Tour our Airstream :: The Bathroom {Flying Cloud Bunk Model}

Airstream 2015 Flying Cloud 30-ft bunk trailer :: Bathroom tour

It’s been about six months since we hit the road and I’ve been putting off a tour of the inside of our trailer. I’m not entirely sure why. Perhaps I kept thinking that after a few months I’d have it all organized and styled just the way I like it. I was procrastinating thinking it wasn’t quite perfect and that I needed to make it better. I decided that this is just silly – because it’s one of our most common questions – what does the inside of your trailer look like? I think it’s helpful for other full-time families who are considering an Airstream for them to see what real-life inside our trailer looks like.

So we’re opening up our home – using photos and descriptions – so you can see just how we live and organize ourselves in our 2015 30-foot Airstream Flying Cloud bunk model – with two kids who make messes and have stuff. I’m going to start from the back and work my way forward – featuring specific areas one at a time.

So let’s start with the bathroom. There is only one bathroom in the Airstream (some big fifth wheels come with two, so I think it’s good to clarify!). To think we had THREE bathrooms in our old house. To think I would have previously scoffed at having to share one bathroom with the whole family. Really, it’s not a big thing. Both figuratively. . .and literally. . . ha!

Let me give you some measurements so you can get an idea of how much space we’re talking. It’s 3 ft 4 inches from the wall with the window (behind the toilet) to the opposite wall. And 6 ft 6 inches if you’re going from the farthest shower wall to the farthest wall with the bathroom mirror. So sorta long and narrow (see floor plan above). The shower height at it’s highest is 6 feet 1 inch. The shower has a nice bench that you can sit in and the shower head can be handheld if needed. The shower door is a retracting plastic non-molding surface.

If you have small kids, they can sit in the base of the shower for a makeshift bath – my daughter loves to fill up the bottom part of the shower and sit in a “bath” – it’s about 5-6 inches of water but she loves it. She’s also a champ at taking a shower – so we often switch between the two. I think the shower is sufficiently big – I don’t feel overly scrunched or limited when showering in it (and my 6-foot husband doesn’t either – in fact we think it was better than some of the 5th wheels we looked at).

Opposite the shower (to your right when you walk in) is the sink and vanity. The black control panels that you see in the bathroom do the following things (from top to bottom) – light switch, hot water heater (choose gas or electric), toilet flusher (choose water or no water) and the black tank level warning light (it lets you know when the shitter is full – but hopefully you know before that warning light is on!).

Let’s take a closer look at this area. . .

1. ) Stainless caddy – Over the bathroom sink we have the simplehuman Sink Caddy, Stainless Steel. Designed for the kitchen, we actually use it for our toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss. It makes them easily accessible – without having anything on the counter. I love that it has a built in strainer so water does not collect in the bottom of the caddy. We wash this out as needed. I’ve found the suction cups on the back are more than sufficient for keeping this securely attached to the wall. We found this at a local Ross store for about $11.99 a minor savings over what I’ve seen online.

2.) Flower vase – One of our newest additions to the bathroom is the InterDesign Forma Toothbrush and Razor Cup, Brushed Stainless Steel – made for toothbrushes, I use it as a vase. It adds some brightness and cheer to the bathroom.

3.) Soap dispensers – I love my simplehuman Wall Mount Pumps, Twin 15 fl. oz. Shampoo & Soap Dispenser, Stainless Steel – it keeps my counters clear from a soap dispenser. It also saves me from having to put away a soap dispenser whenever we travel between destinations. We use this for soap and lotion. Although we don’t use the lotion near as much as I expected, so it’s possible we could have gone with just the single pump above the sink. These are easy enough for the kids to use and we buy the large bottles of hand soap for easy refills.

4.) Storage bins – Under the sink I have storage bins – found in the Dollar Spot at Target (I think $1 – $3) – that work great for storing our toiletries. I recommend measuring your space and keeping those measurements with you – so when you’re out and about shopping you can refer to that when sizing things up.

5.) Toilet paper. . . so yeah, um. From what we’ve been told you don’t need to buy the expensive RV toilet paper – just stick with the cheapest 1-ply toilet paper you can find in the store. We’ve been using the Up&Up Septic and Sewer Safe toilet paper from Target and it’s worked out great in terms of not clogging the system but still getting the job done, if you know what I mean. Check the Target Cartwheel app – you’ll often find a 5% off coupon for Up&Up toilet paper – an easy way to save on the road! Of course, if you have a new RV or trailer – check with your local service department to make sure this variety would work for you – I’m certainly not a black tank expert and I’d feel horrible if this variety wasn’t a good choice for your commode.

6.) Bath towels – When we lived in our regular house we had big, fluffy cotton towels. The biggest disadvantage to those towels are :: storage space and drying times. There was no way a stack of the big cotton towels was going under the cabinet in the Airstream – and believe me when I tell you, the dryers at the campgrounds often suck and you’ll be forking over plenty of quarters to get your fluffy towels completely dry. Our solution, and one we are so very happy with, TURKISH bath towels. Now these aren’t cheap – you can expect to pay $15 – $25 a towel for this variety. We purchased 6 from Amazon when started our journey and I think we are down to 5 now (where our missing towel went, nobody knows). We ordered 6 different colors with the idea that each family member would have their own towel plus two extra – but it didn’t really end up working out that way – we just all use whatever is clean and dry at the time. These towels dry exceptionally fast, are a nice big size (great for public shower areas), make great beach towels and get softer and more absorbent the more times they are washed and used.

And if you want to hang your towels up, the Command Medium Hooks, White, 6-Hook are your friend! Look for the damage-free hooks. We have 4 of these inside our bathroom for hanging towels. We also have a towel rack inside the shower and a drying line that can be pulled across the shower for additional drying space (these come with the trailer).

7.) Shampoo/Conditioner/Soap dispenser – One of my FAVORITE things we added to our Airstream bathroom was this simplehuman Wall Mount Pumps, Triple 15 fl. oz. Shampoo & Soap Dispenser, Stainless Steel. It saves us from having bottles of shampoo, conditioner or body wash flopping around in the already small space. At $69.99 it’s not cheap, but I believe worth the investment. The lids come off easily and you can refill with your favorite products. We use ours for shampoo, conditioner and body wash. It secures firmly to the wall using adhesive and we haven’t had any issues with it becoming loose. To save a few bucks, I recommend picking this up at Bed, Bath and Beyond and using a 20% off coupon – that’s what we did.

8.) Shower drain cover – Also new is the HeroNeo® Starfish Hair Catcher Rubber Bath Sink Strainer Shower Drain Cover Trap Basin (Blue). We have some major heads of hair in this family. This little guy does a fine job of catching those hairs before they they go down the drain. Plus I love the bright blue starfish in the shower.

9.) Tiny trash can – I found this at a HomeGoods store. It’s a tiny, tiny trash can. It works plenty well for our needs. You could secure it to something with a suction cup, but we usually just store it in the shower when we travel (so it doesn’t go rolling all around). You want a small trash can – there isn’t a lot of space on either side of the toilet. Besides in such a small living space you don’t want a big garbage filling up and smelling things up anyway.

If you plan to shower using campground showers you’ll want to have travel size shampoo/conditioner containers and a water proof bag for hauling your gear to and from the shower.

The toilet is a regular sized porcelain toilet.  I don’t think I would like a plastic RV toilet. This one is easy to clean and seems to get the job done. It’s a macerating toilet. What’s that you ask? It’s like having a Vitamix in the plumbing of your toilet – it basically uses tiny blades to liquify and breakdown the “contents” before it reaches the black tank. Sounds nasty but this happens after you flush – so you aren’t seeing the magic happen – and it keeps things moving when it’s time to pull your shiny, tiny home up to a dump station and empty your business. That’s Jeremy’s department and thankfully we haven’t had many issues with the toilet or black tank since hitting the road.

There are two small windows behind the toilet. I wish they opened – it would be great to help with moisture from the shower and when I’m trying to get my towels to dry in humid places. The shade is almost always down, though. 🙂 There is a ceiling fan and adjustable lights (1-4 lights can be turned on).

So that’s it. That’s a tour of our 2015 Airstream Flying Cloud Bunk Model BATHROOM complete with tips and ideas for making the most of your space. I’d love to answer any questions you might have or to delve deeper into a particular topic, if you’d like.