hello ruby truck renovation *a look back*
by Jill Dudzinski
Happy Friday Eve! Throughout the process of hello ruby, people are super intrigued by the truck and what it used to be -- I have wanted to share the journey of the truck on the blog and this has been on my list forever!
It also comes at a good time because today is Austin's {my hubby that built the truck out} 29th birthday!! YAY! Props to him and his mad skillz. Ode to the man's patience dealing with my requirements. HA
So do you want to see the renovation of what is now the #hellorubytruck? {Discount code at bottom!!!!}
This was minutes after we bought the truck in Lincoln, NE on August 28th, 2016 {we met on the same day 8 years prior in Lincoln, too! :)} at the most sketch place I have ever been. The brakes were "fine" and the engine was "checked by a mechanic" -- turns out this wasn't true!! LOLZ {Got a HILARIOUS/DEVASTATING voicemail from our mechanic when we finally got it checked out at that was 2 minutes long explaining everything that was wrong with the truck. The voicemail ended with "if you're driving on the interstate, it may swerve off and you could die" -- we lost it laughing because it was all we could do that that time. We definitely were thinking what the heck did we get ourselves into.}
Austin and Ruby celebrating the purchase that day {before we knew everything wrong with it}!!
Here is the inside before we started working - we had to remove these shelves which took us about 8 hours of work trying to do. After getting about 10% done in that time, we called around for help and eventually paid someone with the real deal tools and they complete it in like an hour. Money well spent.
The only thing I could really do was tape and spray paint. A lot of the tools I didn't know how to work and Austin did! So my job was to direct {my favorite part of the job} and paint. I knew I wanted a rose gold/copper theme because I am totally in love with rose gold. Here is the spray paint we used:
This truck looked so bad and dirty like this for so long. Probably until the final week of renovations did it start coming together.
We also had to pay for the whole truck to be painted white. This was something we simply could not do by ourselves -- we didn't have the tools/knowledge/time to do this as we were both working full-time jobs and we only renovated on the weekends and at night. The truck had the old Aramark logo on it that was removed but the sun had dulled the paint around the logo so you could still see the logo. This is the incredible before and after of the paint job!!! This part in the reno was really exciting because the outside finally looked nice.
The ceiling was really tough. We researched a lot of ideas to do and eventually settled on this wallpaper because the roll was the exact width of the ceiling in between the bars which was dumb luck. However, after doing this 12 times, we almost died {me being dramatic}. Our arms were so sore holding up the paper for so long. This was v exciting to get finished.
This dang insulation. We wanted to make sure that this was insulated due to recommendations by others from our research. This would not stick to the metal and we literally got 20 types {again, dramatic, maybe 6} of glue. Even insulation glue did not work. We eventually duct taped it all across the sides of the truck because we knew it would be hidden by the wall eventually. WHATEVER! Still bugs me. We wasted many nights with this part of the project.
After the insulation was up, up went the walls! It was starting to come together. Austin also built the coverings for the truck wheel box thingamajigs. We knew we could use this for the shelving unit we had in mind and we just had to make then pretty. We also had to mark with tape where the walls had the rods that stuck out because we'd eventually have to screw into them and not the insulation. That work light in this picture was a life saver and more money well spent.
Here's a look at our jewelry wall renovation. We enlisted the help of a friend's business called Ludlow Barnwood. He did such a great job and added a little shelf unit to be in front of the weird ghetto passenger chair. Love the look of the barwood!
Electricity! An overlooked item in my original business plan. WHOOPS. My uncle owns Kocsis Electric and was A LITERAL LIFESAVER in this. He came over to see the truck and had ideas for what we could do to install, where to put outlets and how eventually how it would work when I was popped up so I could have lights in the dressing room and track lighting, etc. This was the most helpful part because this would have been an absolute nightmare without him. Austin and I helped him as he installed this and we learned a lot about the wiring and something like positive to negative or something like that.... haha.
Austin then helped my cousin with the flooring. We had to lay this down first to make sure everything even. Also had to make sure that underneath was water proof so no water would get in and cause damage. Again, learned a lot!
The floor is SO PRETTY! I was and am in love with the flooring. Another very exciting part! The tough part with this was the transition piece from the end of the truck and the flooring was a big bump so we had to look for awhile for one that would fit.
The wrap was done!! We worked with Andy Danielson from Fast Signs and he was very patient as I changed the design a million times!!
After the floor and walls were in, we were feeling pretty great. Austin then planned out the copper and what cuts he'd have to do.. This part we thought was easy, but took many many days because we would try it and then it wouldn't look right and we'd have to start all over. The copper is expensive too! Also, I found out later as I was building the storefront that there is a $10 EASY tool {linked below} to cut copper that didn't include the drill thing that makes sparks {As you can tell by my professional wording, I am very handy}.
MAGBIT 801.114C MAG801 Tube Cutter Copper/EMT 1/8-Inch - 1-1/4-Inch Cut
FINALLY! Looking dreamy AF!!!!!!!!
Shelving marble adhesive:
d-c-fix 346-0306 Decorative Self-Adhesive Film, Grey Marble, 17.71" x78" Roll
And final pic with clothes and everything. This picture is by Joshua Foo -- we met at Big Omaha at a pop-up and he's a super talented photographer.
So that's it in a nutshell. If you have questions, let me know! Such an exhausting but amazing process!
To celebrate Austin's 29th birthday, any purchase over $100 gets 29% off with code 'oldballs' -- HOORAY FOR TODAY. {also good tomorrow until 5pm}
GO PLAY,
Jill
