Swanee, how I love you! And your trailers!!

It is true that the Sisters on the Fly attract "doers"! One such ball of creative energy is our dear Georgia sister Swanee Owen! I have loved, loved, loved every trailer Swanee has ever done. She has got the trailer bug baaaaad! She just keeps doing them and doing them! Here are a few pictures of my new "favorite" Swanee trailer. It will be hard to knock this one off my pedestal!

 Of course we have to have the "before" shot! It would really take some vision to look at this and imagine a refuge could be created in it!

 Swanee hired a local artist to create her vision of a "Rusty Ritz"! Here he is with his girlfriend showing off the finished product.

 Before all this painting took place a lot of prep work went in to making the trailer water tight and prepping the skin to receive the new paint. This just looks old but it was all sanded, sealed and primed.

 Ah! The front couch rebuilt to accommodate a guest. I love the storage underneath! The "tin" baskets under the couch are actually plastic that has been faux painted. Swanee installed hidden hooks that hold a large bungee cord horizontally across the space to keep them in place when she is towing.

 Over the wheel well this clever storage trick which doubles as a night stand. Check out all the yard sticks Swanee collected for this project. She bought 50 of them from a dealer on Ebay who said he was getting out of the yardstick business and might send her a few extra. He sent her 500! She stained them different colors!

 Over the other wheel well is a retrofitted dresser. I love how this leaves so much floor space.

 Swanee created a dry kitchen and repurposed the metal suitcase for her paper towels. The rusty old cheese grater is a lamp and that is the actual panel box for the trailer.

 In case you haven't guessed that orange flowered table cloth is hiding the porta potty!
The garbage can to the left sits on an old rusty metal lid that Swanee bought for five dollars and attached the legs to. When she is traveling the bucket goes in the back of her tow vehicle and holds all of her extension cords.

 Feed sack pillows and old quilts make this a cozy place to read or nap.

 I thought this was so clever. The hardwood floor is actually a sheet of plywood that Swanee's husband sawed these lines in to give the illusion of hardwood planks. He actually set his circular saw to a shallow depth and ran it along a fence every six inches to get these lines! I love that! Distressed paint job finishes the look!

 Swanee made all of the light fixtures for her Rusty Ritz. Thomas Edison light bulbs from Home Depot ($10) finishes the look!

 Pillow details. The curtains are coffee stained dish towels.

 Close up of the "hardwood floors" .

 More yardsticks! Not sure how many she used but they look great! Allof the linens were beat up old cutter quilts that she cleaned and patched for a "make do" mentality. I love them and am really partial to old beat up quilts myself. If they're too nice you can't use them without worrying about decreasing their collector value.

 One of Swanee's clever lamps.

 Detail of the faux painted walls. The water "damage" is faux! No leaks here!

The feed sacks just got put on and tucked in ! No sew!

Hawnk! Hawnk!