Homebuilt Teardrop Trailer 3: Galley Counter & Flooring

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This is the third post in a series about our homebuilt teardrop trailer, discussing the kitchen. Scroll to the bottom for links to previous posts.

If you aren't familiar with the general layout of a teardrop trailer, the main compartment is for sleeping, and the kitchen (galley) is under the hatch that lifts up in the back. We had several plan ideas for our galley, but that will get a post of its own further in the process. For now, I'm going over the counter in the kitchen area and the flooring that we installed throughout.

First up, the galley counter. We had talked about a number of solutions. We decided granite was too heavy, didn't want to deal with laying tile, and settled on butcher block. From an aesthetic standpoint, it went well with our design ideas, and it's hardy enough to be great for camping.

Instead of buying actual butcher block counter material, Jamie found some remnant hardwood flooring at our local ReStore. If you aren't familiar with Habitat for Humanity's ReStore, you should totally learn more and see if you have one near you! It's kind of a thrift store full of building materials, and proceeds benefit the amazing work that Habitiat does. We make regular visits to the two that are near us, and find all sorts of cool and useful stuff, but this flooring was the single biggest “win” we've found.

Jamie sanded the flooring down to smooth, and mounted it on a piece of 1/2″ plywood for strength. The front edge is trimmed with solid maple, and the whole thing is finished with a few coats of Emmet's Good Stuff (Which is a little expensive, but worth every penny!)

Teardrop Trailer Kitchen Counters

Another source of much conversation had been what kind of flooring to use throughout the trailer. Knowing that inside would be covered by the mattress, we were more worried about utility and ruggedness than we were about looks. We talked about black and white checkered linoleum, but it's surprisingly hard to find sheet lino these days!

We ended up choosing peel and stick tiles that were in stock on the day we went looking. Because again, no one is really going to see it.

We did the tile install on a pretty hot day in July, and did have some concerns about them peeling up at first. Once they had a few days to settle in though, they're fine and we haven't had any issues since.

Here's the interior floor being set, and you can see the storage box that's inset in the floor. We generally keep things we don't need much in there; blocks for leveling when we camp, our tent… it's a slight PITA to get to, so we want to minimize how often we have to get in there.

The finished floor with the top of the inset box in place.

It's our first “Look! We're in the trailer!” selfie!

Max loved helping as often as he could, but ear and eye protection is always a must! Bonus adorableness.

Next post: Insulation

Previous posts: Planning & Framing | Walls & Interior Skin