OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
2003 Keystone Cougar trailer, Ventura, California
Climbing up through the hills of the Santa Rosa Valley, just south of Ventura, California, it’s easy to miss the turnoff for Ashley and Dino Petrone’s building lot. Surrounded by well-kept Spanish-style homes and sprawling California ranches with meticulously landscaped lawns, their 2003 Keystone Cougar trailer parked on a dirt patch is a blip that hardly registers.
The couple kicked off married life in a spacious five-bedroom house but Ashley wanted a place she could put her stamp on. When an under-priced 2.2 acre lot with a view popped up in a desirable community, she knew this was where they would build. With nowhere to live during the build, the couple purchased a tired-looking 31-foot trailer for $8,000 (about £6,000) so they could supervise and save money in the process.
She and Dino began by ripping out everything they hated – the dustyblue carpeting, dated brass light fixtures, chintz-covered furniture and oppressive, space-sucking upper cabinets. Ashley decided on a West Coast vibe with a monochrome colour palette sprinkled with boho prints and beachy accessories. Friends gave her a couple of boxes of leftover graphic cement tiles, which Ashley and her mum installed in the kitchen. With the new white kitchen cabinet fronts, accented with streamlined black hardware, the existing black appliances looked as if they had been chosen on purpose.
The trailer also originally sported multiple cougar decals and multicoloured stripes, which Ashley sanded off, primed and painted.
Three bunk beds, stacked high, were squeezed into a shoebox-size space beside the bathroom to function as the kids’ room, while a separate bedroom on the other end of the trailer gave Ashley and Dino their own space. Wanting to start fresh, the couple sold or gave away the majority of their possessions. Each child was given one tote-sized bin to hold all their clothes, and toys were strictly limited. “They have one stuffed animal each, some books, and a shared craft bin – that’s it,” Ashley explains.
Three weeks later, having spent just under $3,000 (about £2,300), they were ready to move in. Big adjustments had to be made – there was no washing machine or dishwasher and only a teensy shower. But this was temporary, wasn’t it? “We thought, ‘Oh, it’ll be fun, we’ll live in this trailer for a couple of months and then we’ll move into the house.’ Wrong! We’ve been here for over a year and counting,” says Ashley.
With a newfound comfort in living small, Ashley and Dino are unsure about starting construction. “Living this way has shifted how we want to build and even made us question whether we want to build,” says Ashley.
“We love how free our life is right now. It’s so amazing. Who knows where we’ll end up?”