Totally Girl FUN!

Sometimes I amaze myself at just how clever I am. Instead of accepting what I can’t have (a sewing/scrapbooking/jewelry-making studio/writing office), I put my creative energies to work to find a way to get what I want.

For a long time I have wished for my very own space equivalent to my husband’s shop or tack room where he and my son hang out and work on their projects. I’ve wanted a place to claim all my own for doing all of my space-consuming projects and not have to put it all away in order to set the supper table. A verstatile little nook where I could also escape to and work on my column, blog, or guest speaking material; something of an office.

 

I found the perfect solution, inspired by my “Crazy Ranch Wife” blogger/girlfriend, JoAnn, and the Sisters on The Fly group that she introduced me to via the internet: my own little camper!

Originally, I’d been on the lookout for a small storage building of some sort for cheap at an auction or yard sale to turn into “an office” that I could have my electrician brother wire electricity to near our house but once my friend JoAnn introduced me to her camper Nadine (she now has a second; Ruby), I realized a camper would be an ideal space and wouldn’t require investing a lot of extra money. Campers are already equipped with lights, outlets, table, storage, etc.

After I toured Nadine last summer, I’d become obsessed with getting a little camper of my own but finding one turned out to be harder to nab than I thought. Little old campers were getting snatched up everywhere I investigated. Even though I got discouraged at times—especially when I missed out on a perfect camper at a yard sale last summer that sold before I got there—I remained determined in my search.

It was actually my husband who found one for me and suggested checking it out. It had been parked in a friend’s yard in Pringle. He even stopped and poked his head inside the camper and thought it looked like it was in pretty decent shape. I’d seen it parked there but for some reason kept looking elsewhere “just in case something better came along” kind of deal, until I finally decided to check this one out for myself. I caught the guy in town and asked him about it and he said he’d sell it to me. I went and looked at it and got really excited over its potential, so the next time I saw the owner, I bought it and before the ink had dried on the check, my husband and I were hooking up my new “office”/purchase to bring home and the deep cleaning commenced.

What’s really sweet about this little baby is that I can hook it up to my jeep for those whims when I want to go on a camping adventure.

It’s my new office on wheels! It hasn’t been determined yet if the oven and refrigerator work until I get a propane tank and car battery.

There’s a nice storage in the back that I can access stuff under my “daybed” from inside.

The sink plumbing looks like it needs a few things in order to work but aren’t priority at this point. My husband graciously welded on a jack for me to make hooking it up easier so I don’t have to lift it on the stump I’d been using.

My husband and daughter and I along with our dog Pepper have slept in it a few times and it seems very sleep worthy.

 

Considering the age of the seat cushions, they seem in pretty good shape but I plan to recover them.

 I have the camper pretty well stocked with the necessities I need for now, including bedding, a coffee pot (a priority camper item), radio, storage containers, writing utensils and materials, my writing reference books, snacks (now I can hide my favorite treats in my camper), and a lamp.

 

I love hanging out in my new space working on writing, guest speaking, reading, and tinkering to fix it up. I already have a list of things I want to get and am planning a color scheme for curtains, painting the walls and trim, and recovering the cushions. I also plan to create more shelving and storage spaces for all my project-making materials in mouse proof containers.

I encourage any woman who lives in a small house and/or doesn’t have her own project room and wants her own domain to escape to, to work on projects, relax, go on camping excursions in, or just for the pure enjoyment of creating a personalized space to find a little camper and customize it.