Category Archives: home

How to Get Rid of Weeds: The Fast and Easy Way!

How to get rid of weeds- the fast and easy way!Ya’ll. I may have stumbled across something that changes the way I garden forever! Let me tell you a little story… I was pretty distraught this weekend. My garden, due to my negligence, was completely full of weeds and grass. So much so that I thought I might just have to abandon it and see if anything grows in between the weeds and grass. Continue reading

Why We Chose To Live in an Airstream (instead of a tiny house)!

Why we chose to live in an Airstream instead of a tiny houseHave you ever heard the saying, “You can have things fast, cheap or easy, but you can’t have all three?” I’m not 100% sure that’s the exact saying, but that iteration would be the short version of why we chose to live in an Airstream instead of a tiny house. But lucky for you, I’m going to tell you the long version of the story like a grandma who has had too much wine. Continue reading

Ask Melanie: Advice for Buying a Vintage Airstream


The last video I posted was our home tour back in August. Yikes. It’s been a while. If I’m being honest, I feel a lot more comfortable writing than I do speaking– especially in a video that will live forever online– but I’m trying to expand my horizons and maybe even expand my readership through a different medium.

Today I’m answering a question from a lovely reader via video. She wanted advice on how to buy a vintage Airstream. So I’m bestowing my infinite wisdom upon you all. Ha!

Please watch the video above, let me know if you like the video format and let me know if you’d like to see more videos in the future.

Thanks ya’ll.
love, love, love,
melanie

Custom Van Update

Custom Van Update

I just wanted to pop in to show you the progress we’ve made on our van. We hope to have the inside complete by Memorial Day. The outside is another, more expensive story! Continue reading

How to Create the Perfect Whitewash

How to create the perfect whitewash | asmalllife.com

We’re getting really close to having the inside of the van complete! Yesterday we put the doors on the kitchen cabinets and since we didn’t have enough old barnwood to create the doors, we used leftover boards from creating the walls of the van. George was insistent on a bright interior, but I didn’t want something that would show every speck of dirt either. That’s why we decided on a whitewash for the walls and cabinets. Today I’m sharing our nontraditional method for creating the perfect, antique whitewash. Continue reading

How to Heat And Cool an Airstream Travel Trailer

developmenT (1)
I’ve written before about how we stay warm in our Airstream travel trailer, but we did things a bit differently this year. Plus, the weather is changing– thank god– and I’ve been getting more questions about how we both heat and cool our Airstream. So, I thought it might be a good idea to do a little update on the subject. Continue reading

10 Reasons We Built (And Love!) Our Tiny House

10 Reasons We Built (And Love!) Our Tiny HouseA Small Life is more than just talking about Airstreams. A Small Life is about living a happier, more minimalistic lifestyle. That’s why today I’m branching out a bit with a post from my friend, Leah. Leah is a badass who has built her tiny home from scratch. I love her can-do attitude and her realistic approach to tiny house living– something I don’t often see online or on television. Today Leah is going to share the top 10 reasons she and her boyfriend built, not bought, their tiny house. Take it away, Leah!

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2016 Garden Plans

2016 Garden PlansI’m a little bit late to start my garden from seeds this year. But lately I’ve been feeling like I’m a little bit late to everything. That’s no excuse not to start planting and that’s no excuse not to start anything in life. Am I right?! Continue reading

Custom Camper Van Progress

Van Before Interior
George and I are currently building out a custom van for camping and travelling. We’d love to travel in the Airstream, but it’s large and cumbersome– especially for a short trip. We don’t have much time to work on the van, but we’ve made some progress and I want to share it with you today.

As a reminder, let’s take a look at the van before we started working on it. (See above and below!)Van Inside Before

Yikes.

And here’s the progress we’ve made… Continue reading

Ask Melanie: How do you deal with lifestyle criticism?

Dealing with Lifestyle Criticism

Lately I’ve been receiving a bunch of emails from readers asking specific questions about living full-time in an Airstream. Awesome! I love questions! Ask away! But I do like to address the questions on my blog so a wider audience can benefit from the answers. I also have a place for new readers in case you were looking for one.

Anyway, today’s question is from a reader who is shopping for Airstreams this week! And she wants to know… “Did you receive judgement and criticisms in the beginning?”

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