jasimeva's Supalite

[jasimeva]

Hi all
I need some help with designing what goes on the inside walls of our little van. She is around the 1950's acording to the old gentleman that does the rego checks on her. I have just finished painting her but looks so plain on the inside. Did they have pictures on the walls or clocks or what? Has anyone advice about a site or pics that I can get ideas from.
Thanks Jasimeva

[Roehm3108]

Hi jasimeva
I tried to find a pic of your van, but you don't seem to have one posted yet. If you like, email them to me and I can upload them for you (keep them small)

Re decorating. That's a very personal thing as you will have noticed from other members' vans. Some go for colour (like me) others go for themes, like a Betty Boop theme and add paraphenalia around that theme (like posters, pics, curtains, wall vases etc).

Plain walls can be brightened up with having such things as bright curtains, bedspread covers, or seat cushions beside them. It takes the visual focus away from the bare wall. Bear in mind that whatever you decorate your walls with, will have to be attached in such a way that it won't fall off, and therefore involves screwing or gluing it on, which will leave holes or marks if you redecorate.

What about a mural or something similar, if the wall is so big and empty?

Alternatively, you could always be bold like I did and paint your wall in a bright colour!! It really comes down to personal choice!

Ray

[cobber]

G'day Jasimeva,

We probably need to see a picture of your 'van to give you truly expert advice because most 'vans from the 50s don't have a lot of wall space to hang stuff on.
A few / lot of us scrounge around for period accessories to put on the benches tables and seats of our 'vans but as Ray suggested you could adopt a theme.. such as "Slim Dusty" and stick some of his LPs to the wall.... it's a personal choice thing.

One old bloke on the forum has gone over-board with period stuff... click here but it's nothing compared to this other bloke click here.who doesn't know when to stop and can't help himself so....... be careful.... it can become an obsession.

Cobber.

[jasimeva]

Hi Ray
Thanks for the offer to post photos that would be great as I'm a tecno bimbo and have know idea how to .You can email me your email address and I will send them through.
[e-mail]
cheers
jasimeva

[jasimeva]

hi Cobber
That second link was fab and gave me great ideas. I seem to be on the right track with the stuff I have been collecting since I started the project 12 mths ago, having no idea what the 50's house hold or van had in it, I haven't been to far off track. Look out junk shops for those interesting curtains.
Cheers
Jasimeva

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Jasimeva,

I've hesitated to post a response to your post, not because it's a bad question, but because I'm likely to get myself into trouble (again)! ;D ;D ;D But to anyone who feels their blood pressure rising when they read this, please at least read through to the second last line before exploding!

My response on 'decorating the inside' comes from a slightly different angle to the others, based on two things:

1. What era your van comes from, and
2. How original you want to keep it.

Speaking broadly, vans produced in the 30's, 40's and early 50's were usually very plain inside, usually painted in a single light colour, quite often cream, and maybe with a darker colour on the 'kick strip' at floor level. Some colour was provided by curtains, seat cushions and floor coverings (eg lino), but even then the colour of these items was often fairly muted or pastel. The following pic from a pre-WW2 Don is typical of 30's, 40's and early 50's decor:



Walls were usually unadorned with pictures, although the more luxurious brands might come with a built-in clock and/or radio, such as was found in this 1948 Jennison (see radio mounted in cupboards above the table):



There were some caravans in the 30's and 40's in which the furniture consisted of varnished wood, along the lines of English caravans of the time (and later), but they were pretty unusual in the Australian scene.

By the mid-50's, manufacturers began to experiment with a greater range of colours, sometimes using several different colours to provide dramatic highlights inside the van - but internal colours were still usually pastel: light blue or green, etc. An example is provided by these pics of a '59 Arrow posted by Cobber yesterday:

Feb 5, 2010 14:28:45 GMT 10 cobber said:

In keeping with the times, manufacturers in the 60's took colour a whole lot further with some painting cupboard doors three or four different colours. Others used much stronger colours with cupboard doors and upholstery done in mid or dark brown, green or blue to contrast with the basic offwhite of the van walls. At about the same time other manufacturers started to make extensive use of laminex (often with a wood grain design), not just for the table top as in the 50's, but also for cupboard surfaces, splashbacks for the sink, or the walls of the galley. If you look at the vans on page 3 of the Franklin history thread (Reply #38 on), you'll get the idea.

So that's my version of a potted history of caravan decoration! If you want to keep your van original (depending on how original it already is) then you need to work out what era it fits into and then decorate accordingly, and as Cobber has said you can add period bits and pieces to taste. But there's nothing to say that you have to do that. There are plenty of V V'ers who have done a great job with their van by decorating their vans in a very dramatic and non-original way. Although I personally am a 'keep it original' person, two of the (many) vans I admire are Roehm's Propert (which he wrote about) and Lazza's Roadmaster:

Mar 23, 2008 21:42:55 GMT 10 sutcac said:

I can't find a photo of the inside of Lazza's van - but just imagine it being done out in the external hot orange colour and black. Both Roehm and Lazza's van are decidedly 'unoriginal', but look fantastic.

In the end: It's your van and you can choose how you decorate it!

We look forward to seeing some pics at some stage.

Don Ricardo

[freeway]

Can't really give an expert opinion 'cos we aren't anywhere near painting our van yet, but doors for drawers and cupboards a diferent colour to the backing seems to be a good way to do it

[Roehm3108]

Hi all. Jasimeva sent me these pics of her van last week, but what with visitors and a v e r y slow computer, have not been able to upload them earlier. But to all you budding interior decorators, this is what the van looks like













When she sent me the email Jasimeva also said (which I hope was to be shared):

"Here are the pics of our van. We call her our Wendy van after a dolls house I had as a child.She was purchased last year from a young man in Sydney who was told to get rid of his junk by his new girl friend, I was at the right spot at the right time. At that time she had been shown in Canberra behind his FJ that was painted the same colour.We drove her home to our cattle station in outback NSW and by the time she got back her whole outside paint had shattered ,he had painted her with car paint which didn't work to well on wood,thus began my weekend project of sanding and painting and filling with the advice from the experts at wattle with what to use, when the last coat had dried and I pulled off the tape after 5mths of hard work all the top coat came off too in great sheets, I was devastated. I packed it all up for a few months as the drought was getting worse and all our time went into feeding our cattle.A friend told me about a couple of old timers who were great painters and at the time didn't have a great deal of work and would travel the 100km out to the station and back everyday so the job was back on and we took our first trip over to Gulgong in Nov09.
So that our story and we now have the bug and a looking for another all the time.
Hope these turn out OK"
So there you have the story behind the van!
Cheers

Ray
Ps to moderators, perhaps this should now go under "Member's photos" section

[Roehm3108]

Can't really see any huge wall areas that need "filling" decoratively speaking - quite frankly, you're doing a good job with what you've got!!

[kingy]

WELL WELL WELL, Look what we have here, Jasimeva if you did'nt know what make your van is i can tell you it's definitely a Supalite.........the only other one i've seen on this site similar to mine in the four years iv'e been a member. It's exterior is identicle to mine, be it a tad shorter.
The front clearance lights are the same, and in the same position as mine were
The eyebrow over the front and back windows are identicle as ones that were on mine
The four side windows are identicle ....with exposed hinges
The windows also use no rubbers......only sealant....and you'll find that all ten panes are the same size......well mine are
The side view shows an identicle shape of van
The feature that convinces me is the two exposed strips (for reinforcing) that run the full length of the inside of the roof ..... which is single skinned.
YEP it's a supalite
Great to see another one Jasimeva, Welcome aboard........You'll find a little history within the site on supalites
Kingy

g

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Jasimeva,

The thread on your van has now been moved to the Members' Photo Album section as suggested by Roehm. Hope that's OK...

Also, now that Kingy has identified your van for you, if you want to you can change the title of your thread from 'Decorating the inside with what' to something like 'Jasimeva's Supalite' or similar, so that if people have a particular interest in Supalites it will be easier to find. If you want to do that, you can change the title by going to your very first post then press 'modify' and change the subject. That's a suggestion only of course.

Anyway, that's a great little van you've got there, and really interesting to read the story of how you came to have it.

Don Ricardo

[No longer vanless]

Hello,

I can't view the photos of Jasmimeva's van.
Any ideas how I can view them?

Thanks.

[Don Ricardo]

Hi No Longer Vanless,

The photos of Jasimeva's Supalite were posted on his or her behalf by Roehm3108. Unfortunately the photos are no longer accessible, either because Roehm has removed them from his Photobucket account, or because his account is dormant. So there's no way of accessing the photos unless Roehm re=posts them.

Don Ricardo