CHAPTER Three

Nice to Met You Milly

We would love to introduce you to Milly, our 1978 Millard caravan. When we first met Milly she had seen better days and was in desperate need of a little TLC. With many of our client’s projects beyond Sydney metro area, our soon-to-be studio will be able to go on the road.

Milly suffered from that 1970’s caravan look, with dark wood panelling, heavy curtains and vinyl floor tiles. But we saw great potential. We liked her outer shape and the location of the windows suited our design.

Sometimes you just have to say goodbye

Goodbye wood panelling, Goodbye green velour...

We decided to start with a totally clean slate, so we threw out everything we could. The interior was completely removed. We even removed the new vinyl ceiling installed by the previous owner. Luckily, we did! The ceiling concealed all the signs of previous roof leaks. At the end of day two we were left with an empty metal shell (with leaks).

The space needed to be opened up and re-planned to work as our new studio. We designed the new floor plan based on the window configuration and to optimise the small footprint. We saw Milly as a perfect place to make, play and connect with others.

The first step was to make Milly waterproof. This process required a lot of elbow grease to remove the failing silicon and old patch jobs. We used a roofing rubber/butyl adhesive tape to seal the metal roof and sides together. This was a sticky process with a heat gun.

This gave us time to confirm internal measurements and finalise the internal layout. Overall, we wanted Milly’s design to reflect us and our brand. A contemporary look with clean lines and carefully resolved detailing. This would provide a perfect clean canvas to add our loved vintage finds. A balance of old with new.