The most common question people have, when they read blog posts from our tiny trailer trips – or when I mention we are taking our five children under nine on a camping road trip – the most common question, other than “why would you do that?” Is “how do you all fit in?”
And so, as I am nothing if not obliging, here I am, to show you around the interior – specifically, where everyone sleeps, as you’ve seen the general post-renovation interior before (here).
It is small! When we first picked it up, it had the original bunk beds (below), and a dining table that folds into a double bed.
Original bunks
The previous owner had also installed an extra bunk above the double bed but we removed that because, hilariously, I thought the children should all sleep on one side, so that mr tMatM and I could sit up late into the night on a secluded side of the camper drinking wine, eating olives and chatting.
In any case, clearly I had temporarily forgotten that we have five children under nine and so of course that particular idyll will never happen.
The table/benches turn into a double – we removed the bed above for extra wine drinking olive eating space.
Nevertheless, it is quite nice not to have any children directly above us, and having all the children together at one side does look quite cosy (and prevent any spirited discussions about who gets to sleep in a prized separate space).
The bunk beds now, with newly-covered cushions and a distinct lack of brown and blue curtain valance (scarred by my school uniform colours)
Anyway. Instead of the above-dining table bunk, we added an extra slide out bunk at the bottom of the original bunk beds. too. (Generous use of the term “we”. You can assume any of the actual work was done by Mr tMatM)
So that sleeps three…and then ‘we’ chopped out part of a cupboard to make a small cot-sized bed at the top bunk level for Wilfred (3), in an L-shape, although mr tMatM has grand plans to make the top bunk fold out into a double. One for next summer?
We also have a safety net that pulls out from under the mattress for the top level but it’s black and bulky and not very photogenic so for the purposes of this blog post I didn’t hook it up (form over function).
I made the children demonstrate:
Useful for scale
Who doesn’t like sleeping right by the fridge
View with our bed also made up
More of our side, the side for Olive eating and casual late night wine drinking. And desperate snatched moments of sleep.
So. That’s the tiny trailer! Feeling quite nostalgic actually now and forgetting those (many) moments of sheer exhaustion. The Grand Canyon in August sounds like a great idea. Have you been? Any insider advice gratefully received.
tMatM x