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Airstream upgrades for full time living

Airstream upgrades for full time living

by | Oct 29, 2018 | Airstream Renovation, RV-life

Airstream Upgrades for Full Time Living

A few years ago, we purchased Jowanda, our 2005 25ft Airstream from a guy who lived in Florida. He and his wife wanted to purchase a newer Airstream and so put this one up for sale on Airstream Classifieds. We’re happy to answer any questions when it comes to how to find a used Airstream!

Anyhoo- Jowanda was in GREAT shape. She was only 10 years old when we purchased her, and was very well taken care of. So why make upgrades?

We wanted to make upgrades to our Airstream for 3 reasons

1) To make it easier to boondock (boondocking just means that we’re camping off the grid without any hookups)
2) To make it more suitable for full-time living
3) To make it feel like home

Here’s our VERY FIRST YouTube video where we talk about the upgrades and include some pretty fun footage back from our reno.

List of upgrades we talk about in the video:

1. Solar power installed
2. Painted all cabinets/doors/walls white that were faux wood
3. Painted couch + dinette upholstery
4. Removed fabric and painted dinette frame
4. New floating floors throughout
5. New countertop, sink, faucet and magnetic knife holder (all from Ikea)
6. Removed Microwave for more storage

List of upgrades we totally forgot to talk about in the video:

1. Antenna
2. Inverter Installed
3. More USB plugs so we could charge more things while boondocking and not have to rely on our inverter so much
4. Removed the stock divider that separates the bedroom from the rest of the Airstream and added tension rod w/ curtain instead

List of upgrades we may do in the future:

1. Revamp the bathroom with some wallpaper so it doesn’t look so dingy
2. Lift Airstream for more off-road travel

Items discussed in our video

(Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links. This does not cost you anything at all, and we would make a tiny percentage if you were to purchase the item. Thanks!)

PAINT:

Couch Paint: Graphite by Annie Sloan

Dinette Paint: Provence by Annie Sloan

(Annie Sloan paints are only provided by select stockists – you can find your closest stockist by visiting: https://www.anniesloan.com/stockists)

Cabinet Primer: Extreme Bond Primer (Sherwin Williams)

Cabinet Paint: Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel in Origami White (Sherwin Williams)

Shelf Paint: Old Ochre by Annie Sloan (design on buckets done with white spray paint and Primer Red)

KITCHEN:

Countertop: Ikea Countertop

Kitchen Sink: Ikea Norrsjon Sink

Kitchen Faucet: Ikea Almaren Faucet

Knife block: Ikea Knife Block

TOOLS:

Sander: Bosch Random Orbit 5 inch Sander/Polisher

Sanding Pads: Sanding Pads

FLOORING: 

Vinyl Plank Flooring: Lifeproof Walton Oak (We needed about 6 cases)

SOLAR STUFF:

Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/30 Charge Controller with Bluetooth

Victron BMV-712 Battery Monitor with Battery Temperature Sensor

1000W Inverter

Inverter fuse holder and 150A fuses

The Day After

The Day After

by | Sep 29, 2017 | Personal, Wedding Adventure

It’s the day after our wedding party and I can’t seem to shake this overwhelming sadness. It hit me when trying to take a recovery nap this afternoon. I feel it in the chest and jaw area…and I feel like I’m going to suffocate. The sadness has to do with it all being over. It was the best party I could imagine. Friends and family from far away all in one place. Connections from so many different eras in our lives. And they were all there for us! It’s such a bittersweet feeling to know so many people care about you and want to spend their time with you. I just wish there was more time to talk about what they’ve been up to all these years, more time to laugh at who you were and what you did in the past together.

I keep wanting to go back to last night, but I know I cannot. Friends are in their cars and on planes heading away from here, getting further away with each minute. I’m not sure when we’ll get to see them again, most likely never like that, and that’s the part that’s really making me sad.

We are licensed to marry!

We are licensed to marry!

by | Jun 7, 2017 | Wedding Adventure

This past weekend was a big weekend! We moved the Airstream for the first time, we nearly addressed all of the invites for the wedding reception in September AND we got our marriage license so we can tie the knot legally (within the next 60 days).

THE WEDDING ADVENTURE

We aren’t traditional people, so why do something traditional?  We love travelling and exploring new places. Which is why it was meaningful for us to make this more than just one day – but an adventure!

We’ll be having a small, intimate ceremony with just our mothers and an officiant, to make our marriage “official” and “legal” sometime in the beginning of July.

Later in the month, we’ll head out on a first big trip in our Airstream to the Canadian Rockies!  This is where we’ll exchange our own personal vows – just us and the mountains (oh and Cooper our dog of course!).

We plan on getting back to Ithaca, NY, sometime in mid-August so we can focus on preparing for our reception ( September at the Ithaca Farmer’s Market). A great way to end the adventure – by celebrating with our family and friends in the town we call home.

 

 

For All Intents and Purposes

For All Intents and Purposes

by | Jan 27, 2017 | Intentional Living

As the first post on this blog, we felt would be good to share a few reasons why we decided to start a blog in the first place.

We want a place to express our thoughts and share our experiences. Whether it’s traveling to a new place or learning something new, we intend to capture these thoughts/experiences so that you may find value in our words.

We came up with the name “Life’s Intents” while sitting on our couch one morning, drinking coffee and dreaming big.

Our name “Life’s Intents” (if you haven’t noticed) is a play on words. To some it might sound like we’re saying “Life’s INTENSE” and truly, we both feel like our current lives are really freaking intense.

Between Jay still working at the startup he co-founded, me starting my own business and a wedding on the way, we are feeling pretty overwhelmed. We have come to the point where we want to stop living so intensely and start living more intentionally. Being more intentional with our time and money. To set forth and pursue a life with less stress and stuff. This is our life’s intents.

We also joke about us living literally “in tents”. We have owned a roof-top car tent that we’ve gotten some great years out of. We still plan on using our tent as we travel around the country with our dog in our Airstream Travel Trailer.

We hope our website can provide you with joy, inspiration, and value. We hope that you’ll learn from us – and that maybe, just maybe, it’ll help you with your life’s intentions.