboard parallel to the first blind. On its own, the black shade can be drawn during the day to provide "shade" to the interior and add privacy.

At night, both shades can be drawn. In this fashion, the black shade will remove the harsh white reflection of the first blind adding a soothing interior during the private night time hours. It is my DW's and my preferred evening arrangement. Very comforting.

I have never been a huge Roller Blinds fan, but now that I've lived with them for nearly two years during the last 10,000 miles of travel, I wouldn't have it any other way.

You're right about the rear window angle. While very cool, it does force even the roller blinds to hang at an angle. Although this may be addressed by the addition of clips (similar to those used for the galley blinds), I really suppose it depends on how much it bothers you. Personally, I may try to come up with something to eliminate the "hanging shades" now that I think about it. Thanks.

Perhaps the addition of dual roller blinds could work for you. Perhaps not.

Where the mattress is concerned, we use separate memory foam toppers on our couches (which are very similar, I believe, to the MB couches). We maintain a partially drawn couch on either side of the coach.

The couches are always there with enough space to walk between. Day time they look and feel like extremely comfortable couches. At night, they are very comfortable beds. We simply exchange the throw pillows for our bed pillows. Easy as pie.

Well that's us in a nutshell. A very comfortable nutshell I might add. And with that I say welcome to the Lazy Daze family and the LDO group. Good luck with your project and happy travels.

Kent
2015 27' RB "MissB.Haven"
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #5 –
The pleated shades wear the strings out and do need to be rebuilt eventually.
It is a huge pain to do and requires a large table to lay the shade on, in its extended position.

Restringing a pleated shade.
Restringing Shades

After several breakages in our 2003 LD, we switch to roller shades, the same type used in our older 1983 model.
The slanted rear window is a problem that i solve by using guides, on each side, to keep the shade close to the window.
Buy high quality rollers and consider heavy light-proof shades.
We spent a lot of money on MCD shades and have been disappointed in how fragile they are, it's easy to scratch them, removing the colored layer and leaving either a block spot or a hole. They are also hard to clean and soil easily .
We have more durable roller shades at home that were ordered through Home Depot.
Shade photos
MCD roller shades | Flickr

Larry
Larry
2003 23.5' Front Lounge, since new.  Previously 1983 22' Front Lounge.
Tow vehicles  2020 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, 2001 Jeep Cherokee
Photo Collection: Lazy Daze
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #6 –
Hi Chris and welcome to this forum.  Lot's of good info here, and a lot of helpful Lazy Daze Owners.  See you next week at the Cape Cod gathering.

Bob
2011 MB
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #7 –
Hi There Newbie!

As for new seats-mattresses...we had the 2 dinette and 2 lounge sofa seats replaced...took them to a reputable boat upholsterer who not only let us choose the foam comfort we wanted, but made new tailored zippered covers for those 4 cushions.  The fabric was bought through the interior decorator we have used for 2 houses...yes, you can buy fabric (it's ordered) without having a decorator "do" anything else.

As for curtains...this summer I had new curtains made for the cab replacing the original "cream beige" ones.  For the dinette I use a spring rod and 36" cafe curtains.  I've done the very same in the lounge area (which we use as an oversize king at bedtime) and will likely do that again when we hit the road later in the Fall.  Spring rods are found at WalMart, KMart, and all kinds of home deco stores.  The cafe curtains I bought some long time ago are from KMart and machine washable.

When I get up the courage to mess with it, I'd like to mount fixed rods behind the valances and hang curtains that way.

Sorry to miss you at the Cape; we will be on the Cape, but in South Wellfleet fetching up "Wild Thing" from her summer vacation and celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary with family there.  You will find lots of very nice folks at NELD with lots of good advice should you need it and great energy.

TinaP
2006 MB "Wild Thing"
LD 2967  NELD 59
2006 MB
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #8 –
Thanks for the kind welcomes everyone! I should have mentioned I have a Tempur-pedic mattress. It's ~2" wider, but I hope to use it rather than buy a new one. I was hoping there was a way to either tuck it under the board or modify the board, but I'll try leaving the bed out like Kent suggested; big throw pillows are already on my list. I also have a topper and the stock bed is pretty comfy that way; it will do if I can't use the Tempur. I've had some fabric for years, waiting for a way to use it (sewists will understand! ::) ), and it's perfect for LR/BR curtains. I've already made a shower curtain and bathroom window curtains. I thought I'd hang those window curtains with a spring rod but with the way the area is constructed that won't work. Any suggestions for that? I am not the most handy person! I'll have to look into roller shades, especially the duals. Somewhere I saw an RV with a pleated shade that rolls up from the bottom; I'd like that.

Steve, by the looks of Cedar I'd guess he was more Bostonian than Mexican! I bet he and Jack would get along famously. Tina, Happy Anniversary!
Chris and Happy Jack, soon to be FT in Lazybelle.
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #9 –
Chris

"Steve, by the looks of Cedar I'd guess he was more Bostonian than Mexican!"

You are so right Chris but my Avatar is of "Jiggs" my beloved and still cherished Boston Terrier, not my present dog, Cedar. In my estimation Jiggs was about 85% human, he was clairvoyant, and understood what I was thinking even before I gave him a command. My Daughter will attest to the fact that he was not quite perfect because of his flatulence, a trait that did not trouble me due to the fact that my nose doesn't work.  ;)  The Avatar is in his honor!

Now my Cedar is a dog of a different color (literally) and just your average dog, not too smart, just a bit timid but far less stinky!   ;D
Steve S.
Lazy Bones & Cedar
2004 30'IB (Island Bed)
Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery
Live for the day!
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #10 –
Yes, Boston's are stinky but Toby, our third, is far less so since we don't feed him people food like we did the others.

Now, on our recent week in the Black Hills, his first longer term outing, he did stink things up some due to being a bit nervy at the start of drive-days, LOL! 🙊
Ruby, the red 2004 26' RK hauling Dave and Kristine hither and yon
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #11 –
do newer mid baths with the large rear, slanted window have roller shades? if so, does anyone have images of how the factory keeps them aligned?
1999 MB
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #12 –
Quote from: mcnugget  - 
do newer mid baths with the large rear, slanted window have roller shades? if so, does anyone have images of how the factory keeps them aligned?


Aren't all the rear windows slanted, regardless of size?  My 30' TB has accordion-pleated vertical shades (of a heavy daylight blocking material) on the rear window that I really like, though I don't know if they're original or upgrades, since I'm the 3rd owner.  They fasten in the middle with velcro & slide in top & bottom tracks to the outer edges, where there is a metal bracket that covers the entire retracted shade, with a hole that catches the small center knobs on the frame/edge.  There is just enough room between the shade & window to fit a large (truck windshield size?) reflectix shade that her previous family had cut to size--two smaller pieces that fit the two smaller outer parts of the window & one large piece for the center section.  This works well to reduce heat gain in the summer if I'm parked with the back facing the sun during the day; I put in at night in the winter to reduce heat loss.

Lynne
Lynne
LDy Lulubelle, Green '05 31' TB
Lilly, the 4-Legged Alarm
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #13 –
My 88 MB has a decarative roller shade with hand holes and an aluminum pipe as a bottom weight.  No tracks.  I just pull it down with extra for hand hole allowance flip the aluminum bar on top of the shde and push it back on the  window sill.  I have a custom fit reflectix piece i insert into the window frame of the dual pane, not thermal, windows for extra insulation. The only shade guidance is the valence and corner faux curtins.
Rodney
1988 Mid Bath
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #14 –
We replaced the pleated shades, in our 2003 FL, with roller shades.
Two 1" X 1/8" aluminum straps were used to make guides for the slanted, back window shade, to keep it close to the window and not hanging down, in the way.
MCD roller shades | Flickr

The shades are MCDs. I would not buy them again due to the cheap colored coating that is easy to scratch and difficult to clean.
Any good window cover shop should be able to order high quality, light-blocking shades.

Larry
Larry
2003 23.5' Front Lounge, since new.  Previously 1983 22' Front Lounge.
Tow vehicles  2020 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, 2001 Jeep Cherokee
Photo Collection: Lazy Daze
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #15 –
Lazy belle - my memory foam topper is also a little wider than the seat cushion but on my last trip I folded the outside edge under. That gave me a bit more thickness where it feels like the seat cushion is slightly compressed. With this extra "elevation" I no longer feel I'm about to roll off the bed.

Somebody mentioned spring curtain rods. I've had trouble getting my single long sheet of reflectix to stand up in the rear window. I recently bought 3 short rods & use them to hold the reflectix in place. Easy to pop them in place & out with one hand.

Enjoy your new LD!
2007 MB
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #16 –
Lazy Belle,

We have the same pleated shades in our 2002 tug.  We have had to restring three of them over the years.  I looked at the instructions on how to do so and decided to look for a shop that could do the job for me. We dropped off the shades and the next day picked them up, restrung with nice strong string. $35 per shade to restring in San Diego. Due to the friction at the ends of the bottom piece, they will wear out over time.

Welcome to the forum.  There are very helpful members here who will share their experience and expertise! I learn new things all the time! 

HD
2014 27 MB
Towd: Either the Jeep Wrangler or trailer containing the BMW R1200GS and 2 E-bicycles
Happy wife=Happy life
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #17 –
Quote from: Blueox25  - 
We have the same pleated shades in our 2002 tug.  We have had to restring three of them over the years.  I looked at the instructions on how to do so and decided to look for a shop that could do the job for me. We dropped off the shades and the next day picked them up, restrung with nice strong string. $35 per shade to restring in San Diego. Due to the friction at the ends of the bottom piece, they will wear out over time.

HD
HD,

Could you provide the name of the place in San Diego you had them restrung? I need to fix the large one in the back window of our Twin King.

Thanks,

Charles
Harvest Hosts + Boondockers Welcome #23975
Escapees SKP #138195
2007 23.5' Twin King
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #18 –
We have restrung a few and it looks harder than it is.

Jim
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #19 –
Charles,
Blind speed/Sparkle blinds
6636 University Dr
San Diego,

This is a tiny, old shop. They have repaired 2 of our blinds. One was $70 and the next tme we brought one it was $35. My wife says it depends on who you get at the counter.
Good luck.
HD
2014 27 MB
Towd: Either the Jeep Wrangler or trailer containing the BMW R1200GS and 2 E-bicycles
Happy wife=Happy life
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #20 –
Quote from: Jim & Gayle  - 
We have restrung a few and it looks harder than it is.
With a large table and Ted's instructions, it isn't super difficult.
Restringing Shades
For me, the hardest part is removing and replacing the blinds, some thing that must be done no matter who repairs it.

Do use the proper low-stretch sting.
Amazon.com: United Shade 650000 Pleated String First Aid Kit: Automotive

Larry
As an Amazon Associate Lazy Daze Owners' Group earns from qualifying purchases.
Larry
2003 23.5' Front Lounge, since new.  Previously 1983 22' Front Lounge.
Tow vehicles  2020 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, 2001 Jeep Cherokee
Photo Collection: Lazy Daze
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #21 –
I have 6 more that haven't  failed, but are certain to with age. Perhaps we will try a re-string next time.
Thanks for the instructions.
2014 27 MB
Towd: Either the Jeep Wrangler or trailer containing the BMW R1200GS and 2 E-bicycles
Happy wife=Happy life
 
Re: Newbie questions re curtain and mattress
Reply #22 –
Well, this "thread" jinxed us. Heading out of the harbor in small craft advisory conditions, another pleated day night/ blind broke. Broken thread and down it all came. Larry is correct, BTW, they are a booger to get out.
Syspig understands this stuff...
HD
2014 27 MB
Towd: Either the Jeep Wrangler or trailer containing the BMW R1200GS and 2 E-bicycles
Happy wife=Happy life