Meet MayBelle!

In May of 1965, Airstream built our International Safari in California.
In honor of that anniversary we have named our little trailer "MayBelle".

21 feet of cuteness, my very own grownup play house and one
of our favorite remodeling projects to date.

When we brought her home in August of  2014, we felt the trailer was in fairly
good shape considering her age. And she was, except it seemed like it might
be a good idea to make a couple of easy changes!  Famous last words for
those in the Airstream world. It's a bit of a black hole that you are not really
warned about. However, I will say it is a fun hole to fall into.

All things considered we were able to turn this around fairly quickly.  By April

of 2015 we had taken our maiden voyage.  With a totally redesigned interior,
new frig, water heater, furnace, fantastic fans, plumbing, lights, electrical, kitchen,
new floor, cushions, drapes, mattress, windows and doors sealed and various other 

misc. 50 yr old trailer repairs we are ship shape.  We are currently waiting on our 

new awning and that  should just about wrap up all the big items we have on our list. 

There is some talk about a polish job in the future, but I am staying out of that. 

Oh yeah, and a door for the bathroom, but that is still in concept mode.

I have been promising for some time now photos of our finished interior.
Here they are, presenting to you.......
Our MayBelle!

Don't forget to notice our little chandelier!  Every life needs some whimsy!

Just as a quick review this is before

                                 The kitchen functions so nicely.  I am very happy with the decision to take out the stove and
and replace it with a cooktop and convection microwave. I love my Danze Anu faucet too!

   

I am such a fan of the magnetic wall behind the cooktop.  I spent hours looking at

other blogs and photos of Airstream kitchens.  I liked the idea in concept and 

am so glad we made it part of our kitchen too. It is super handy when cooking

With spices, knives, etc all just right there. The single bowl stainless sink is perfect. 

I have a collapsible dish drainer that I can get out if necessary. The flip up

 counter to the left of the cooktop is just the right amount of extra space. 

 What was once a dinette is now a permanent Queen bed that lifts up for extra storage.

   Another great decision for us. We store clothes underneath the bed and the dinette
has large pull out drawers under each bench that hold cooking items.

 

 We reused the original drawer latches and the Airstream Bins in the drawers under the bed.

The doors drop down and the bins slide out.  As much as we are firmly in the camp

of renovators rather than restorers, we did want to incorporate any of the original

features that we could that seemed appropriate to her updated interior.

The frig is new.  After considering the cost of repairing a 50 year old refrigerator we decided

to invest in a new one.  Of course there was not a straight across replacement.  The new one is taller
and thinner. Thanks to my husbands uber talented skill set he made it work. I have heard the new
ones aren't necessarily better, we opted to throw the dice and go ahead and replace it. 

So far so good. 

just a cuteness moment!

The bathroom has basically stayed the same. It is in very good shape and even had the original

hand shower, which I thought was very cool.  I had not seriously considered actually

taking a shower in this bathroom, figuring it would be just too small of a space.

However on our first trip out I thought "what the heck" I should at least give it a try.  I was so

surprised to find out what a great little shower it is.  Terrific water pressure, the hand shower

is perfect and the accordion shower curtain is very "Petticoat Junction" for those of you

old enough to know what that means!  To sum it up I love it and will not be heading down

to the RV campground showers any time soon.  We also added a new Danze Parma

faucet.  Nice little contemporary twist, but still a good style for the bathroom.

 One last little thing I did was add these decals above the bathroom window.

There are not a lot of ways to add decor to this bathroom.  I don't want to drill a

bunch of holes in the walls but I did want to add a feeling of art.  I thought the back

window valance reminded me a little bit of a window box so I decided to plant

some flowers.  The best part is when I get tired of them I can just peel them off. 

I am still keeping my eyes open for some other fun items to add to this

space but I think it will take some time to just find the right items.

 From our Airstream to yours.  Live Riveted!  It's a great way to go!