On the Road

Got off to a slow, but safe, start for Palm Springs. Black ice everywhere and my husband's instinctive decision to have a wobbly wheel checked. Turns out our bearings on the back axle were very loose and our seals were shot...three hours later we hit the road courtesy of the local Les Schwab!

Headed up and over the Siskayous as I type this...send us good thoughts for clear roads

M

PS Departure Date: Six Wake-ups & Counting

Wrong...Westfield Salsa

Right...Westfield Julep

My stomach is in my throat, and my palms are sweating just typing this!!  We're down to fine-tuning now:  AS polished to a crazy mad shine, awning installed...altho it's the wrong fabric color (good times); new wheels don't fit old axle so we're taking them with us to Inland RV hoping that they'll fit when next axles get installed; and new rockstar doorbell installed!!!!

Great fun day last Friday when I tried on my awesome vintage dresses and they fit!!!  My friend Jeany is a magician!!

Humbling moment over the last few weeks...a custom-made Eames-inspired elephant for the AS given to me by a friend from work.  Any sneakerheads out there will clearly recognize the inspiration & know who is wonderful man is.  I'm truly honored by his kindness, and his friendship

Watching weather forecast daily, keeping fingers crossed for no snow in the pass and sunshine in PS!!!

Wish us luck!!!

Tick-whyisthatclocksoloud?-Tock

M

The Modernism Madness Continues!!!!

The Never-Ending List Of Things-To-Do-Before-PS:

Determine which awning to order:  Vintage roll-out..which comes highly recommended... or Zip Dee

CHECK...going with Zip Dee - love the functionality of the system and the awning fabrication options...it took a group vote on FB as well as an actual visit to the AS with the fabric sample book for my husband, our dear friend Aaron and myself to decide that the sample on the bottom of the picture attached would be the right transition to our interior.

Buy a generator...a quiet, really big one with electric start (isn't that an oxymoron?)

CHECK...altho the nice guys at Cabella's (another story altogether!) wanted to steer us to a much cheaper one with similar functionality...I WANT/WILL OWN THE YAMAHA EF3000iSEB!!!  It absolute has to run, at a minimum, our Convection Oven, Costco fridge and my lighted makeup mirror!!

Find just the right side table and table lamp while in Seattle...

CHECK....sort of.  After much angst, many stops in rainy, lovely Seattle and feeling like we were forcing our natural MCM style we decided to (a) refinish the table we already have which fits the space perfectly and (b) buy what we loved and not what we thought people would expect to see.  Once we made that decision it was easy...welcome home to our lovely Laurel Mushroom Lamp

I almost got through the week thinking Phew!  Big decisions all done...now I just need to get the boys going on their list:  install new Inverter, finish the stainless install on bulkhead doors, polish (that in itself is an entirely separate blog) our AS which we vowed we would never do but now think we should...again with the separate blog thing...install my new fantasticly glowy doorbell from Lux...(yeah me...and yeah Lucy!!!) and finish the sh*tlist...no biggie, right?  Wait for it.....

And Then It Hit Me.....

What on earth are we going to stage outside the AS once everything is all set up @ the Riveria Hotel?  Our camping chairs from Costco are great...when we're camping, and our darling, comfy chairs (complete with cushions) from Pottery Barn are rockstar-comfy but neither fit the design aesthetic of our beloved-and-very-high-maintenance AS.  Urghhhhhh!!

Enter my Christmas gift - the Book of 1000 Chairs...and we so need (the operative word here is "need") to have a couple of Bertoia Wire Diamond Chairs with a small Tulip table  

CHECK....found four of them on eBay, on the way...plus free shipping

DOUBLE CHECK...hubby bought a black Ball Chair and Tulip Table on his vaca to Amsterdam

Phew!!!!

But Wait, While I'm At It....

I probably need some hip method of transportion while I'm in PS, right?  I mean, hubby will probably bring his mini-man-motorcyle but shouldn't I have a Vespa?  Seriously, I've always dreamed of owning one and even decided that while vacationing in Paris, if I was a Vespa I would be Turqoise, so it only makes sense that I should have one, right?  As much as I love vintage things...I also have a firm appreciation for all things resembling vintage but updated - I want to own a Vespa that works NOW...not one that may work someday if I find someone who could maybe fix it in their spare time....NOW!!!

Tick Tock

M

O. M. G.

The Meca of Midcentury Modern

I've had a love affair with Palm Springs forever!!!  I could spend days & days driving up and down the streets staring at the amazing MCM homes and hotels......and then there are the thrift shops.  OK, they're not necessarily anything related to thrifty now but even the non-thrift, massively expensive shops house some of the most amazing, unique, heart-stopping, hand-sweaty, can-I-even-justify it? treasures.  To top it all off, Palm Springs is the host of Modernism Week - what could possibly be any cooler than that?  A whole week of all-things-modernism - it's like heaven with hairpin legs and a never-ending supply of bullet planters!!

I'll Tell You What Could Take the Cool Factor Up a Notch....

....a vintage trailer show!!!  Last year it was at the Ace Hotel - I remember finding an article about the exhibit at the Ace and thinking how incredible it would have been to see those lovely vintage trailers;....our trailer renovation was well on it's way to becoming a reality but seemingly forever away from being chosen as a participant for such a prestigous event.  Fast-forward to 2010...we finished our AS renovation (but seriously, is it ever really finished?) and...in a moment of extreme bravery...I sent an email to the person managing this event - who just so happened to be Rich at Airstream Life.   In his quick response he said there were eight spaces left, and included an application....but wait, before submitting the app Rick needed to see photos of the interior & exterior of our AS and review them with the committee.

But What If They Say No???????

I couldn't bear the thought that the committee would say our AS wasn't the appropriate representation of MCM.....but why chicken out now?  I compiled a collection of before, during and after photos and bravely hit send late Monday evening.  Whatever.......if they didn't invite us I'm sure some good wine and perhaps a few therapy sessions...combined with one heck of a shopping gala...I could get over it....who am I kidding, NOT!!!

WHOO HOO!!!!!!!

First thing Tuesday morning - there it was ...."the email".  Rich assured me there was no need for butterflies on my part and that our AS would be a great addition to their exhibit.  


We're So In!!!!!!!  


Uhhh....now what?  Of course I need to get that awesome "Lucy" doorbell installed, we absolutely NEED an awning, axles, tires & wheels - oh my!!!  So need that hip, massively expensive  and very cute brushed steel side table from my favorite store in Bellevue, WA and most definitely must find just the right table lamp.......install the new power inverter, polish the AS although we swore we never would...I'm sure there's something I've missed.

What an amazing journey our AS has been, and continues to be.  As I type my husband is plotting our course from Hillsboro, OR to Palm Springs in mid-February.  There's a good chance that anywhere from 450 - 750 people could walk through our trailer during the two day exhibit...just typing that brought back those butterflies. 

Wish us luck...and if you happen to be in Palm Springs Feb 24-27, 2010 stop by the Riveria Hotel and say hi!!! 

Modernism Week 2011

Isn't She Lovely...Isn't She Wonderful....

....isn't she precious...less than one summer old....I never thought AS owner's we'd be....Saving one as lovely as she.....But isn't she lovely made from love?

I hope Stevie will forgive me for some slight modifications to one of his beautiful songs...it just kept playing over and over in my head as I was thinking about this post.

I just started a Twitter account for our WBCCI Unit and, while looking for people to follow I came across several which were accounts of AS renovations.  In each one it was clear that the owner's had a clear vision of what they wanted their AS to look like when the work was done, were passionate about doing the job correctly, and...although I'm sure they were anxious to get out on the road...didn't seem willing to rush and/or compromise their vision.

In preparation for a photo shoot with our friend Taylor, we gave our beauty a good cleaning (like she really needed it since I'm compulsive about keeping her spotless!).  The weather didn't cooperate - to be expected in November in the Pacific NW - but oh, does our AS look lovely:

Always the Glamper Girl

Our new 75th Anniversary screen guard

Hmmmm....cover girl?  someday!!!

The view from the bedroom 

The "Bed Pod"

Oh yes I did mix my designers!!!

Cocktails, anyone? 

These vases were our color inspiration 

Mid-century modern at it's finest

and just for the fun of it...a little reminder of where we started:

And we were thinking what exactly???

I think I need a drink....NOW!!!

Cheers to all of you out there committed to your vision...whatever your beauty!

M

That Familiar Orange Apron

Can I Help You Find Anything?

Until a few years ago, I couldn't find my way around a Home Depot with a map!!  I'm the goofball who took my electric screwdriver in asking for "the other drillbit"...not realizing that you could just take out the Regular bit and flip it around...poof, there's the Philips!!  I'm pretty sure they're still repeating that story at my local HD

After innumerable trips to the three local HD stores near our trailer storage I've channeled my inner fashionista and can find my way, almost blindfolded, to the item "the boys" sent me to get.....and if I can't, those very nice people who wear the Orange Apron are there to point me in the right direction.

I've always loved the feel, and smell, of hardware stores so to me, HD is just a HUGE hardware store dipped in Orange.  A big thank you to each and every one of the always smiling, always helpful employees who helped me when I came in holding some random piece of electrical equipment I needed to replace - your approachability...and the fact that you don't just point but rather take me to where I needed to go was much appreciated by this Renovation Rookie.

Well How You Doin' Mr. Nelson?

......said the Airstream to the clock.  From the day a friend...or maybe I should call her an enabler...slipped the Design Within Reach catalog with the DWR Bambi on the cover under my office door....I vowed that, if we ever owned an AS, it would have a MUCH more hipster clock than the silly sputnik in the DWR version.

DWR....consider yourself out-hipstered.  We have the perfect wall space reserved for Mr. Nelson - he's the thread that ties all of the color and design inspiration together.  There's considerable competition tho....the black Herman Miller molded-plastic chair from Dania...kinda diggin' it more than the new ones which so do not have the whole fiberglass thing going on, the Russel Wright Eclipse glassware collection discovered on eBay (yes, I really did set my alarm for 2:30 am to make sure I won THAT bid)....and the piece de resistance, the abso-frickin-lutely amazing kidney-shaped couch from our neighborhood Kitchen Kaboodle store!!!

Tick-Tock

Less than two weeks until the formal "coming-out" party for our beauty.......with honorable guests like Nelson, Miller, Wright in attendance - nothing can outshine their brilliance like our AS "Godfathers":   Vermouth, Joshie, Brian, Shane, Don Wayne, Tod....and, most importantly, Greg and my hubby Doug

Time flies.......