We're getting ready.

Our family of seven has purchased a 2005 Airstream Safari Bunkhouse and we plan to take it on the road full-time beginning in May.  You can follow our progress here.

It took us much longer than we anticipated to find the right home on wheels for our enormous family.  Our Safari Bunkhouse model is new-ish (we're not terribly handy and didn't want to deal with a lot of mechanical issues), and the interior lacked any sort of retro coolness.  Apart from our lack of mechanical prowess, we chose this model because it features a front bedroom w/ a closing door and a bunk room in the rear that will be perfect for the girls.  The boys are still quite small and they'll sleep on the banquette fold out and on the couch, so no child has to share a bed except the baby, who is everyone's favorite anyhow. 

We took the Airstream for a weekend nearby and had a very comfortable trip, but decided that the kitchen and storage was a bit much for us and that we'd rather trade out some kitchen and storage space for a more open feel.  We took the trailer down to our friend Philip, and he's gutting the kitchen, bathroom, and removing the bulkheads in the kitchen area.  We're removing the vinyl floor and putting in flor tiles in a light blue-green tone.  (I'd rather vacuum than sweep any day.)    The banquette has been removed and will be replaced as it was worn out and covered in sunbrella. The bathroom is getting a new, teensy IKEA sink.

The bathroom floor is so cool. Because of the tiny space, I can splurge on these awesome painted wood floor tiles.  Ben Moore's Nelson Blue paint will go on the walls over the banquette where we removed this crazy furry wall covering (called "mousefur") and on the doors to the bedroom, and Simply White will go on the new kitchen cabinets and everywhere else. 

I'm not terribly outdoorsy, but I suppose I will be by the end of the summer.  We look forward to family campfires, seeing amazing places, and hopefully, shaking ourselves a bit free.