Nate Kantor and Garrett Foster Green wanted another try at an Airstream.

A few years ago, they’d restored one of the classic trailers so that Nate, a Joshua Tree–based photographer who travels frequently, and his wife could make it their full-time home.

“It turned out well,” recalls Nate, who resided in that first Airstream for nearly two years. “But after living on the road and learning how to make a small space as functional as possible, I saw a lot I could do differently—and I wanted another shot at it.”

One thing’s for sure, though: The trailer could only be an Airstream.

“There’s a timelessness in both aesthetics and materials,” Nate says. “A very high percentage of them are still on the road. Aluminum doesn’t corrode, whereas most other campers have wood structures holding up the walls, and over time they deteriorate. The Airstreams are just kind of a breed of their own.”

Nate found a 1968 Airstream and teamed up again with Garrett, a commercial cabinetry engineer and maker, to develop an interior beyond DIY or midcentury kitsch; something more like a house than a trailer. Paradoxically, one of their first steps was to make most of the upper cabinetry disappear.

“Nate emphasized keeping it open,” Garrett recalls. “He’d been in and out of van life and Airstream life, and in some of those rigs you feel squished. Nate was like, ‘Let’s not put any upper cabinets. Let’s just let this space breathe as much as possible.”

The design team selected sustainable linoleum flooring because it incorporates natural materials and resembles concrete.
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Sure enough, without cabinetry dominating the upper portions of the 150-square-foot trailer’s interior, an abundance of natural light fills the space. To avoid losing storage, the duo got creative with the lower portions of the rig. They placed large drawers under the bed, installed a wardrobe and a set of drawers, and claimed portions of the wheel wells for additional storage.

Knowing that today RVs and travel trailers often serve as full-time dwellings, Garrett and Nate wanted this Airstream to feel less like being on an airplane, and more like an actual home.

“There's a temptation to want to save weight and go with lighter materials and thinner things that you might not normally use in a house,” Nate says. “I think you pay the price for that later, with it not holding up to the wear and tear.”

An open bedroom occupies the front of the trailer; the kitchen and living areas are in the middle; and the bathroom, instead of being wedged into one side of the aisle like on an airplane, is given the Airstream’s entire caboose, so it feels like an actual room. Yet thanks a sliding pocket door, the trailer’s large back window can still fill the Airstream with natural light.

The interior of the Anza Airstream, as it’s called, features a simple material palette that’s largely defined by white oak doors and cabinetry. The arched, solid-wood doors echo the curves of the white-painted walls for a hint of Spanish colonial style. White oak is particularly prized for its durability and water resistance. “Usually with riff-sawn white oak, you have a really tight grain,” Nate says. “We embraced a wider Cathedral-cut grain pattern, which is more rustic.”

To ensure that the cabinets and doors can withstand life on the road, Garrett selected robust hardware. The cabinet boxes are attached to a rail that’s riveted to the trailer’s aluminum studs and structural components.

“I’ve been in a cabinet shop for seven plus years. I’m obsessed with making cabinets work brilliantly, which presents an extra challenge when they have to be engineered to move,” Garret explains. “Nate would reiterate all the time: ‘We’ve got to make sure this can withstand a 2.5 earthquake, four times a month.’ That came down to the materials behind the oak that you don’t see. I wanted the best grabbing hardware: stuff that will not let a door or a drawer fall open.”

“When we went to get it weighed, I was in the back making sure everything works. The only sound when we were moving was from the oven, because I left one of the racks in there,” Garrett recalls. “Everything else, it was like, ‘This works like a dream! My SUV rattles more than this.”

Custom acrylic resin countertops spill over to form a built-in dining table seat, and the Johnsonite Harmonium xf linoleum flooring ismade from natural materials. “Usually in RVs, people use vinyl planking, which works great,” Nate adds, “but I was really hesitant about using anything that’s not the real thing.”

The renovation took longer than the duo expected, and of course any such project has its trying moments. One day, as they were working on the project at Nate’s Joshua Tree home, a windstorm abruptly wreaked havoc. It sent a stack of material samples a hundred feet into the air, and then sent a water-tank box flying into the trailer’s facade, puncturing the aluminum.

“Nate and I were just sitting at the edge of the garage looking at each other like, ‘What in the hell is going on?’ We both had to just walk away for like 15 minutes,” Garrett recalls with a laugh. “But thank God the hole was repairable, and at a place by the bed cabinet where the trim covers it up. We riveted that, then made a new patch for the inside.”

The trailer could easily go off-grid, as it’s prepped to receive photovoltaic panels and its existing battery system can easily be expanded. “We both like to get out to extreme spots, especially the desert, but we want our Chemex coffee in the morning as well,” Garret says.

Completed earlier this year, the Anza Airstream is designed to stand up to life on the road—whether it’s a weekend outing or full-time nomadism—and it’s already paying dividends. During a recent outing with his wife and their dog, Nate says they fell in love with it. “Just watching the sunrise come up from bed...it all came together in that moment.”

The trailer’s completion also marks he launch of Garrett and Nate’s new Airstream renovation company, Nomadicana. “There’s an accessibility that people like,” Nate says. “I think people are moving away from needing a gigantic house, and toward having something that’s dialed in specifically for their needs.”

More Campers & Trailers stories:

A Newlywed Couple Hack Austin’s Housing Market by Fixing Up a 1971 Airstream

Two Farmsteading Oregon Activists Give a Vintage Airstream a Glowing Update

An Atypical Paint Job and a Dedicated Dog Cabin Complete This Clever $3K Camper-Van Conversion

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Nomadicana / @nomadicana.co

Builder: Nomadicana

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This Overhauled Airstream Feels Less Like a Trailer and More Like a House