A friend of ours sent us a link to a 9/1/11 New York Times article on a super chic remodeled 1969 Airstream, owned by interior designer Rachel Horn and her husband. Wow! These are my kind of Airstream people. I have talked about how I haven’t been camping before (I’m high maintenance, what?!), but how I want to go “glamping” (glamorous camping). I share a love of design, even though I am not a designer. This is a true inspiration to me because I know how hard them must have worked to get the airstream into this condition. Any old airstream, even if it has been maintained through the years, will require some level of repair or remodeling. Our Airstream was built 5 years after theirs, but it shares the same layout; rear bath and middle twin beds. I can only hope our remodel will be this nice. Our budget is 1/10th of their original budget. Ours will still have some retro 70s details, but the goal is a sleek, modern interior. I can see this article inspiring a bunch of people to go out and buy Airstreams!
We knew we wanted ‘bullet’ style lights in the airstream, so I was tasked to find the light covers. I looked at vintage ones, but realized I could get a similar look with some Ikea hacking. We bought 2 $9.99 lights (similar to these) and took them apart. Matt reinstalled the lights and they are perfect! They are adjustable and cast a cool pattern on the walls.
I guess it is a good thing that I suck at measuring things. In an effort to get the sofa bed to fit where it is supposed to fit, we decided to take out the side living room cabinet with the 8 track player (*tear*). We had noticed a small area of rot in an inaccessible area behind the cabinet. So, we picked up from 23/32″ plywood (really Lowes, no 5/8″ plywood?!….geez) to repair the damage. We were able to replace the damaged plywood in 2 of the areas and used bondo by the door. Matt sanded the bondo and got dust evvveeerrrryyywwwhhhheeerrrreeee! I was so sad because I had been cleaning this airstream for weeks now (assuming demo was done!). He redeemed himself by thoroughly cleaning the sofa and floors. I primed and painted the wall that was behind the cabinet. Next, we have to caulk the edges of the floor where the patches are and install the new flooring over it.
We’re making progress with other projects. We ordered new blackwater and graywater tanks today. They are being custom made and should be here in 4-6 weeks. I feel like making a paper chain counting down the days because that is a long time to wait!!
We got the 1974 AC working for about 1 minute. We’re pretty sure it’s gonna be trash because A) It is impossible to find someone locally to work on it, B) It uses R-11 refrigerant, which is basically for sale at the price of gold, and, C) We could spend $450 and get a brand new one a lot easier than trying to fix this one.
Christie and I priced out fabrics for curtains. I am not in love with any of the patterns available locally, so I am researching some good modern fabrics online, but we might just go with $.99/yard muslin and possibly use it as a liner, once we find some rad fabric for curtains.
I cleaned the inside of all the kitchen cabinets….all I can say is EW. Gross. Yucky.
I’m thinking we could be ready for camping in about 30-45 days, depending on when our waste water tanks come in. Or, we can find a KOA with bathroom facilities and take airstreamy out sooner. Can’t wait!
Here are some photos of what we’ve been up to over the last few days:
This project sounds easier than it was. We bought a sofa bed ‘site-to-store’ from Walmart called the Atherton Home Manhattan Convertible Futon Sofa Bed and Lounger (Pearl color) for $269. It had great reviews and was the cheapest, nicest looking one we could find online. We picked up the sofa in a big box last night that barely fit in the back of Matt’s Expedition. We decided to wait for daylight to move the sofa into the airstream. We kept it wrapped and carefully wiggled it inside. Once inside we had to install the short little legs and figure out the ‘click-clack’ function. The sofa bed can be a sofa, double chaise lounge or a bed, with a couple clicks. We got it all put together and tried to squeeze it into the area it was supposed to go….it didn’t fit! Boo! I took measurements before buying the sofa to ensure it would fit, but what I didn’t account for was the slight curve at the front of the airstream, which strips us of 1-2″ of square space. The sofa base is square and can’t be changed. So, in the meantime, we have it set up as a double chaise. Matt is going to do some measurements to see if it will fit snugly, if we cut the countertop to the side back a little bit. It sure does make the space look cleaner and newer. Every project gets us a step closer to a modernized airstream. Don’t mind the filthy floors in the photos….we just finished laying them last night. We still have some trim pieces to install before they’re finished.
The airstream definitely needed new flooring; the existing vinyl flooring was worn and didn’t match the retro trailer. Once we started taking up the vinyl flooring, we realized it was not only glued down (and super sticky), but it was also nailed down. We spent a while sanding the sticky floor with 3 sanders and removed all the nails. I had originally thought of sanding the plywood smooth and painting a glossy white finish over it, but the time and cost associated with that project made me think more towards traditional floors. I really wanted white flooring, but Christie and Matt talked me into a dark wood laminate instead, which they said will be easier to keep clean. We got 7 boxes of the Tundra dark brown laminate from Ikea, which should be enough to cover the living area and bedrooms. The cost per/sq ft is $1.15, so it ended up being a very cost-effective improvement.
We are about 1/3 of the way done with the flooring. Matt hurt his back yesterday, so we are on a short hiatus until he recovers. I’ve been cleaning the inside of cabinets and working on little projects on the inside. I have to locate a light-weight modern/contemporary flooring for the bathroom and find a good fabric for the drapery this week. We have a new sleeper-sofa coming on Friday, which will get us another step closer to getting this trailer out of town. We also just got the owner’s/service manual in the mail. We are looking at dimensions for the blackwater and graywater tanks, so we can get those installed asap. This week is expected to be HOT…some forecasts say up to 116 degrees. Until we have our 30 amp circuit installed in the garage, we won’t be able to test and/or fix the AC unit. I am counting down the days to AC!!!
UPDATE 8/24/11: We have finished laying the flooring in the living space and bedroom area. We just have to install some trim pieces and transitions.
Here are some before and progress photos of the flooring:
Through my research online, it looks like Airstream put out brochures every year in the 1970s (and maybe beyond) called The Airstream Story. I found several 1970s copies of The Airstream Story and the photos are priceless. We plan to re-create at least a few of these photos.
The biggest eye sore on the airstream has been the oversized, after-market swamp cooler. I wanted it taken off the second it hit our driveway, but removing it required the skills of a talented metal guy. That’s where our friend Hot Rod Ron comes in. Ron came over today to help Matt seal the roof up, after Matt took off the evap cooler. After the existing metal was exposed under the evap cooler, Ron used a cut-off wheel to cut the metal straight, both on the roof and inside the ceiling. They then went to go pick up 2 sheets of aluminum, a tube of silicone and a rivet gun to patch the roof. Matt cut the aluminum sheets down to size and Ron walked Matt through the patch job. We have to get some insulation before we patch up the inside, but that will happen in the next day or so. Thanks Ron for all the help today. We owe you big time!
Yesterday our friend Christine and her son Espen came over. They came right before a big dust storm hit, so we had to close up the airstream while the storm rolled through. This morning we worked on installing new electrical outlets and covers to continue with the crisp white updates. We also took down the 70s wall speakers and spray-painted the yellowed plastic white. The speaker grills look like little chocolate bars…I wanna eat them. We have to connect a couple wires up to see if the 8 track player works. We’ll probably work on that tomorrow.
We washed the outside of the airstream yesterday and picked up our new beds and flooring from Ikea. Then our friend Mary stopped by to help us do some cleaning. A dance party always follows us. Meow!
Do you know how hard it is to find mattresses that fit in a 1974 Airstream Sovereign? Let me tell you….it’s REALLY hard. I bookmarked probably 20 different mattresses I found online, but they were either an inch to long, 3 inches too short or I couldn’t find matching depth. I needed 2 mattresses: 76″ x 29″ and 76″ x 34″.
After taking a trip to Ikea to buy laminate flooring, I decided to take their little tape measure thingy to all their mattresses and sofa beds. I struck out with like 9 out of 10 mattresses, then I came across the Beddinge Lovas sofa-bed. I didn’t need the frame, so I measured out the mattress, which is W 55 1/8″ x L 78 3/4″ x D 4 3/4″. There were 3 different mattresses available for the sofa bed. I bought the $90 foam one that comes with a gray cover. Additional covers are available for $79 each. Even though I wanted white beds, it’s not worth the extra money to get white covers. So, now gray is in our color scheme. I thought I would have to cut some of the foam out to shorten the length to 76″, but somehow the mattresses fit perfectly. They are like 2 little couches that can be laid flat to turn into a bigger sleeping space or used just as they are set up.
Check out the before and photos (I kinda staged them with pillows I already had, but the color scheme will be a bit different than this):
airstreamy 