Decorating & Design
January 10, 2019
Inside The Cool Boho Airstream From Tin Can Homestead
Creators of the popular Instagram account @tincanhomestead, illustrator Natasha Lawyer and Brett Bashaw decided to ditch their overpriced Seattle rental and take a year off to travel and live inside an Airstream. They catalogue their renovation of a seriously dilapidated 1971 trailer in the book Tin Can Homestead. A former Anthropologie designer, Natasha brought a cool girl vibe to the interior and filled the book with whimsical illustrations.
Click through for a look inside and get their top airstream decorating tips. It just might inspire you to hit the open road!
“By far the most difficult part of creating an Airstream home is building the custom furniture. The walls are all curved, so you can’t just put in traditional furniture and have it look nice against the walls without making significant adjustments. We custom built pretty much everything in our Airstream as well as adding two Ikea pieces, which I messed with a bit to make work in the space,” according to Natasha.
“I built our daybed around a patterned black and white mattress. I selected three different sets of black and white print sheet sets and mixed and matched them. I collected vintage gold/brass frames and vintage photos.”
“If you love cooking, you prioritize kitchen space; if you love guests staying with you, you make your layout guest friendly. If you have kids, they need places to sleep and play. How much storage do you need? Are you renovating it to live in or just for travel? Will you be using it as a mobile office; what kind of a workspace do you need? These were all things we considered when planning our space.”
“I did a lot of research before I started on my tiling project because there can be issues with grout cracking and even the tiles themselves breaking in half on the road. Although we planned to live stationary, I still wanted to make sure that our tile job was travel-safe. The most important thing I gleaned from all my research was that the tile needs to be allowed to flex and move as much as possible. That meant finding a flexible adhesive instead of brittle grout as well as a flexible grout for filling in between the tiles.”
Natasha points out that in an Airstream, usually the entire space is viewed from one vantage point, and that’s a big consideration when it comes to choosing materials. “You can’t really treat a space this small as a set of different rooms with different decor or the place will feel too busy.”
Brett, who worked on the exterior of the Airstream, says, “Polishing our Airstream was something that immediately and dramatically improved the appearance of our home.” He added a custom patio and stairs outside the door.
Natasha Lawyer @ 2018
Tin Can Homestead: The Art of Airstream Living by Natasha Lawyer and Brett Bashaw. Running Press.