Okay, guys. It’s been a while. My life has been taken over by public schooling in the time of COVID-19. But I don’t want to talk about that today. Today, I want to talk about Big Red!
Since you last heard from me, Big Red has undergone quite a transformation. He has new flooring, which really took him from looking like a cargo trailer to looking like an actual camper. We went with vinyl sheet flooring because we thought that would be the most simple, affordable, and durable option. And it looks amazing! After looking at several options, we finally decided on a gray/tan wood-look flooring, and I couldn’t be happier with the results!
After the flooring went down, Adam started working on the bathroom. I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when we decided to build a bathroom from scratch. Luckily, Adam did, because he built a bathroom in his barn last year. But putting a bathroom in a trailer proved a lot more difficult than putting a bathroom in a building. It took a lot of time, patience, and money ( a lot more money than we thought!), but I think we’ve finally got it mostly figured out. It’s still not 100% done, but it’s pretty close, and everything works!
Just laying out the components of the bathroom proved to be quite a challenge. There is a storage area with an exterior door located in the front corner of the trailer, which is where we wanted to put the bathroom. So we had to work around that box when trying to lay it out. We also knew we wanted a shower big enough to actually use comfortably, which takes up a lot of valuable square footage in such a tight space! We tried probably a dozen different configurations before we finally settled on the final layout. But we finally figured it out, and we’re quite happy with the results.
Adam framed up the walls first and we started to get a sense of the space we were working with. We got a great deal on a corner shower pan on Marketplace, and we used waterproof sheeting from Lowe’s for the shower walls. Once the shower was in place it started to feel like a real bathroom!
We bought this toilet from Amazon, which is super nice, and has a porcelain top that feels like a real residential toilet. We wanted to put the sink in the corner of the bathroom so it would take up less space, and Adam’s parents found us a tiny cabinet to use as the base. We had the great idea of using a stainless steel mixing bowl for the sink, but so far we haven’t quite figured out how to make that work! I’ll have to update you later on the progress of the sink…
Adam and his dad did all the plumbing work. This proved to be a bear of a job and I was glad I was not involved in that. Trying to get all the plumbing to the tanks and making sure everything drained properly took a great deal of planning and ingenuity, especially considering the low ground clearance of the trailer. Adam spent hours laying under the trailer in awkwardly uncomfortable positions, and I’m afraid he may have suffered permanent damage to his back!
We used thin paneling sheets for the walls, which are very lightweight and don’t look half bad. We tried whitewashing for the first time, and I think they look pretty good. You can still see some of the grain from the wood, but it is light and bright inside. We are planning to install a sliding barn door, which I am super excited about. I think it will be very functional in the tight space, and it will give it that farmhouse feel we are looking for.
Even though we’re not quite done, I’m amazed at how we were able to take a blank slate and design and build a whole bathroom that (mostly) works! I have to give all the credit to Adam. He has spent hours and hours working so hard to build a functional space for his family. It may be a luxury to some, but for our family, having a bathroom in the camper is pretty much a necessity. We are so excited that it’s done and so happy with how it turned out!