Category Archives: home

A Faster Progression: Airstream Update

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How long does it take to get paint out of one’s hair? I still have paint in my hair from two weeks ago and I’m doubtful that it will ever come out. It took way more coats of paint to cover the walls than we expected. We had to use a primer, two base coats and a top coat to cover the icky, dated walls. But at least now the airstream now has a floor and painting is complete. We also installed a “real” toilet. No creepy camper potties for us! (TMI?) Anyway, what I’m trying to say is “we made some serious headway, people.”

If anyone is curious, we ended up using Kilz Premium as the primer, Valspar Contractor Finishes 2000 in Ultra White as the base coat and Valspar Paint and Primer in Ultra White as the top coat. We also put a coat of Kilz on the floor before we laid it to ensure the floor was sealed. If you can’t tell, I want the Airstream’s interior to be as bright white as possible.

Bed Build ProgressOur budget is getting a little tight as we are progressing through this project. Flooring is expensive! We chose laminate flooring to keep the cost down and keep the airstream light in case we ever wanted to tow it. And again, we had to buy much more paint than I ever imagined. It can be cheap, fast or good, but it can’t be all three– is that how the saying goes? Le sigh.

bathroom in airstreamWe’ll definitely be reusing old lumber from previous projects and trolling Craigslist for free stuff. My friend already found us a 3/4 size fridge for $75 bucks on Craigslist and I’m hoping to score a few more steals! (Gabby, you are awesome!)

Does anyone have any tips for acquiring free fabric or lumber? I need both! Let’s hear them in the comments!

love,
melanie

Airstream Inspiration

I feel guilty about not being “productive” this weekend. Do you ever feel that way? Learning to relax is definitely something I need to work on.

Tropical Storm Andrea put a damper on our Airstream progress. This past weekend, we had planned to install the floor, but it rained crazy-hard. And when it wasn’t raining, it was a humid, unbearable 95 degrees. Gotta love living in the south!

But instead of staring longingly out of the window at the airstream, I decided to make myself at least feel productive by looking for inspiration for the Airstream’s interior.

A few of my favorites are below.

For the source, just click on the picture!

Airstream Kitchen

This is my ultimate inspiration. I love the clean lines and the bright white in this airstream.

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I adore this desk! It folds down for more space.  Gorgeous and genius. It’s the Natalie Portman of desks.

babmi ii bed silvertrailerThe storage under the bed in this Bambi airstream is so clever. And I just want to climb in that bed!

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Although it isn’t an airstream, I really admire the woodwork that went into this bus. I also love the pattern mixing in the textiles. Custom woodwork and pattern mixing are two aspects I want to incorporate into our own design.

For more of my airstream inspiration, follow my board on Pinterest!

love,
melanie

Airstream Renovations: A Slow Progression

The past few weekends have been a whirlwind of work. I’m not complaining but, man, I could use a nap… or two… or five. Here’s the progress we’ve made on the airstream.

lights before and afterThis picture accurately describes the first weekend we worked on the airstream. The lights at the bottom of the picture are indicative of how dirty everything was. The lights at the top were thoroughly cleaned by moi! We had no clue that the inside of the airstream was covered in mildew and mold. I guess it was hard to look past the ugly blue carpet!

I scrubbed every square inch of the trailer with a bleach mixture while George demoed. I even used a toothbrush to get in the cracks! A perfectionist’s dream! We had no idea the extent of the mildew, so we ended up demoing a lot more of the inside than we had imagined to just get everything clean. More demo means more building we will have to do, but at least I’ll sleep safely knowing we won’t be living in a petri dish.

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after primingGeorge cleaning out an old bee nest!

The weekend after the deep clean/demo, we primed! I think it already looks better with just a coat of primer on everything. What do you think?

Next weekend, we’re planning on painting the entire place a bright white. With such a small space, I think too much color on the walls would be overwhelming. And after seeing all that mold, I definitely want the place to look and be clean and bright.

There’s been a few obstacles, ahem, Mildew McMilderson, and our to-do list is a mile long, but we’re making progress. We won’t be moved in before I start my new job next week, but we’re figuring it out.

Living positive and living small,
love,
melanie

 

 

Airstream: The Before

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For the last few weeks George and I have been trying to agree on a name for our 1978 Airstream Sovereign. Bombshell Betty, The Stream Machine, El Enmascarado de Plata. None of the names have stuck. If anyone has any suggestions for a name for our future home, I’d love to hear it in the comments!

In the meantime, I snapped these “before” pictures. Get Clinton and Stacy in here because it he she is in serious need of a makeover.

 

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before6There she blows! Is that saying appropriate? I don’t know. I’ve lost my mind thinking about how much work we have to put into our new home before it is livable.

Believe it or not, the pictures are more flattering than the actual product. The carpet looks way worse in person and there is a distinct wet dog smell– dampness is a problem common in older airstreams.  She has also been sitting for the last 4 years without much attention, so we’re hoping a little lot of love will help.

When we bought her, we knew she was going to be a huge gamble and a hell of a lot of work. But I don’t know if we actually realized the time it is going to take to fix her up. We’ve got a list a mile long and it keeps growing!

Despite our growing to-do list, and I don’t want to jinx it, but I still feel fairly calm about it all. Talk to me in June when my new job starts and our home isn’t fixed, then we’ll see how I feel!

Any tips or names for our big beauty queen? Leave ’em in the comments!

love,
melanie

Living Small: The Beginning

airstreambefore1Remember how I told ya’ll living small was the answer? Well, when I meant small, I meant 31 feet of small!

This weekend George and I picked up our new-to-us home. We will live in this 1978 Airstream Sovereign for the next year to save money and get out of the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle. Is it an extreme scheme? Yes. Do I like to rhyme? Yes.

But seriously, folks, sometimes extreme schemes are necessary to make extreme changes. And you know what? I feel unusually calm about our plan– and I’m never calm about anything. I think this crazy ideas is actually going to work. By cutting out our major expense, rent, we will be able to save the majority of our paychecks. We will also cut out our water bill, (we’ll be using well water) and cut down on the electric bill.

We paid $5,000 for this beauty and we are planning on putting about $1,000 worth of renovations into her. We have already sold a bunch of unnecessary stuff to make up for the initial costs and in the next few weeks, we plan on selling a lot more at flea markets and online.

We will truly be living small and testing our ability to distinguish want from need. And of course, I’ll be posting our progress along the way.

Have you ever schemed up an extreme idea to save money? Did your plan work? I want to hear about it in the comments!

love and airstreams,
melanie

 

 

Be Brave, Live Small

be brave, live small

Terrified, excited, nervous, relieved– these past few weeks have been a roller coaster of emotion. My new job will force us to move and it has forced George and I to have long car-ride and late-night talks about our future.

Through those talks we’ve often discussed that world is not as it once was. I was told, we both were, that when we got out out of college the world would be waiting for us. As college graduates, no matter our major, someone would want us. They would pay us well. We would have healthy 401(k)s and retirement plans and we would soon be ready to buy a house. It’s the dream that our blue-collar parents did not easily achieve.

And as we are learning, it is not a dream we will easily achieve either. The world is not as it once was. An undergraduate education does not equate job safety– nor does a graduate education.  The job prospects in 2008 when I got out of school were abysmal– especially so for an English major and an Art major.

We hid out for a while in underemployment and in our parents’ houses. Then I hid out in graduate school where I was lucky enough to get a couple of assistantships, internships and a few very small scholarships. After a very long job search, George got an elementary school teaching position. We were thankful. And we were happy.

But our happiness was short-lived. We were again fearful when I graduated from my graduate program in 2011. The constant thought of how difficult my job search was in 2008 loomed in the background. I worried daily and we lived off canned soup and saltines. (Ultimately, our diet combined with the stress of looming unemployment made me very sick, but that is a story for another time.)

I applied to over 100 jobs and out of those 100 applications, I got one interview for a job at a small, rural community college. One job interview. But by some miracle, I got it. Again, I was thankful and relieved, but the job was in a rural area, hours away from any of our family and friends.

We were sad to leave the place that we had made our home for the past two years. We lived in a tiny, old apartment– only 400 square feet, but the rent was affordable, the area was walkable, and it was clean.

Moving to a rural area was hard for me. I still  struggle to find fresh fruits and vegetables at the grocery store and it is a 30 minute drive to the nearest Wal-Mart. Our rental choices in the area were slim and out of the two apartments available, we chose the more expensive choice because it was safe and didn’t have mold. Throughout it all, we made the best choices out of limited options.

During the time we’ve lived here, we’ve had some of the best and hardest times of our lives. Most importantly, we got married! But throughout the entire planning process, we struggled with the finances of a wedding. Ultimately, we made it out unscathed by being incredibly realistic with ourselves and I am so proud that we made that choice. But we ended up depleting our meager savings in the process.

We are also incredibly grateful to have very little debt. George and I worked throughout the time we were in school. (At one point, I had 3 jobs; it was kind of insane.) We got some scholarship help and our very middle class families helped us too. We know that we are incredibly lucky. And we know that we are better off than the majority of graduates.

Despite all of our luck and hard work, we still can’t get ahead. We still live paycheck to paycheck. If our rent and other bills stay the same, we won’t be able to buy a house in the foreseeable future.  George will never be able to pursue his art full-time. We won’t be able to afford a vacation or adopt a dog. We won’t get out of the cycle.

But we think we may have found a way to get ahead. To lead the life we want to lead, debt-free. And the answer is to live small.

For the next year, George and I will live smaller than we’ve ever lived before. Our budget will be smaller and our house will be much smaller (more details on this later!). But our bravery, our bravery will be big.

Have you ever had to take drastic measures to get out of the debt or break the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle? I genuinely want to start an honest conversation about this in the comments.

living small but loving large,
melanie

How to Dye Jeans Black

Text overlay over the before and after of dyed jeans reads: How to dye jeans black.

Dyeing your old jeans is a great way to extend the life of your garment. It’s also way more sustainable than buying new. And it’s great way to refresh your black jeans if they are faded, like mine. Once you do your first dye project, you’ll be hooked. It’s way easier than you think it will be. Even if you’ve never journeyed into the wonderful world of tie-dye as a kid, you can figure this one out.

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Reclaimed Coat Hook

Coat Hook
Having very little money to decorate has forced George and I to get creative when it comes to the home items we need. I’ve shared my secrets to thrifting, so today I’m going to show you a little bit of how we reclaim items.

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We desperately needed a coat rack for our tiny entryway. I hate the look of coats thrown over chairs and scarves hanging on doorknobs. We found a piece of old barn wood, a horseshoe and two spigots in (what else?!) an old barn at my in-laws house. All we had to do after that was screw the horseshoe and the spigots onto the piece of wood and instant coat hook!

Kinda looks like something from Pottery Barn, no?

Have you ever used something unconventional to decorate your home? I’d love to see it, so leave the links in the comments!

love,
melanie

Home Tour: Bedroom

DSC_1028It feels like it has been raining for the last month. I have the hardest time getting out of bed when it is raining. Rain pitter pattering on my tin roof is one of the best sounds in the world. Since I’ve spent so much time there lately (and I’ve cleaned a ton!), I thought I’d share my boudoir with you! I don’t think it will ever get any cleaner, so I had to document the occasion.

DSC_1022George made the moon backdrop for our wedding. He free-handed it. That man is amazing.
DSC_1023 DSC_1024My dad made this nightstand in woodshop when he was 16. He gave it to my grandma, and after she passed, he gave it to me. It is one of my most precious things.
DSC_1026 DSC_1033I love our little bedroom and our home, but I do hope spring will show up soon! I need to get out of this house!

love,
melanie