In 2012, the lake flooded and destroyed one of our staff houses. As a solution, the board bought a brand new previously owned luxury 400 square foot camper for me to move into. I LOVED the camper. It had everything I needed- a tiny kitchen, a tiny bathroom, a surprising amount of closet and storage space, and even air conditioning. It was PERFECT for me and 2 fat bulldogs.
The camper had beige carpeting (in what scenario would beige carpeting EVER work in a camper?!). We had a big roll of linoleum, which we put over the carpet and duct taped down. The linoleum was a mess, so this year, I re-did the floor, this time with the plastic that you might use to covers steps (a huge upgrade if I do say so). The carpet was still in great shape, despite years of wet, sandy dogs living here, so I stand behind the decision to use the linoleum, even though everyone gives me a hard time about it looking janky.
3 years ago, we took the table and chairs out to make room for a crib. The crib has a mosquito net around it and curtains to make it somewhat dark and quiet.
The camper came with a big old tube tv. That also got removed and became the changing table area. Last year, we took out one of the recliners to make a play space for Xander’s table and toys. I still love the camper and I can’t remember what it was even like before all the changes we’ve made since that first year when it rolled onto camp and into my heart.
This summer, we’ve added a baby and approximately 700 toys because toddlers have a lot of stuff! But yesterday, I was an organizing madwoman and I’m still feeling good about our tiny home. I was a little nervous about the bathtub situation, in that there isn’t one. We have a makeshift tub, but Xander loves bath time, so I wasn’t sure what he would think of the baby tub.
I’ve spent the last week building up camp bath time. Every night at bath time, we talk about how, at camp, he will use a very special tub and then use a sprayer (the shower head detaches) to shower off “just like Daddy”. I bought a Paw Patrol bathmat and Xander said, “time for a bath in my Paw Patrol tub”. I’m not sure why it’s a Paw Patrol tub, but I went with it. He sat in the little tub and looked a little apprehensive but he LOVED the sprayer and by the time we were done, the tub was filled all the way and overflowing and he was having a blast.
A woman, a toddler, a baby and an old bulldog go into the woods to live in a camper… sort of sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but no, this is our life.
