I recently became the proud owner of a 1950s vintage 11-foot-long travel trailer. Yes, that’s right: I’m going to live in a trailer. At least on the weekends, parked at the base of a ski area. I’m calling it a ski-in, ski-out condo more than it is a trailer. The trailer itself is a “canned ham” style, as they called it back then and it still has a lot of the original parts: a vintage stove, yellow vinyl dinette cushions, propane lanterns. I got it for a good price on Craig’s List from a guy in Olympia, Washington, who collects antique trucks. But the trailer needs some care and attention, a few upgrades that will keep its historic value, but give it a modern touch and make it a bit more comfortable to actually live in. But before the fixing up actually begins, I went online for some inspiration. Here’s what’s I found, some images of restored vintage trailers that will give me some ideas for how to fix up mine. Stay tuned for before and after images of my own trailer.

I’m planning to paint portions of the wood interior a retro blue like this one. Also, our trailer needs new curtains - maybe checkered ones?

I love these red hubcaps.

Or maybe polka dot curtains? The dining room table in our trailer looks a lot like this one here.

Oh, Airstreams. This one has great diner-style checkered floors.

Ours is plain white on the outside - a blank slate. We are going to paint a teal stripe similar to this one. I also love the wings on the back, which was common with a lot of these vintage trailers.