BEFORE AND AFTER

  So as you may recall, we were renovating this Airstream of ours… have you been wondering what it FINALLY looks like? Well, we’ve been slowly gathering antiques and relics from all over the country as our interior decor. We imagined this little home & studio on wheels to be filled with a menagerie of all our adventures to date. It’s sort of like a living travel journal. We can tell you the story about everything within these walls.

So, here it is… THE BIG REVEAL!

You can see the rest of the before photos here and here. To recap, when we bought this beaut she had dirty and ripped carpeting, filled with junk, green slime on the walls, cabinet doors that would fall off when you opened them, a faint stench of cigarette smoke and ew, mildew, a few layers of 1960’s wallpaper, oh the list goes on and on. In two days we ripped out the entire interior leaving us a 32 foot blank canvas. After three weeks, we had rolled over the yellowing walls with a crisp white paint, laid down a floating wood floor, replaced the large broken window, built out the cabinets, installed the locker cabinets, sewing machine and upper planters… and began collecting and collecting and collecting. After three months, we had traveled across the country filling our home and workshop with memories, lots and lots of memories.

So, take a better look inside…

The front of the airstream is our hub – this is where we do all of our illustrating, creating, sewing, shipping and daily office work. 

We built all of the cabinets and work surfaces ourselves out of reclaimed redwood. We repurposed an old school locker as a storage cabinet to house many of our supplies. We found some cool antique ballot boxes in Texas and turned them into stools with plaid tops (great storage inside!). We upholstered a large metal military chest and found this amazing red rug in El Paso… but after realizing it was way too big for our tiny floor, we made it into a nice long pillow. Our “couch” is much more inviting now.

The bison skull on the wall was a purchase from a little trading post in Sedona, AZ and the really old flag over the front windows is from Freehome, Georgia. Oh! And the planters – crafted from aluminum gutters and planted with succulents to bring some of the outdoors in.

This is our desk and our dinner table (Well, let’s be honest, I do a lot of work sitting in bed too…) Since our space is small, we bought these cool old tobacco tins, first aid kits and ammo boxes to keep some of our everyday supplies out in the open.

Our “entryway” has a lovely print that we bought from Arts District Printing Co. while visiting our new friends Scott and Kristan at their shop Hammer and Spear in downtown LA. This is a really rad store if you’re ever in the area. The print is the perfect reminder for us, although we haven’t gotten (too) lost yet! We installed a clothing rack to showcase a sampling of things that we carry at The Local Branch.

The other half of the Airstream is our living quarters. The Pendleton blanket on our bed was our very first purchase – and sort of influenced the decor, vibe and color palette for the space. Underneath the bed is lots of storage – we found these awesome vintage pear crates up in Northern California that we turned into drawers that pull out from the side of the bed.

We mounted a nice vignette on the wall above the bed, showcasing an antique flashlight and Boy Scout hatchet that we traded from Christian of 1924 (he’s got an amazing blog and shop), and the hat is a family heirloom. Our custom built nook over our head was a must-have – I am a HUGE water drinker, so in lieu of having a nightstand, a nook was a priority. 

This is our kitchen space. We rescued this cool old Homart sink and installed the gold faucets. It was perfect for us because it has a lid which gives us more counter workspace. We built and hammered the hinged metal countertop (yes, it was a task in a half- but only cost us $25 and gives us more storage). The handy metal cubby way up above the sink was actually a scooper from an old grain conveyor belt. The other antiques were collected along the way. 

So in the back behind the wall are the closets and bathroom (well, a toilet). Oh, and we have hats, lots and lots of hats… The Stetson on the wall is a purchase from our trip in Nashville, TN.

Our tiny home and studio has everything we need – a place to work, to draw, to sew, to print, to create, to sleep and explore and travel the country.