Couple transform old trailer into 'tiny house on wheels' for just £8,000
A couple have transformed an old trailer into a 1970s-inspired tiny house on wheels and spent just £8,000.
The building where Casey and Brandon Smith's woodworking shop was housed was taken over by a new landlord who wanted the whole thing for his own firm.
The pair, both 26 and from Bayonne, New Jersey, in the US, who started Path Design - which creates custom furniture - in 2019, decided time was right for a change.
As tenants began being kicked out, Casey and Brandon opted to fix up an old trailer and go travelling while they figured what to do.
They had previously taken two road trips together - the first in Brandon's car and the second in a wooden camper they built over the back of their pickup truck.
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Since then they'd adopted two dogs and needed a bigger space that was completely self-contained for their trips.
The day after finishing, the couple took their dogs on a road trip (Casey and Brandon Smith/Path Design)With a budget of $10,000 (£8,000) for the whole project they started looking for a secondhand trailer on Facebook Marketplace.
The majority of what was on offer in their price range was rusty or water damaged.
But eventually they came across a 19ft 2006 Sun Valley Roadrunner trailer for $5,000 (£4,000) in February last year.
It had a sleeping area and a bathroom, with the entrance at the rear - all key points on their tick list.
They stripped out the old interior (Casey and Brandon Smith/Path Design)The first thing they did was clear everything out left behind by the previous owners and gave it a deep clean.
Everything was dated but still good structurally.
Casey and Brandon rebuilt almost the entire interior, apart from the cabinets which they painted over.
One of the toughest jobs was ripping up the peel-and-stick vinyl floor and replacing it with laminate.
The new design was based on their own home (Casey and Brandon Smith/Path Design)Most of their new furniture, including their work desk and kitchen countertops, was built using wooden pieces from their shop.
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The renovation work was done while the van was parked on their driveway outside the couple's home.
They didn't have a way of jacking up the trailer so Casey had to crawl under and scrape all the surface rust off before coating it.
She said she looked like she'd been working in a mine by the time she was finished.
Casey and Brandon spent much of their spare time on the project (Casey and Brandon Smith/Path Design)
The couple spent less than £10,000 (Casey and Brandon Smith/Path Design)The pair then gave the trailer a new coat of paint and created a logo with a vintage colourway inspired by the desert.
They painted the outside a slightly off-white with their paint-sprayer and then Casey painted on stripes by hand, based on a design they created on Procreate for iPad.
The project started in June 2022 and was done three months later.
Casey and Brandon described the interior as a mix of wood and other nature-inspired elements.
Casey redesigned a Road runner logo on the side of the trailer (Casey and Brandon Smith/Path Design)A lot of the design choices mimic those in their home.
"We were thinking, when you're on the road, it's always nice to feel like you can have a bit of home — and so we took some inspiration from the colours that we had in our own house," Casey told Insider.
They also completed all the plumbing and electrical work themselves.
"I remember sitting in there a lot in the beginning, and having no idea what direction to go in, just because everything looked so old and it felt like a blank canvas," Casey added.
The couple did the carpentry, electrics and plumbing themselves (Casey and Brandon Smith/Path Design)The water supply comes from a 30-gallon tank that can be refilled at truck stops.
The trailer has a battery and generator for electricity.
The fridge and stove can also run on propane.
One of the biggest changes made was a new shower in the bathroom, replacing a little bathtub.
They decorated the tiny space with cactus print inspired by their road trips in the Southwest.
"If you had a whole house that you had to renovate, it's a big undertaking," Casey said.
"But because the trailer was smaller in scale, we were able to experiment with renovating different rooms without feeling overwhelmed."
The day after the couple finished the renovation in August 2022 they set off on a month-long road trip.
They visited central California and also stayed in Jackson, Wyoming, outside Grand Teton National Park.
Long-term they plan to find a new space for their business, but in the meantime are working out of their garage.
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