Guess what, y’all? Our Airstream found a friend. Makes my heart all happy. Andrew and Erin {my brother and sister-in-law} found one in Conway and they bought it! The weekend after they brought it home we took both campers down to Lakewood at the beach. It was a fun weekend and everything went well. Of course, since then they’ve discovered some floor rot and the front section of their camper is in pieces and being replaced. That’s the beauty of a vintage camper?? Maybe? Yeah, we’ll say that so it makes us feel better. Anyway, it’s been a year since we got our Airstream and in that first post where I showed it to you I promised to document all updates that we made here on the blog. And in keeping with my tradition of saying I’m going to document things here and then not doing it, there have been no more Airstream posts. Sorry about that. But there has been work! Here are a few of the things we have done. If you need to be reminded of how it started, here’s the first Airstream post: https://cmsmithportraits.com/blog/?p=19816
And now…it’s looking much better and more “ours”. It still has a ways to go, but we’re definitely making progress.
Cute little Etsy finds
Cammie, Clara Beth’s baby doll, still lives here in the camper. Sometimes I’m jealous of her.
We replaced all of the faded maroon curtains (cute as they were) with these blue ones and threw my favorite vintage quilt over the couch instead of recovering it. I love this quilt and I love that I can throw it in the washing machine after a trip.
Of course we have a little portrait wall. Actually, I have big plans for this wall but it just hasn’t happened yet. Until then, I just grab three portraits from our staircase gallery before we head out on each trip. Makes it feel a little more homey to me. All cabinets and walls have been painted white and we took down the old {dirty, brown, cracking, plastic} door divider thing that separated the front of the camper from the back. We just put up a curtain in its place and it’s worked well.
We replaced the floors. I do want to get a few little rugs but sizing has been difficult.
These Coke crates hold board games, card games, and art supplies.
The best change that we’ve made: bunk beds! We were planning on having someone do this for us {shout-out to Lee Burris, the guy we call on for all carpentry stuff!} but he was busy with other jobs and couldn’t get to it before a Disney trip that we had planned. Our kids simply do not share beds. They fight, no one sleeps, and it’s not worth it. So that meant that for the entire trip CB and I would be in a bed and Mak and Collin would be in a bed. Collin wasn’t a fan of that idea so he set to work building the bunks himself. And it worked! As he says, they’d be much better looking if Lee had done them, but they get the job done. The bottom bunk still pulls out into a double bed, so if we ever bring a cousin or friend along there’s a place for them to sleep.
This is the other big change and Lee did do this one. Remember, this is where the big rusty oven was. I don’t cook inside the camper {can’t stand the smell of food in a small space}, so we really didn’t need it. Lee pulled the oven out and rebuilt a HUGE cabinet in its place. We can fit the crockpot, Keurig, toaster, and griddle in here! He also replaced the countertop with wood, and replaced the faucet. I still need to replace cabinet knobs.
This is the front couch that turns into a bed for Collin and me. It’s supposed to be a double but he somehow fixed it to where we can pull it out a little further and use one of the cushions from the back bed to make it larger. Not quite a queen but almost. And if we ever need to pull out the bottom bunk in the back then our bed has to go back to the smaller size, because that extra cushion is the one that we use.
So that’s what has been done so far. We still have an entire overhaul to do on the bathroom, but one day we’ll get there. This camper (and our pop-up before it) has absolutely been the BEST purchase we have made for our family. Sometimes I think we’d all rather live here!
And now back to Lakewood with the cousins. It was COLD {What is UP with this Spring?!?} but we had a great time. And most importantly, Andrew, Erin, Caroline, and Lilah Drew fell in love with camping too.
Get ready for photo OVERLOAD. LOVE these cousins!! Now to get Reeves and Rebecca a camper so they can all come along…=)
Here’s Andrew and Erin’s. Theirs is polished on one side!! LOVE, LOVE.
Dirty camping hands collecting seashells. More love.
Recording in her Nature Journal. Charlotte Mason would be proud.
Silly faces with Uncle Cowin
Love this Baby Girl! Excuse the chapped nose, poor baby was getting over a cold.
HAHAHA. Dork. Love him!!
We went out on the beach for 37 seconds. It was unbearably windy and COLD.
We made campfire potatoes and charred them beyond recognition. Yummy.
Ice Cream time!!!
LOVE!
His favorite thing about camping has to be bike riding. He’s given so much more freedom to ride at a campground than he is at home and he loves every part of it.
He’s growing up FAST. Lightening speed fast. Do you realize that this summer marks his halfway point summer in our home? We’ve had him for nine summers and have only nine more to go. Talk about a wake up call to make moments count.
Campfires! By far, my favorite part of camping.
Like Miss CB’s jamies?
The playground at Lakewood is always a favorite…
Oldest and youngest cousin. Sweetness!
And finally, Family Night at the campground.
My boy won the limbo contest! Limbo Champion for ALL of Lakewood {for one night! ;)}. So proud.
So there you have it! Can’t wait for another trip. By the way, comments haven’t been working on the blog for about a year now. Not sure what that’s all about!
