Project Airstream: Painting & Planning

This past Saturday we got a chance to make it back to Lockhart Family Farm to continue working on updating the 1976 airstream that our friends, Josiah and Jocelyn, recently purchased to house on the farm. Upon arrival we were excited to meet all the new faces around the farm — beginning with these little rare breed chicks:

Josiah and his son, Alexander, were excited to show us their new baby pigs. It was a bit of a walk down to the wooded area where they stay, so we got a chance to take in all beautiful farm sights and sounds along the way.

We said hello to the farm goats and turkeys:

We even got a chance to see the newest additions to the farm — their 10-day old baby mulefoot piglets:

These little guys were a lot of fun to get a peek at. Momma pig even let us close enough to see then entire family for a bit:

Over the past couple of weeks Josiah has made progress by installing new screens in the back of the camper with a galvanized spray finish around the trim, peeled away all the faux tinting previously adhered to the windows (which helps brighten up the entire space), and cleaned out all the overhead lighting:

Our main priority for this trip was to get a good first coat of fresh white paint over the priming we'd completed last time. We went with a latex based interior paint in an eggshell finish so it would be easy to keep clean and still feel fresh. It's amazing how much a thick coat of paint can transform and brighten a space:

 

We plan to paint the cabinets and remaining upper storage console in a light sandy/gray hue down the road and we were able to start priming in preparation for a few of those areas — gotta love my "paint face:"

While we tackled the walls, Josiah cracked open the can of chalkboard paint we brought along to begin updating the original refrigerator in the camper:

The original fridge had been covered in a pretty awesomely dated wooden veneer:

We decided to give it a modern update by adding chalkboard paint and have plans to keep this veneered surface in other areas of the camper — just not overkill and everywhere!

Jocelyn prepped the fridge with painters tape and after a few quick and easy coats with a brush, we were ready to call this little update complete! We think it will be a fun space to include welcome messages to potential visitors and expect we'll see some pretty fantastic artwork left on it after their stay:

Outside of painting, we tested out a few ideas we have in store for future camper updates, like a faux tin tile backsplash in the kitchen:

We'd come across the faux ceiling tile sheets made of plastic at the local hardware store and loved the idea of creating a backsplash out of them in the camper — here's a view of the back for context:

We bought one to bring with us to see if they'd work out and gauge how many we'd need. They're super flexible, which is perfect for bending along the curve of the airstream wall as we'd hoped:

We'll plan to pick up a few more of the sheets and install the backsplash during a future trip — it was exciting to know they'll work in the space and we're eager to see what the final outcome might look like.

While working, we also uncovered a few surprises. We discovered that one of the previously mysterious interior light switches powered up this original exterior light:

We also found this original pull-down shade hidden in a cubby in the front of the camper, which we liked so much we'll plan to keep it for added privacy:

But probably the biggest surprise of the day was when Josiah unknowingly discovered this pull-out work surface from in-between the two storage cabinets in the kitchen area:

It was like discovering an entirely new counter space to work with in there. Since the camper is still new to Josiah and Jocelyn, we joked that they'll probably be uncovering little surprises like this for a long time to come!

At the end of the day, we left off looking a little something like this:

Which feels like solid progress from where we initially started:

Here's the current view facing the back of the camper where we've left off:

Compared with where we started:

There's still much work to do, but we're having a lot of fun getting there along the way. As we've mentioned in previous posts, Josiah and Jocelyn have plans to rent out the camper on AirBnB as a place to stay on the farm. Check out the camper's listing at a discounted rate right here while undergoing renovations for more interior pictures and progress along the way!

See the full background on where we started with the Airstream in this post and see some of the original "before" shots in this post. Keep up with our airstream progress by following @FarmStream on Instagram and Twitter.

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