Who hasn’t done a double take when driving along the highway and an aluminum-skinned Airstream has glided past? The feeling evoked might be nostalgia: Airstreams are a symbol of American ingenuity and style, harkening back to the glory days when the family car was stout enough to pull a travel trailer on vacations. The retro allure of this iconic image doesn’t escape the younger set, the so-called Millennials, who tend to embrace real things and love the idea of restoration and reclamation. No matter the age, most everyone takes notice.
I’m not sure when my husband, Kerry, and my passion for Airstreams began. While raising our three girls, we didn’t quite see the appeal of traveling around with the family packed into a small space. But as our children one by one flew the Kennedy nest, we realized that a travel trailer would be the perfect getaway for the two of us and could double as a guesthouse right here on our Tennessee farm. And, for a designer and an engineer, a travel trailer or motorhome or bus only meant one thing: Airstream. The search, one that was to take several years, was on. We were looking for a vintage model, something affordable but not too gutted for novices.
Ours was one of those luck stories—the right place at the right time sort of thing. A chance meeting of friends after exercise class morphed into “What do you want to do with your life now that you are retired?”
To which our friends, replied, “Travel around and camp.”
“Oh,” I sighed. “We’re not even retired, but we want to do the same thing! We’ve been looking for an Airstream for a long time. We just can’t find one.”
“As a matter of fact,” Sharon Johnson said in her perky voice, “we have one for sale. We just bought a motorhome.” And that was that. After texted photos and a quick look-see in Waynesboro, TN, we were the proud owners of a 1989 Airstream Excella just in time for my January birthday. I was giddy. Kerry was pleased because the hard work he had anticipated from online forums would not prove to be so tough after all. Sharon’s husband, Ray, was an electrical engineer like Kerry. He knew the ins and outs of every switch, battery, tank, and system on the trailer we christened Cella. Most everything worked, and, even better, every piece of her was intact, save the original carpet that Ray began replacing with laminate flooring. He explained that Airstreams hold moisture and must be dehumidified often, so hard wood floors are not advised.
Our Cella was in a time capsule albeit a very dated ‘80s one. But she was ours, and we loved her. She had more potential than Eliza Doolittle, more charm than any new model of travel trailer we had ever seen. We couldn’t wait to begin work on her.
Below are the “Before” pictures we took:
Kerry’s and my first step was research and lots of it. We were newbies to the Airstream world. We found the best information online at airforums.com. We discovered that folks were proud of the work they had done on their Airstreams and were eager to share most all aspects of their renovations including videos and pictures. Night after night we sat side-by-side on the sofa with laptops. Kerry delved into mechanical research, looking up parts and instructions for practical things like ceiling ventilation fans and batteries. I dove into Pinterest to gather interior design ideas. Our next tasks were to decide what jobs we would tackle ourselves and which of my ideas could be adapted for Cella’s interior. Because we did not have to remove cabinetry or walls, we were mostly faced with freshening up. We could both paint, I had experience making window treatments, and Kerry was handy with carpentry. But, in the end, we chose to hire local folks who happen to be experts in their areas over muddling through the work ourselves, possibly making mistakes. Most importantly, we were able to bring friends with talents into our labor of love!
While Cella was getting her white beauty treatment, her sofa was being recovered by fabulous professional upholsterer, Debbie Englett (See resources), and curtains were being fashioned by a window treatment designer, Nell Perry (See resources), who painstakingly snipped each track clip from the old draperies and sewed them onto the new ones. (This would not have been possible had previous owners not saved window treatments and their tracks.) Once Cella was spruced up, we didn’t have the heart to leave the laminate countertops, so I began researching pre-finished wooden ones online. A night of brainstorming on our front porch resulted in the perfect solution: use our own walnut salvaged from felled trees and hire our skilled woodworking friend who had made gorgeous pieces of furniture from fallen trees on his property to design countertops (See resources). This would be the crowning touch for Cella.
And now for the finished product:
People ask us all the time when we will start touring the good old US of A. Sure, Kerry and I would love to see the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, but we are in no hurry to travel to such majestic sites just yet. For now, we just want to be together in our little home, visiting state parks and campgrounds nearby, entertaining friends wherever we go. And, even when we are not camping or “glamping” as the trend is now, we can leave our house and retreat alone right on the farm in Tennessee. In fact, we did this already during the last of the renovations. We came out to work leaving the visiting kids, the kitties, and the eight combined family dogs at the house. We ended up snoozing peacefully in Cella as rain pitter-pattered on the roof. Empty nesting doesn’t get much better than this.
Next up: polishing up the exterior!
Cella Source List
Living Room
Paint: Ford White, Josh Morton, Sheffield, AL, 931-242-8061
Tweed sofa fabric: Fabric House, Nashville, TN 615-837-0000
Sofa upholstery: Debbie Englet Upholstery, Lawrenceburg, TN, 931-242-2246
Tennessee pillows: The Shoppes on Main, Franklin, TN, 615-591-8433
Turkish kilim pillows: rugandrelic.com
Ikat window treatment fabric: Sir’s Fabrics, Fayetteville, AL, 931-433-2487, sirsfabric.com
Window treatment designer: Nell Perry, 931-853-6403
Table, countertops throughout Airstream, wooden bowl on credenza: Eric Lewis of AmERICan Woodwork, Loretto, TN, 931-629-1661, americanwoodwork@wordpress.com
Cabinet paint: Sherwin Williams Amazing Gray
Reclaimed barn wood on walls in living room and bedroom: MURdesign 468 in color Rustik, homedepot.com
Teapot and teacups: ebay.com
Tea towel: TJ Maxx, Florence, AL 256-764-6811
LED television: Samsung, Best Buy, Florence, AL 256-760-8188
Kitchen
Spice jars, chef’s knives, wall magnet, Alabama cutting board: Bed Bath & Beyond, Florence, AL, 256-760-5339
Skillet & measuring spoons: Target, Florence, AL, 256-764-6924
Drawer pulls (used on wall to hang items): lowes.com
Bathroom
Sink (Kiernan Petite Vessel Sink) & faucet (Rotunda Straight Spout Single-hole vessel Faucet): SignatureHardware.com
“I don’t care” painting: Miss Millie’s, Lawrenceburg, TN 931-762-9577
Wooden box: Old School Antiques, St. Joseph, TN, 931-845-4385
Bedroom
State of TN wall hanging: http://clarkandfawn.com
Camper rug: Miss Millie’s, Lawrenceburg, TN 931-762-9577
Wool blankets, messenger bag: Ye Ole General Store, Florence, AL, 256-764-0601
Turkish kilim pillows: rugandrelic.com
Ralph Lauren sheets (Dunham sateen) &journals: TJ Maxx, Florence, AL 256-764-6811
Woven blankets: Bed Bath & Beyond, Florence, AL, 256-760-5339
Wooden boxes used as shelves: The Spotted Cow, Lawrenceburg, TN 931-762-3366
LED television: Insignia,
Best Buy, Florence, AL, 256-760-8188
Cool!
Thanks!