I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our family, Gladys. She arrived this past spring after I convinced my husband she was the perfect 'pet' project for me to tackle.
She is a 1967 travelaire 16ft trailer who had spent most of her last few years as a hunting companion and camping shelter here in BC. She was sturdy and solid but had seen a lot of wear and tear in her nearly 50 years. I was excited to give her a facelift and a new colourful life with us.
This is how she looked when she arrived.
She had her original papers and most of the original interior, though the appliances didn't function and on the exterior she was badly dented and beat.
We gutted her interior saving a few cupboard drawers to repurpose for shelf storage where the small flip down bunker was previously.
We pulled out the old ceiling and sealed the roof before adding new acoustic insulation and new panelling on the interior.
All interior walls were stripped, sanded, cleaned and repainted with mildew resistant paint.
In her new life, I imagined her as a cute and cheerful guest bedroom for extra family company. For 500 dollars purchase price and a 500 dollar reno budget I thought she would be the perfect pilot project for me to play with.
Fast forward 4months and here's what she looks like now.
Gladys, now sports a pair of flip-up sunglasses and a sunny carefree attitude on her exterior.
The arms of the sunglasses extend to the sides of the trailer and boast her name and 'summer of love' 'flower power' 1967 'groovy' slogans.
On the inside she now has a colourful and cheerful bedroom complete with a queen size pillow top mattress.
I put in a new little fridge to hold at least a case of wine and some okanagan fresh fruit and cheese (she is a vintage okanagan glamper after all!)
The cookie jar is an original from my childhood home and vintage 1960's. It was my mom's and was a fixture on our kitchen counter growing up.
Gladys also has a retro-looking coffee maker for the morning after enjoying all that collected okanagan wine from visiting local wineries.
On the interior walls, Gladys has cork boards filled with maps and info on the main wineries, touring routes and history of our okanagan wine region and trails.
Underneath the bed area you can store so much now. (We have a patio umbrella, foldable card tables and even a fold up outdoor gazebo in there!)
She was a lot more work than I anticipated and my plan was continually altered on the fly as we went.
I learned a lot and I will share her renovation and stories on this blog as well.
In case you are wondering how the name Gladys was chosen...
Gladys was my grandmothers name. I have fond memories of her in my childhood days of the 1960's. She was born in England and to me seemed like a story book character full of wonder and uniqueness in my child's mind. Friendly, funny, quirky and loving. Gladys is also my mothers middle name (she has much of those same great qualities by the way) and Gladys is also my middle name as well. I grew up with the family nick name 'happy bum' and it just seemed fitting to fit it in this crazy little project I dreamt up. Now I am happy to announce she is almost ready to be revealed to the rest of our extended family. It's time to start planning Gladys's 'welcome to our family' party soon. I've got cocktails to concoct and vintage okanagan wine to stock and I am tickled pink💕
