As an Airstream owner, what is it about an Ikea store that draws me in?
It must have to do with aluminum. Obviously I have a penchant for it since we have an Airstream but Ikea seems to like it also. There are many aluminum/silver metal items throughout the store. Everytime I see such an item in Ikea I think how I can use that in the trailer. Sometimes things will work but oftentimes they will not.
Here are some of the hits.
One thing that we like in our 31′ Classic floorplan is that there is a huge wardrobe on one side of the trailer. It has a hanging rod all the way across the top and a flat bottom to it (with various Airstream systems underneath). This makes it easy to hang clothes and lay things on the bottom but not much in between. We have been thinking of ways to be able put some stores there, like a pantry. Here is a shot of the wardrobe doors:
Ikea makes a mini-pantry for putting on top of their countertops. We got one and thought we would give it a try. So behind the left wardrobe door is this:
Oooohhh! Look! Aluminum look! What you are seeing there is the rollup door. Here it is with the door open:
This way you can see the adjustable shelves, and a bit of insight to us. Toilet paper, paper towels, garbage bags, blender, laundry soap and a toaster. We are very pleased with it. I still have to anchor it to the wall.
In our old 25′ trailer we came up with a way to hang our towels for drying. We used a compression shower curtain rod, put it up high in the hall way between the cabinets in two different locations. This gave a very convenient location for the towels. Alas our ‘new’ Airstream was not conducive to a similar setup. I knew we would need a hook or three.
Ikea came to the rescue:
A typical Ikea product, unpronounceable. But they are silver and shiny!! I really like how they fold up and down. Here they are on the wall:
Airstream prides themselves on using ‘every available inch’ in an efficient manner. I can see where that is very true in the most part but they will, as my wife puts it, ‘stub their toe’ sometimes. One big stub was the toilet paper holder:
They mounted it inside the cabinet door but then you cannot have anything on that shelf. Annoying, and you have to open the door to get to it. Not convenient. Once again Ikea comes to the rescue:
This is a bit more pronounceable at least but it is SILVER! I decided, with spousal approval, to mount it in a different location:
All in all pleased with this location. Easy to get to, don’t have to open a cabinet, not ON the counter, out of the way. Might hurt the aesthetic a bit by being visible but it is OK with us.
Those are the 3 hits for us at this point. It is good that the closest Ikea is at least 3 hours away or we might have a LOT more. I will keep you posted as there is more.
