This little forgotten beauty was found sitting in a field in Idaho – hence its name “Private Idaho” – plus, I’m a HUGE B52’s fan. Our excitement soon turned to trepidation as we realized how much work was going to be involved in bringing this little beauty back to life. We have restored and renovated several vintage trailers prior to acquiring the Holiday House, but nothing requiring this amount of work.
Once we got the trailer in our shop, we started to remove the exterior skins – it was horrifying to see the skins were the only thing holding this trailer together! The framing was completely rotten! I do not know how this trailer made the journey from Idaho to Colorado in one piece. We had to take the Holiday House down to the frame and rebuild EVERYTHING.
The only pieces that could be salvaged were the fiberglass over the front windows, the window frames and door, the bathroom unit, and the door of the refrigerator. All plumbing, electrical, framing, paneling, flooring, cabinetry, and exterior skin had to be replaced. It was daunting, to say the least! Since we had to rebuild this trailer from the frame up, we decided to change the layout. There was a “lounge” version of this Holiday House, so we loosely based the floor plan off that. We removed the dinette and installed an “L” shaped lounge area. This area becomes the bed. This design also gave us more kitchen/counter space.
Thankfully, my husband, George, is a master of many things and was able to do the work himself. He had to do the difficult work, and I got to do the fun stuff! I sewed the upholstery, pillows, curtains, and awning. I, also, designed the custom countertop laminate – based on 1950’s Franciscan Starburst pottery (one of my many collections) – and WilsonArt printed it for me. George installed foot lighting using lights from a 1961 Lincoln. The tail lights are from a 1962 Oldsmobile. The paneling is African Mahogany, and the flooring is Marmoleum. We had a local auto body shop paint the exterior. This renovation took 18 months – we wanted to throw in the towel a few times, but we persevered.
This trailer is so fun! It just makes people happy.
