MY CAMPER DREAMS

I've touched base on the fact that we live in a pretty small house. Which not only means less clean up, but also less stuff.  I have fallen in love with the fact that having less places to store things causes you to really question if my purchase is of true value and worth.  While most people would find themselves needing a bigger space, I rather have found that I need less, want less, shop less! 

However, my studio space is in our house.  I've gotten pretty creative about where and how to store my work stuff, but I feel like the business has grown so much in just the past year that it's getting to be a little ridiculous.  We keep talking about remodeling the garage for a studio space for me, but I've come up with a much better idea!

Recently I've become OBSESSED with vintage campers. Mostly 60's - 70's Shasta campers. They are super small and cute! There is a whole culture of people revamping them either for road trips, or re-purposing them for something else.  I want to turn one into my very own art studio!

Because I plan on gutting almost the whole thing and that I won't need to be towing it regularly means I can get one for pretty cheap!  Plus the ability to move it in the future shall we ever leave this home of ours makes it that much better! And although I'm sure keeping keeping a trailer in your backyard could easily be an eyesore, painting the outside, planting flowers around it, and parking it on a gravel pad will just make it a super cute addition to our space!

Not only have I been researching painting the girl but also ideas for the interior. You can check out more of my findings on my Pinterest board. Although a lot of camper re-vampers stick with the original retro style when designing their camper. I think I'm going to go with my vintage, industrial chic style.  Rather than naming her "daisy" or some other cute flower name, I have started to call the mystery camper the "Dream Catcher." Although this might change once I meet her, for now I love that she'll be my very own space to follow my dreams and painting a giant dream catcher on the outside can only help keep away any bad dreams and make me reach my goals that much faster.

As far as functional pieces within the camper, with electrical in (and a few friendly electricians in my pocket!) and an option to hook up a hose for a make shift sink (I'd want it to drain into some sort of bucket that can be easily dumped rather than into a tank that needs to be pumped regularly) it already has the base for the perfect studio.  Depending on the camper I might want to add a few more windows or even a skylight to help add natural light!  There are several reasons I need hot water during the jewelry making process so the range area will be great for a vintage teapot! And I'm thinking the vintage fridge will be a fun place for my chemical storage!

For some I know this all sounds silly, but for me it would be amazing! To have and design my own space especially housed in such a creative, re-purposed way would be the ultimate dream. I have a few hurdles to jump before I can do this:

1. funds - while building a business and potentially quitting my job this next year, does the desire to have my own space outweigh the cost?
2. source camper - Craigslist every morning will now be my ritual.  Good campers go fast especially this time of year. I have found a ton that would have been perfect, but all were listed and sold about 4 weeks ago... why didn't I get this idea sooner?!
3. logistics - I have a place I want to put it in the backyard that would be great, but it has to jump two 4 foot terraces, and two 5 foot fences to get there...they are super light when empty, but I think I'll still need Superman to help with this... but when there is a will there is a way!

Wish me luck on my newest adventure!