You’re never too old—or too busy—to jump into a new hobby. Just ask Janet Mekech of Springfield, Oregon. While caring full-time for her in-laws, one who was wheelchair-bound and the other living with Alzheimer’s, Janet carved out a few precious hours each week to escape into something that brought her joy: restoring her 1959 Oasis travel trailer. Those moments became her creative outlet, a place where she could make something beautiful with her own hands.
Janet isn’t afraid to get dirty, and she dove headfirst into the project. The restoration took two years, with a little help from friends and her husband. Once the aluminum skin came off, a friend stepped in to replace all the rotten wood. Her husband—luckily a retired electrician—rewired and plumbed the trailer, giving the Oasis a safe and solid foundation for the future.
Inside, the trailer reflects Janet’s personality. What looks like wallpaper is actually hand-painted designs with a touch of glitter for sparkle. After visiting a local farm that was salvaging lumber, she fell in love with a slab of black walnut and knew it had to become her countertop. Ten coats of spar urethane later, it gleamed exactly the way she imagined.
The floor is another unique detail: a concrete-rock material attached to sheeting. Janet says it wasn’t hard to install, just incredibly messy—and thanks to those signature rounded Oasis corners, she had to tear the sheeting apart to make everything fit just right.
Outside, she turned to artist Ed Hubbs to bring the trailer’s exterior to life with a custom wildlife airbrushed scene inspired by the original Oasis design. The result is a perfect blend of nostalgia and storytelling.
To Janet, vintage trailers are “giant dollhouses”—blank canvases waiting to be restored, decorated, and made personal. And in her world, a trailer isn’t finished until it makes her smile.
