Park & Rec

A pair of vintage aluminum RVs joined by a platform deck create an unexpected work-from-home, play-from-home bonus Space

- KATHY BARNES

The pandemic forced creatives Catherine Bailey and husband Robin Petravic to find a new place to work after their company, Heath Ceramics, closed its factory during the lockdown. The couple moved to an old fisherman's camp at Tomales Bay in Northern California on a slice of property they had purchased by luck a year earlier. They added a vintage travel trailer in 2019 then a second trailer in early March 2020. The Spartanette trailers-one built in 1948 and the other in 1951 by an aircraft company that manufactured planes during WWII then moved into making campers after the war-provided a makeshift office for Catherine and what would become a studio apartment for their son, who had to move home during that time. Three years later, the trailers delight as a place to connect with nature and entertain. "We make fires on the beach. We built a pizza oven outside and invite people out for casual gatherings. It's janky, but we're all about keeping it real," Catherine says. "Nothing is perfect here, but I like what we've created."

HAPPY TRAILERS