airstream land yacht restoration

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Airstream Renovation Tour: Before and After

After months and months (and months!) of pouring our days and nights into this renovation we are finally finished!

Both the interior and exterior of our 1972 Airstream Sovereign Land Yacht came to us in pretty pristine shape - eight track and all!

It was so loved and taken care of by the family that owned it before us that we wanted to make sure we did the renovation right. We owed that much to them at least.

As we’ve talked about before, we had lots of reasons for downsizing from our 37’ 5th wheel to a vintage Airstream . The biggest being that we fell in love with boondocking (camping without hookups) and wanted an RV that was built from the ground up with that in mind. I think it’s safe to say that Airstreams have always been built with the goal of exploring off the beaten path, even if ours did need some upgrades for true off the grid living.

We also wanted to make a legitimate family home out of this trailer. Something that all 6 of us could live comfortably in full time and that would last another 45 years. Not just a showcase of beautiful interior design without practical functionality. Afterall, this is our HOME, not a showroom.

This drove us to spend hours upon hours of research on everything from solar panels and lithium batteries to water heaters, gray tanks, cabinetry latches, hooks and internet boosting antennas. Every single part of this Airstream has been thought and re-thought through so many times I am just happy not to have to think about all this stuff anymore.

Before we show the final results, you may want to read through the process.

• Weeks 3 & 4
• Weeks 5 & 6
• Weeks 7 & 8
• Weeks 9 - 13
• Weeks 14 - 17
• Weeks 18 - 19
• Week 21 & 22
• Weeks 23 & 24
• Weeks 25 & 26
• Planning Solar & Electrical
• Installing Solar & Electrical
• Cost Breakdown

Now that you're all caught up - here we go. The official Airstream renovation tour. Or as we like to call him - Metalhead (we’re Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle nerds) .

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Dinette + Master Bedroom

I'll never forget the look on the kids' faces that first time we went to go look at the trailer! They didn't have to say a word. They were not impressed. We kept trying to tell them our plans but they lacked the ability to see past the yellow lights, oak laminate cabinets and carpet. Just have faith little ones! We're about to make a major transformation.

If you have 6 people in a 31’ trailer you are going to have multi-use spaces. There is no way around that. The original floorpan had a couch up front, but when we bought it there were two recliners and not much else. A small table folded up from the wall, but it was only big enough for a couple of people. It all had to go!

Removing the original end cap and replacing it with aluminum really opened up the headspace in here.

We built the seating from the door all the way back to the nose. Every inch of the area underneath the seats is storage, with our massive lithium battery bank setup in the front...

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...two lid based storage areas on the side, and drawers that pull out on the end. One holding Jonathan’s work and photography gear and other for all of our shoes!

In the middle is a beautiful solid walnut table made by hand to fit the notches in the seating just right so that the marine pedestal lets it set gently down as we transform it from our eating and work area into...the master bedroom!

Or as we call it - a really, really big bed! The surrounding cushions rearrange to fill the entire space. A couple of blankets, sheets and pillows and you’re ready to hit the sack or pile on for family movie night. Yeah, the frame of this thing is built like a tank.

Standing Desk Workstation

Directly across from the front door is Jonathan’s standing desk area . A thin cabinet chase covers solar wires we needed to run from the roof and provides a small bit of storage. Next to that is our slide out trash can - the top of it doubles as a mini-desk to hold the laptop, keyboard, mouse and other items.

We mounted Jonathan’s Apple Cinema Display with a Newer Technology NuMount Pivot Wall Mount . This thing is amazing. The range of movement is so helpful in this tiny space. We can get it back up against the wall so it doesn’t stick out at night, or bring it all the way around the other side of the wall ( into the kitchen ) if he needs to work while everyone is at the table.

Remember I mentioned piling on the bed to watch a movie? The mounted monitor can extend at least 18” and moves up and down so we can use it as a TV. High five for multi-use!

The other piece to this puzzle was a small desk that the keyboard and mouse would go on that would be standing height. We looked at all sorts of options - even considered buying a second Numount Pivot Wall Mount. The difficult part was that this whole standing desk needed to be out of the way when not in use. And sturdy enough to withstand banging on a keyboard and using a mouse.

Someone jokingly mentioned that Jonathan should use a music stand - remember those from music class in school? But the idea of a stand stuck with him. He searched and searched and searched the internets for a pre-built solution and came up with nothing.

Finally, he found a company that made computer tables for camera tripods . He didn’t really like any of their specific products, but they sold their mount separately so he grabbed one of those, used the same walnut from our kitchen table and made his own. Their mount had 4 screw holes in the top so we had to match those up and get some longer screws, but it works perfectly, and this gives him multiple options.

He can slip the table off, compact the tripod and stick it in a drawer at night when not in use. Plus, he can put his laptop and mouse on it if we don’t want to use the inverter and run the monitor. Having the “table” part of his desk easily movable makes it simple to adjust depending on what the rest of the family is doing - and it only takes a few seconds to move things around.

The wall behind the monitor houses a lot of nerdy internet boosting gear that you can read about later :)

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Kitchen & Pantry

We ended up keeping basically the same 1972 kitchen layout, but made it much more usable. Everything was so dark and cluttered in here before, so my goal was to open up the space and make it functional for full-time living. Let's take a peek at what it looked like before.

When we designed our kitchen, I wanted to have as much counter space as I could have since we do cook most of our meals in here. Right next to Jonathan’s office area is our ‘pantry’ side of the kitchen. We have a small NovaKool fridge/freezer combo that is plenty big enough to store a weeks worth of food for all 6 of us. Most of the items that we use on a weekly/daily basis are in the upper pantry cabinets.

Below we have baking items, bowls and our pots and pans and still have room for extra food storage. I wanted to leave a good portion of this side of the countertop usable. We opted for one side to have a barrister door to close off the clutter of charging devices, and one side to remain open for optimal food prep space. I especially love ‘the drawer’ as we call it. It is huge and can hold a lot of commonly used items.

Across from the pantry side is the 'kitchen' side. The original plan was to not have an oven and just use a double burner stovetop. I am so glad we changed our minds. I love my stove/oven! We went with an Atwood because I just couldn’t shell out the cash for the marine stove I really wanted. Still looks pretty nice, though! But most importantly it works great!

One of my favorite things about the kitchen is that we ended up having to raise the countertop height so that we could clear the fridge on the other side. I didn't want it to feel unbalanced so we raised both sides in the kitchen. A higher countertop just means more storage underneath and I love the extra height! Win/Win!

When looking for a sink I knew I wanted one deep bowl. I am in love with this Ruvati sink . The 16 gauge steel sink is a beast and came with a rack in the bottom to prevent scratching. It is the perfect size for an IKEA dish drain we got on a whim. I was so excited when it was a perfect fit!

The Kraus faucet we picked goes so perfectly with the Ruvati sink. I wanted something that could swivel 180 degrees so that when we are in the middle of nowhere we can just open the kitchen window and turn the faucet for a quick outdoor shower! Again...multi-use for the win!

As for the countertops. I have a love/hate relationship with them. I love the look of them, but I hate the fact that they scratch so easily. Think twice before you go with a solid surface, especially a dark color like ours. They are ridiculously heavy as well. If I had to do it over, I think I would have done butcher block top. Still heavy, but way less maintenance. Granted, the scratches do buff out, but should sliding a Kleenex box on a counter really scratch it?

You may have noticed these bird hooks I have in our kitchen!

I had picked those out long ago and knew I wanted to incorporate them into our design. I get asked so many times about where they are from. I got them from a company called At West End, but they are also available on Amazon !

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I love our kids room!

We started out with the twin beds on each side from the original floor plan.

But we wanted to open that space up and have more than a 12 inch walk space. We went with narrower beds and more storage! At first, we considered moving the bathroom to the middle so that the kids could have the back of the Airstream all to themselves, but I am glad we didn’t do that. Moving the bathroom drains and plumbing and figure out support for the beds along the curve in the back would have been too complicated.

Turns out my sister is a tiny house genius and had a great idea to make bunk beds that could be fold down into couches during the day. The tricky part was getting the height right and working around the wheel wells and windows. We turned to my dad and knew he would be able to come up with a plan that would work. And he nailed it!

We braced around the the wheel wells to support the lower bunks and the walls on either side and ribs in the frame to support the top ones. They are so sturdy and each kids has plenty of room for sleeping. The big kids took the bottom bunks and the little kids finally got their turn on the top bunks! They are all happy which makes us happy.

It's just an added bonus that we can flip the top bunks down to make the beds into couches for the ultimate party room!

Each bed is equipped with Beddy's bedding (to keep things nice and tidy) , their own LED reading light as well as their own 120v plug and a 12 volt plug with USB insert . This means they can charge their own devices without hogging all the ports and they are loving their own spaces.

Above the top bunks and below the bottom bunks we crammed as much storage as we could - 14 cabinets and drawers all together! Working around the wheel wells and outside storage compartments was a little tricky, but we figured it out.

We did install two hooks on the kids side of the kitchen walls so that we can put up a curtain to divide the space for a little privacy.

I am so happy with the way our bathroom turned out seeing as we didn’t have a plan for it until the week we began building it. We knew we wanted to get as much storage in there as possible. What we started with felt so cramped, but we knew we didn't have much space to work with. Hopefully with cleaner lines and a simpler design, we could achieve the feel of it being bigger than it actually is.

First we put in a huge storage cabinet to the right that houses all our clothes and extra towels. The lower section is where our water heater and electrical wiring comes into the trailer so really we are only able to use two-thirds of it - but it’s a huge cabinet and really stores a bunch of useful items.

Keeping our clothes in these eBags packing cubes has been a game changer! Everything has a place and it's super easy to keep our clothes to a minimum and organized.

In front of the window is our vanity. It’s tiny, but we spruced it up with the same countertop we used in the kitchen, a basin sink and modern faucet . Underneath, Dad made some custom shelves to go around the plumbing and we can keep our cleaning supplies there as well as storing some coco coir for our composting toilet .

To the left of the vanity is our shower . We went super practical on this. We didn’t want to spend the money or time fabricating some tiled masterpiece that would require the entire bathroom to get wet anytime anyone took a shower. We knew we could have done it and made it look amazing, but when it comes down to it, the functionality wins over being super pretty and impractical for our families needs.

Getting the shower to fit the curve in the back was kind of ridiculous, but it turned out great. We were even able to use the empty space behind the shower to hang a laundry bag so all our dirty laundry is out of sight.

Having this shower curtain rod really helps in the tiny space as well. We are able to pull out the bar when we are showering so that we can have a bit more elbow room to wash our crazy hair...I mean, have you seen this family’s hair? Out of control!

The hardest part for me in the bathroom is that we didn’t really have a place to hang towels that wouldn’t be visible. I agonized over it for a few days until I just gave up and we put hooks in the only places we had. 6 people, 6 hooks plus one awesome giraffe hook for our hand towel at the sink.

Being that the door is transparent, we added a little curtain that can be put up for changing. I think the kids appreciate that!

And of course we had to bring along our measuring ruler! I made this when the kids were little and it has all their heights marked on it. Literally the only space this would fit is on this bathroom wall. We had to cut a bit of it off, but it works!

It may not be the most beautiful bathroom renovation, but it’s functional and I love it.

Oh! I almost forgot to tell you about our toilet! I’m sure you’re dying to know. We choose to go with a composting toilet because we mostly want to camp off grid, PLUS we didn’t want to have to deal with a black tank ever again! We had to deal with the stinky slinky in our 5th wheel and we knew we didn’t want to do that with our Airstream.

Going with our composting toilet allowed us to turn our existing black tank into a gray tank ( yes, we got new tanks ). We also added a second gray tank thus doubling our storage. With nearly 40 gallons of gray tank storage we can be out in the wild for quite a while before needing to dump! We have been using our composting toilet for a little over a month now and we can say that it is much better than dealing with a black tank. Thanks for a great product, Nature’s Head !

**UPDATE** It's been over two years using the composting toilet now and we LOVE IT, just wish we would have plumbed the urine diverter to go straight into the gray tank.**

Be sure to check out the video at the top of the page for a full walk through of our renovation!

See you down the road!

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Ashley Longnecker is the fiercely independent tattooed and dreaded half of Tiny Shiny Home. She's a woodworker, photographer and maker of delicious baked goods. She loathes schedules and makes every day an adventure.

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1975 Airstream Land Yacht "Silver Moose"

The 1975 Airstream Land Yacht Sovereign was bought as a project. The previous owners has started a renovation and abandoned the project. We completely gutted the interior, repaired the frame, installed a new subfloor, all new plumbing and electrical. The interior birch skins were applied to make it look like a Northern Maine cabin. Next came the maple cabinets and custom corian countertops, custom accents, like the Airstream logos, speaker grills and screen door protector were installed. It features two LED tv’s, a touch screen double din radio with surround sound, an electric fireplace, and low voltage LED lighting.

Size: 31ft Year: 1975 Make/Model: Airstream Land Yacht Sovereign

A Gleaming Airstream Borrows Space-Saving Tips From Boat Design

Having flipped 11 houses—and lived in all of them—in the span of a decade, Annie Jomphe and Martin Readman of Canada–based design/build firm Sitka Concept are used to getting their hands dirty to finish a job. So, when the couple discovered that a 1976 Airstream Land Yacht they purchased sight unseen was more run-down than anticipated, it wasn’t enough to shake their resolve.

"We purchased this trailer online without seeing it," Annie says. "She was in Ontario while we were in Florida. When we picked her up, at first I was a bit discouraged. The interior was a mess and the exterior needed a lot of work/love!"

Annie and Martin in mid-restoration. The couple purchased the secondhand Airstream after spending two years at sea in a boat with their three children.

The dynamic duo rolled up their sleeves and—with some help from Martin’s father—spent three months to transform the decrepit vehicle into a comfortable and stylish home for their family of five.

Peanut is a 31-foot-long 1976 Airstream Land Yacht. Sitka Concept successfully restored the exterior to a mirror-like shine.

Shop the Look

The living area is located in the front of the Airstream. It includes a full kitchen with a fridge, sink, and propane range; movable benches with integrated seating; a walnut folding table that matches the countertop; and upper shelving for dry food storage in mason jars.

"We thought about making every inch of space efficient, organized, and easy to access," Annie explains, noting that achieving a sense of airiness was important to the family. "We designed the Airstream regarding the possessions we had to put in, so everything has its dedicated place."

Large windows, smart storage solutions, and a minimalist aesthetic helped achieve the open and airy feeling the couple craved.

The kitchen features a Blanco Silgranit sink with a Lyty drinking water purifying faucet and a Hiendure built-in soap dispenser. The counter is made of walnut.

"To our surprise, the inside four corners of the walls, made of triangular painted panelling, took the longest to do," Annie says. "It took about  three to four weeks to complete them. At one point, we thought of changing the design, but persistence and patience brought it together and those corners are a piece of art in themselves!"

To comfortably fit five people into 200 square feet of space, Annie and Martin rearranged the existing layout and introduced an entirely new floor plan anchored on one end by the living spaces and on the other end by the master bedroom.

A view from the front of the Airstream towards the angled bathroom door in the rear. Note the small closet, perfect for hanging coats and boots, slotted between the door and the wood stove.

Surrounded by black slate panels, the stainless steel Kimberley wood stove provides extra warmth in addition to the propane heater.

The couple incorporated space-saving tips gleaned from living on a sailboat for two years—including ample hidden storage and moveable furnishings. Custom furnishings, such as a foldout dining table and cabinetry that sits snug against the curved walls, were essential for maximizing space and achieving a streamlined look. The family also takes care to avoid overloading the shelves and cupboards to maintain an airy and spacious atmosphere.

The "kids' area" in the heart of the Airstream features three bunk beds fitted with twin-size IKEA foam mattresses, built-in storage, and privacy curtains. The round cutouts reference the Airstream's rounded shape and the portholes in ships.

"The overall decor was pure white with dark grey for the kid’s area to make the area feel spacious," the couple says. "Dark wood was incorporated for a contrast accent."

The bathroom, a work desk, and three beds—two bunk beds on one side and a single bed on the other—with integrated storage are located in the middle of the Airstream.

The laundry machine is strategically centered above the axles for optimal weight distribution.

"‘Peanut’ is our first Airstream restoration," the couple says. "We are quite proud of the results and have bought two different Airstream trailers in the last week for restoration. We are so eager to start." 

A small office area provides storage space for paperwork, computers, and electronic devices—including control panels for the solar panels, water tank level, and electrical system.

Annie and Martin's bedroom in the rear is furnished with a double bed that leans towards the bathroom wall to provide full outside views when sitting.

The master bedroom is surrounded by plenty of storage—from under-bed storage to custom cabinets integrated with a long countertop that adds a sense of spaciousness.

The bathroom is outfitted with a Nature's Head composting toilet, stainless steel sink, and custom cabinets. The countertop and curved wall are built from cedar. The LED lighting strips add a modern touch.

The walls feature Quebec Hexagone Series Arctic White tiles, while the bathroom floors are lined with Hexagone Verona White. The cabinet is built from Baltic birch plywood.

The full shower, surrounded by ceramic tiles, is connected to an on-demand propane water heater.

The Airstream's original layout.  

The Airstream's new layout.

Related Reading: Before & After: A Classic Airstream Becomes a Modern Airbnb 

Project Credits:

Design/Build: Sitka Concept  /  @sitkaconcept

Upholstery: Concept Genesys

Photography: Monica Jackson

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1978 Airstream Sovereign Land Yacht Remodel

You’ll notice we didn’t restore the Airstream to original. We’re not purists and we only had a budget of $1,000 to fix her up. (We bought her for $5,000, more about our buying story here .) We went slightly over budget due to the amount of paint we needed. We severely underestimated that. Unlike many of the Airstreams you might see online, we also live in this thing. Full-time. We tried to keep the integrity of our original Airstream, but tailor it to fit our needs.

When you enter the Airstream and look left you’ll see what is in the picture above. We tore out the Cookie Monster blue carpets and replaced them with laminate flooring. We created a window in the wall beside the kitchen to open up the space, replaced the gas fridge, George built shelves, a desk and a bench for napping! We replaced all the window screens. ( Here’s how to do that .) We also tore out some of the overhead compartments to open up the space. My main job was painting. The Airstream had gas heat which can leave sticky gross stuff on the walls and we think maybe someone smoked in here, so it was my job to thoroughly clean everything (bleach was my best friend), then coat pretty much everything in Kilz and cover it with a bright white paint and primer. In some places it took four coats. On the storage compartments and the weird plastic spots, we used Rust-oleum gloss white spray enamel. On the countertops we used a custom-color oil-based enamel. Overall, the paint has held up pretty well. Some spots have needed to be touched up, but I think the white paint was the most transformative aspect of the remodel.

If you look to the right in the Airstream, you’ll see our spacious queen-size bed. To me, a big bed was more important than a dining room, so we tore out the benches, and George built us a custom bed frame. Read more about tips on creating that  here . I also made a ton of pillows because… luxury. (Here’s how I made the pillows here .)

I didn’t have a great photo of the “before” oven because we found a huge mouse den in there and I had to get it out ASAP.  We use a convection oven and two burners for cooking. It works out pretty well. There’s no Thanksgiving meals going on in here, but our oven fits a full-size pizza, so I’m happy.

If you walk through the kitchen and turn back around, this is the view you’ll see. You’ll notice we took off the covers from the kitchen cabinets and replaced them with super-cute curtains that my mom made. From here, you’ll also get a better view of the custom bench and drawers we have for hiding all kinds of crafts and art supplies. George crafted the drawers out of barn wood from the tobacco barn that is on our property. The storage area also houses our large record collection. When we were purging all of our worldly goods, we decided vinyl is one thing that we just couldn’t live without.

Oh my god, the bathroom, the bathroom. I’m not kidding when I say that I was scared to even go in the bathroom before the remodel. That camper toilet scared me. A real toilet was priority 1 on my list. Cleaning this bathroom really made all the difference. The “wallpaper” was actually really pretty under the 10 layers of dirt. Then again, we painted with oil-based enamel on the countertops, replaced the lights and did this fun, washi tape design on the mirror. (Here’s that how-to .)

Then the shower! Oh my. Still to this day, George and I have no idea why someone would try to spray paint a shower blue (to match the carpet?!?!). To remedy this situation we took the easy way out and used a kit that we found at Lowe’s . I’d love to one day have a luxurious tub or at least a prettier shower, but sometimes the cheap way wins. We also purchased and installed a very nice shower head.

You can’t see it in these pictures, but we started off with the floors all laminate, but had to replace the bathroom floor when our hot water heater started leaking. That was unfortunate, but it’s been the only big issue that we’ve run into (fingers crossed).

This remodel was a whole hell of a lot of work. George and I have thought about doing it again, but we’re not mentally (or physically) prepared for it. Now that you’ve seen the before and afters, I’ll be sharing more glamour shots tomorrow!

Happy Airstream Week!

love, melanie

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36 thoughts on “ 1978 Airstream Sovereign Land Yacht Remodel ”

You have done so much! It looks so cozy, and clean. You’ve both done a wonderful job. Congrats on the one year milestone. 🙂

Thank you! I wish it was always this clean 🙂

It looks absolutely amazing! I love the white with the splashes of color from fabrics. The rustic wood drawer fronts are terrific. Such a light and bright living space! Wonderful!

Thank you so much!

All I can say is WOW! It has such a fresh clean look now which makes it look more spacious. I am glad you were able to save the wall paper too, I love it. You guys did an amazing job!

Thanks so much! I think it makes it feel more spacious too!

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I love what you guys did! It really makes me want to go out a buy an airstream and live a small life! How do you guys do laundry? Do you own the land you are parked on? Have you traveled with it yet?

Thank you, Dana! 1. We do laundry at relative’s houses. 2. We live on family land 3. We haven’t traveled with it yet. We like to think of it as homesteading. I have a regular day job, so I have to be at work on the weekdays. But we’d love to travel with it one day.

First off….I’m in love with your air stream, I’m jealous. I have an airstream and right now though original its still sticky walled! ( as most of the old ones are) Was yours? Did the bleach take it off? How did u prep the surfaces you spray painted? Any help is greatly appreciated…. As I’m trying to talk my other half into doing this to mine 🙂

Holly, the bleach-water mix did take most of the yucky stuff off the walls. The surfaces we spray painted (like the roll-top cabinets) we cleaned really well with a bleach-water mixture, then lightly sanded and then cleaned again. On the walls we Kilzed everything– some places more than once, then used a paint/primer in one. It still took about 4 coats in come places. It was a painful process, but worth it.

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Hi, this looks great! We just purchased the exact same year and model. Question: did you guys reseal the windows and if you did how did that go?

We did, we just used regular, old caulk. Luckily, I love caulking because it needed a lot!

Love love love! I would be so happy to one day have my own “land yacht”!

What do you all do for electricity?

we’re plugged into the grid! we sit on a plot that was once home to a conventional trailer.

Love what you did with your Airstream!!

Thank you so much! I appreciate that!

Hi Melanie- I have a wooded lot in north florida and want to live in my Avion (very similar to an airstream.). I have been advised to put it on a concrete slab but really would prefer to stay away from that if possible. Is your airstream permanently parked and is it on a concrete slab? If not how do you protect the undercarriage from rotting?

Elizabeth, we aren’t on a concrete slab, but we did raise the Airstream up a bit to protect the tires with concrete blocks. We don’t worry too much about it rotting– it is metal, after all. Although it might be different in Florida with the rain & humidity that you have there. Every few months we crawl under there and make sure everything is ok. We’ve been there for 2 years and had no problem.

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Hi Melanie.. your airstream looks great!! I am needing to clean and paint inside and need your advise on what you used to clean and paint. It has the sticky walls.. eewww..

Hey Miriam, I’m writing a post about that now. Stay tuned!!!

Hi there melanie! Nice job! (first things) Second, is your shower plastic or enamel?

It’s plastic and original. 🙂

Hi Melanie! I know I’m a couple years behind in checking out your renovation, but I am curious where you found/made the light covers in the bathroom? We have a 1979 Excella and are slowly (and budget wise) updating and repairing while we can. Those light covers are one of my “need to do’s”! Any info is appreciated!

Hi RaShel, the light covers were actually original! We lucked out. You might be able to find something similar on Ebay? Good luck!

I have an Airstream that is probably the same model as yours – I’m not sure of the model because I have not picked the Airstream up from its previous owner yet. (It’s a partial payment for services rendered.) The Airstream has been abandoned for a couple of years , looted and basically ransacked inside so I expect to have to do a great deal of work and rebuilding. Did you consider not using built-ins to allow for flexibility?

Did you try cleaning the walls with TSP? IF so which was better bleach or TSP? Did you do anything about insulation to make the camper liveable in the winter? I have been told it’s crucial to have a camper that is insulated for “all season” if you intend to live in it year ’round. If you didn’t do anything about adding insulation, what part of the country are you in and how comfortable is the Airstream in the winter?

Also, did you handle constructing the cabinets and other built-ins with the rounded walls?

Hi! Thanks for reading. Here’s the answers to your questions: I only tried bleach. Here’s how we heat and cool it. https://asmalllife.com/2016/04/14/heat-cool-airstream-travel-trailer/ We do live in the southern U.S., but we get snow occasionally. We measured and cut curves, if necessary. We also kept much of the original built-ins. I’m not sure what you mean by not using built-ins for flexibility. Our trailer is still light enough to pull, if that’s what you mean.

HI! Just purchased myself a 1978 ambassador. It is pretty much identical to your Sovereign… Honestly not sure what the difference is in the two of them. Even the wallpaper in the bathroom is the same! Anyways… super inspired by your design and looking to do something similar to mine as well. Now, for the kitchen, did you repaint the original cabinets under the sink, or are those new? Thank you for all the great info, I am sure I will be referring to your site often.

Hi Nicole, We repainted the original cabinets with Rustoleum spray enamel. You can see all the products we used here .

Melanie-I read your blog a lot. We just bought a 1981 Excella and are moving into it with our two boys under 3. It’s my first week working on it coming up, and there is floor rot with a hole next to one of the front windows… Did you guys have any floor rot? Any advice on products, tools, etc.? We had bought this planning on sanding and painting-the floor rot is throwing a wrench in that plan and I’m panicking a little.

Hi Cate, I feel for ya. Luckily we didn’t have floor rot. The floorboards were a bit damp when we got them, but nothing too bad, definitely not rotting. We ended up drying them out with fans and then we painted the floor with Kilz to help protect it in the future. Here’s some advice that might help: http://vintageairstream.com/floor-replacement/ Good luck!

I love that you kept the wallpaper in the bathroom. It is really cute!! The entire thing was really well done and it’s refreshing to see folks working within a small budget and really making it what they need and want. Thanks for sharing!!

Thanks Jessica!

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