Crowd sourcing an interior design project.

I am officially moving forward with the "tractor-trailer-as-a-house/RV" project.

I'm a fair designer, but up until now all I have done is choose colors and pieces to make a room have the look I want. When it comes to full-on complete house design I have little experience.

I will be crowdsourcing much of the project's financial side; possibly corporate sponsors for solar panels, etc. I thought I might crowdsource the design as well. I can't offer much compensation, and no official offer has been made, but I wondered if you guys might want to verbally (or graphically) contribute some opinions.

Below is a very remedial 3D drawing of the space. It measures 104" inside height (until the front deck where it loses 12" to 92" height), 102" outside width (so assume 96" inside), and 48' inside length.

I'll take any and all ideas, but like I said... this is friends chatting. At this point I can't pay for any services. If you come up with a particularly rocking idea I will gladly negotiate a compensation for your services.

Emphasis should be on:

• low-impact living; sustainable materials. End design will incorporate some form of biofuel generator, solar-electric with batteries, etc.
• this will be my full-time home, and I want it to have a modern rustic look
• the rear will most likely incorporate a fold-down deck that also doubles as a vehicle loading ramp. Therefore the rear end of the trailer will likely not be suitable for a bedroom or kitchen (unless you have a brilliant idea)
• since a significant amount of time may be spent in campgrounds or in that type of place, main entry door(s) should be on the passenger side and utilities on the driver's side

Questions appreciated.

The above photo only seems to work some of the time. Here is another one.

Is a foldout an option?

ProDarwin wrote: Is a foldout an option?

Gave considerable thought to this.

A couple things discourage it. (discourage, not forbid)

• I personally don't think I have the engineering knowledge to make it happen on my own. I think I do, but there is a high probability of my executing a design and having it fail miserably. At this point in the budget I can't experiment on a $4000 trailer to have it become junk

• There isn't much place for it. I can't put it in the back because the walls would encroach on the vehicle space. I don't want to put it in a kitchen area because it would require flexible plumbing that has a high probability of failure. I could put it in the bedroom, but it wouldn't add much space... therefore the benefit/cost ratio isn't that great.

... unless you have some ideas on how to make a slide room with folding walls???? He asks inquisitively???

The other idea I originally had was to make vertical space. Take a trailer and basically build a hi-lo cap to put on top. Once you park, lift the roof for a second story.

It is still an idea, but one of the things I have discovered as a lifetime RVer is that road space is key. By that, I mean that the space is usable when you stop at a rest area to make a sandwich. It is why I have never owned a pop-up. I have owned a couple slide-room RVs, but I was careful to choose ones that could be navigated with the slides IN. So many RVs these days have slides that make it impossible to open the fridge or use the bathroom with the slides retracted.

So, if I add vertical space, two things must be maintained; 1) all of the space needs to be usable without lifting the roof, and 2) the roof can't be so high that it excludes me from a campsite designed for regular RVs.

I want something that can be used anywhere without having to "set up" camp.

What about a pop up top for more sleeping room? Kind of like a loft?

nepa03focus wrote: What about a pop up top for more sleeping room? Kind of like a loft?

Totally kosher... as long as it doesn't need big set-up to work for a quick roadside nap. And... much of the roof will likely be covered with solar units.

curtis73 wrote: ... unless you have some ideas on how to make a slide room with folding walls???? He asks inquisitively???

Nothing you could do yourself (unless you want a BIG challenge :) ). But I did design a mobile command center that was housed in the same size trailer you are using that had a ~35ft slideout (basically in front of rear wheels all the way to raised area).

The floor was hinged in 3 spots, so as it came in the floor folded upward. I'll see if I can find a picture or old cad drawing for you. It presents some interesting design challenges, but holy crap did it have a lot of space when opened up.

Saw part of an RV TV show this weekend where they put an A liner "popup" on top of a high end motor coach to make a loft for the kids. I thought it was a great idea for extra sleeping room that you can otherwise ignore when you don't need it. Hard sided and folded up fairly low, and probably less maintenance than a regular soft sided pop up. You might be able to build it without actually using an actual A liner/pop up too.

Slides in RVs are an awesome way to make the social space much more usable, but I have to think that it would be cost prohibitive and unnecessarily complex for your project.

I would be inclined to do a significant outside space with an awning and screened in area attached to your trailer to increase the living space. I'm sure you can find examples at race tracks/events to duplicate on the cheap.

My thought would be to do whatever is cheapest and gets you on the road ASAP.

Get ye to Amazon (or the library) and look up books on tiny houses. I've seen nice, full-function vacation houses in 200-400 sq ft. Books on these should have great ideas on space budgeting.

I would love to be directly involved in designing this with you, but my plate is so full at the moment that stuff is overflowing onto the placemat.

Duke wrote: Get ye to Amazon (or the library) and look up books on tiny houses. I've seen nice, full-function vacation houses in 200-400 sq ft. Books on these should have great ideas on space budgeting. I would *love* to be directly involved in designing this with you, but my plate is so full at the moment that stuff is overflowing onto the placemat.

Well, start eating and join the process halfway through