“Is this prettier than every other place—or are we biased?” muses Bethany Williams as she surveys the 11-acre Oregon farmstead where she and he partner, Parker Bolden, cofounded Perpetually Devastated Acres, a farm and Airstream renovation business. “We’re right on the river in the Coquille Valley,” Bolden says. “We’re surrounded by foxglove and daisies, and deer are running around...it’s rural for sure,” Williams adds.

The pair first fell for Airstream travel trailers while Williams attended graduate school in California. “We lived in one partly out of necessity—I was starting grad school, and we were moving from Oregon to California,” she explains. College town rents were sky-high, so the duo opted to cohabitate in an Airstream and live on rural farms to reduce costs. Together, they helped tend the land while relishing an indoor/outdoor lifestyle. “It was true downsizing,” Bolden adds, “going from a house in Portland to an Airstream on 100 acres.”

The experience lit a spark, and today (seven years and 25 airstream renovations later), the duo works in tandem to purchase and fully customize land yachts of all shapes and sizes from their farm-run workshop. While Bolden focused on restoration at the start, he’s since transitioned to buying gutted trailers and building them out. “We have a fully dedicated shop for the airstream interiors now,” he says.

Their latest project, Sol (short for Solstice), captures the pair’s love of nature and their warm, down-to-earth energy. “The landscape inspired it,” Bolden says of the interior tones, materials, and styling. “From our porch, we can see the river across the highway, and it’s very lush—there are pasture lands, cows walking by, and rich, yellow-orangey sunsets.” The camper’s glowing color palette draws upon these natural notes.

“This one came from northern Montana,” Bolden explains, recalling Sol’s remote origins. After discovering it on Craigslist, he hit the road to see it in person. “I traveled by myself, as I often do,” he says. “I pulled in and immediately knew it was in really nice shape. I was excited to see that what was listed was being offered—sometimes that doesn’t line up.”

In this case, Bolden could tell it had been lovingly cared for by the owner. “We just knew it had good bones in terms of subfloor, insulation, exterior skin, the frame, and chassis; it was a solid trailer,” he says. “It just needed to be revisited on the interior.”

Before formally exchanging keys, Bolden conducted a full-frame assessment, inspected the tires, and packed the bearings with grease for safety. This process occurs before all of his vintage Airstream purchases, he says—and if the bones check out, he makes the long drive home with the find.

Fortunately, Sol passed the test and was anointed road ready and safe for the tow home. “You’re hyper aware,” Bolden says of his returning drives. "You’re towing something that weights 5,000 pounds, and you can feel it behind you a little bit. You just take it slow.”

Once back home in Oregon, the duo planned with their collaborators (designer Mike Beganyi and carpenter Jeffrey Ostercamp) before getting to work on the interior. They aimed to weave the rich colors of Oregon's geography into the aesthetic, enhance the limited square footage, and blend standout original features with newly built ones. A calendar year of rough-and-tough effort brought it back to life—and carefully handcrafted details abound.

The Airstream’s living area features a handmade, L-shaped seating area outfitted with custom upholstery. “In most trailers, you want to come in and go out quickly, but in this one, you can sit for hours without wanting to leave,” Bolden says. The pair recreates this layout repeatedly; they say it maximizes seating and livability.

Nearby, a brand new (and entirely handmade) kitchen features a 12-inch gas cooktop, birch cabinetry, and a slew of high-end components. “We used all top-end things and then figured out the casework to go around it,” says Bolden.

Thankfully, the trailer’s original interior and exterior trims were in great shape—including a ’70s-era rose gold border that lines the backsplash and sink. “We didn’t have to replace the windows, the window trim, or the window and door hardware—so it’s a mix of new and old,” Bolden affirms. “The rose gold edging behind the sink was original to this trailer. I loved the look, so I thought, ‘I’m going to restore this and terminate the tile with it.”

Parker designed the trailer’s palette to match, adding square marble tile on the countertop, sustainable cork for the floors, and touches of earthy green and terra-cotta throughout.

The pair, who share a love of rescuing vintage furniture and visiting auctions near their home, prefer found or handmade pieces to anything mass produced. “We try to recycle or reuse as much as we can,” they say. “Our life is about mixing the old and the new.”

This ethos is in keeping with a rustic design element, used decoratively on the bathroom door and cabinetry fronts, that Bolden dreamed up mid-process: He used wood waste from the build to produce a natural chevron detail (shown below). “I walked into the shop, and there were a few pieces of off-cut sitting next to each other,” he says. Inspired, Bolden took the half-inch lengths of birch plywood, tore them into tiny strips, and laminated them together. “Each face is glued to the next face and then planed,” he explains.

The pattern and texture add warmth while accenting the cork flooring. “There is a lot of waste in the process, so it’s nice to use what I cut off as a feature in this trailer,” he says.

The bathroom, which the pair relocated to the center of the trailer, has a custom stainless-steel shower pan and a white oak shower insert. “You don’t expect this luxury in a travel trailer bathroom,” Bolden says. Rose gold trim continues inside, mixed with white honeycomb tile and gray grout. It’s a compact environment, but it feels warm and inviting.

The bath’s new location facilitates an open layout (by minimizing the use of partition walls), and it helps balance weight evenly throughout the trailer. “It used to be a back bathroom,” Bolden says. “We wanted to center the weight on the axels, because we knew we would use tile for the countertops and shower.”

A queen-sized bed rests at the stern, nestled against a built-in dresser and a sizable oval window. The placement offers privacy from the living area and views from the bed. “It’s got enough space where it doesn’t feel cramped,” Bolden says of the sleeping quarters. “It feels cozy and tucked in.”

Williams, who corresponds with Airstream clients and manages logistics, also enjoys decorating and styling the finished product. “I like to take charge with the staging,” she says, noting her love of the camper’s luxe tumeric sheets. “They’re 100-percent linen. We got a set for the trailer, and then we ordered a set for ourselves,” she laughs. “They’re gorgeous.”

This go-round, Bolden says his most significant learning was to loosen his grip on timeline. “I learned to just fully go there with it; take a little more time, even if it’s going to take a little more out of you,” he says. For this trailer rework, Bolden didn’t hold back. “I didn’t say no because it would put us behind schedule for a few weeks,” he says.

Bolden and Williams also agree that it’s essential to pivot as needed. “Be committed to your vision, but read the space and feel what works and what doesn’t,” they say. Throughout the design process, the pair stayed flexible. Williams advises to keep an open mind after framing the space. “Lay it all out with tape. Walk around with it; imagine it," she says. “Take your time to understand the space, and what it requires.”

The pair did just that, successfully crafting a comfortable and enjoyable space that begs guests to linger. Now that it’s complete, Bolden calls Sol one of the best Airstreams he’s built to date. “It’s tough to get them this level of finished,” he says. “When you walk into it, it’s an experience—the textures in the space make you feel good, and when I make something like that, I feel so happy to have done it.”

Related Reading:

A 1973 Airstream Gets an Organic Remodel Inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright

A 1984 Airstream Shines With a Steely-Blue Shell and a Farmhouse Interior

In an Airstream Far, Far Away…Lives a Star Wars–Obsessed Design Fiend

Project Credits:

Builder: Parker Bolden, Perpetually Devastated / @perpetuallydevastated

Interior Design: Bethany Williams, Perpetually Devastated

Cabinetry Design/Installation: Jeffrey Ostercamp Designs

Consultant: Mike Beganyi Design and Consulting

Photographer: Lisa Bolden / @lisahoneybee

Appears In

Two Farmsteading Oregon Activists Give a Vintage Airstream a Glowing Update