Put to bed

 Well, the caravan is put to bed for the winter.  We left everything neat, tidy and clean, did all the necessary draining down etc, pulled mattresses and sofa cushions away from the outer walls, opened all room and cupboard doors, defrosted the fridge icebox, cleaned and dried the fridge inside and left the door open, made sure everything was switched off and all plugs, aerial etc pulled out, gas boiler drained and the gas switched off outside.  Put tubs of cat litter everywhere (for moisture traps, a recommendation on the static caravan forum I belong to) with some of those Unstoppables scent booster washing beads in, for a nice fresh smell when we go back to the van.  I'm sure it'll be fine for when we go back next year.  There were quite a few people there yesterday, more than we've seen for a few weeks, they were all obviously closing up too.  Husband kept wondering on the way home if we'd remembered to do everything....I think we have, but the beauty of living not far away is that if we do think of something we didn't do, we still have a couple of weeks to go back and rectify it.

Regarding the furniture - as I said, we're only thinking about it, it's not a done deal.  And we do know it's got to fit through the caravan door!  That's our biggest concern - once we've ensured that we can safely remove the old sofa without affecting the stability of the van walls, that is.  We had a good look at the structure yesterday, having taken off the sofa cushions.....we think that leaving the back board in place will continue to provide the required stability, we can paint it in a neutral colour and it'll be hidden by any new furniture anyway.  Thousands of people have taken out their fixed furniture and replaced with freestanding, it's one of the biggest topics of conversation on the static caravan forum, so we know it's doable.  As for fitting new stuff through the door.....well, again, loads of people have done it.  Obviously, we would measure up. 😉 Some sofas or chairs have backs that can be removed for transportation and ease of access, some people go to the extreme of taking out the front window to get the furniture in that way - not something we have any intention of doing, though.

Our preferred choice would be a 2 seater sofa and a recliner armchair, or possibly a 3 seater sofa with each end seat a recliner.  But we've got the whole winter to think about it and look at possibilities.

Today I have the task of finding places to put all the caravan stuff we brought home.  I think I'm going to have a good clear out of my craft room (it certainly needs it) and put most of the stuff in there, on and under the spare bed.  Our garage leaks like a sieve (we have tried, on numerous occasions, to get the Landlord to do something about it, but he's a skinflint who doesn't see it as a necessity 😒).  It also has a rodent problem, husband's found evidence of mice often, so we don't keep anything valuable or mouse destructible in there.  So the spare bedroom/my craft room it is.  We could put some stuff in the loft, but as we don't have a dedicated fitted loft ladder and husband has to bring his ladder upstairs from the garage, it's not something we do often.