Super easy window screens and bed

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flowerygirlfl

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I'm guessing many of you scour youtube and other places for conversion ideas and I found two really great ones and another that I think will be great. I purchased a 2014 Toyota Sienna which will be used occasionally for cross country camping trips. I planned on making window screen but had some worries about magnets scratching my paint, even if wrapped in duck tape. I saw a video yesterday where the guy made window screens using inexpensive gutter screens. I picked up a couple at Lowes and they are going to work great and be really easy to use, at $4 per window, they even have a slot that fits over the window and then the top sticks into the opening at top. I used two so I could open the window wider, see photo below.

A good nights sleep is very important to me and I need to have an actual bed. On another video, I saw a couple use black plastic shelving units as a base for their mattress. I picked up a black, 5 shelf unit at Walmart yesterday for $40+ and each shelf can handle 200 lbs. The dimensions are 24" x 36" so if I use three shelves, I can fit a twin mattress on it with about an inch overhang all the way around. It is inexpensive, light weight and easily removed. I plan on zip tying them together to add even more stability. I also have lots of room to store stuff underneath and plan on picking up some plastic under bed drawers for that area. I may cut the legs down a little to have more headroom.

Lastly, I was super annoyed when I removed the middle seats of the minivan only to find that a stupid trolley is left behind in the tracks on the floor! While at Lowes, I found a 4x8 piece of styrofoam about 2.5-3" thick with a foil-like backing for $9. I am going to pickup a sheet and press it down over the floor and cut out the imprints that will be left behind by the offending trolley and then cover with either peel and stick tiles or a thin carpet. It will be fairly lightweight and again, easy to take out when I am not camping.

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You'll save a bunch in gas $$ with that lightweight set up, good job.
 
I imagine you could paint those "gutter screens" black and they'd practically disappear on alreday tinted windows........coolio deluxo !
 
The gutter screens seem to leave a gap. The screen hole size doesn't appear to be noseeum, so it may let some small critters through.
 
RVTravel said:
The gutter screens seem to leave a gap. The screen hole size doesn't appear to be noseeum, so it may let some small critters through.

Yes, there is a gap in the photo. I just threw them up there to try them out. I put some white duck tape on the side to close up the gap. I figured I would test them and then add noseeum if needed.
 
Ken in Anaheim said:
I imagine you could paint those "gutter screens" black and they'd practically disappear on alreday tinted windows........coolio deluxo !

I like the idea of painting them black and think I will do so--thanks!
 
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