While attending the RVIA trade show, we seized the opportunity to browse Airstream’s latest. The company unveiled a new model in its popular International series. The incoming Serenity replaces the Ocean Breeze in the lineup. The Serenity features Asian interior design influences. It’s a little like being in a Japanese apartment.
Airstream says the goal with Serenity was to create a “calming” interior. Mission accomplished. The overall impact is quite impressive. Usually we see this sort of interior delivered by the aftermarket in a vintage unit. It’s nice to see the factory produce an interior of this caliber.
The Serenity on display at RVIA was a 27-footer with a front-bedroom layout. The front bedroom floor plans are hugely popular. The general idea is that you back your Airstream into a scenic site, so your living area takes maximum advantage of the view.
Ye olde 27-foot front-bedroom floorplan.
I believe you can remove the table and convert the area into an extra bed. The table and countertop surfaces have a laminate finish that nicely mimics stone. I like the organic feel of this interior.
This dining area BEGS for a little miso soup.
Perhaps the most unique element in this Airstream is the flooring. I’ve never seen anything quite like it in an Airstream. It’s not wood, and it’s not carpet. Can you guess what it is? It’s… (wait for it) linoleum! But it’s unlike any linoleum I’ve ever seen. The texture is slightly soft to the touch, and feels nice on bare feet. We were assured that it’s easy to clean. Although I’ve seen black-and-white tile linoleum in Airstreams, this was different. Now I’m intrigued by this flooring option.
This isn't your grandmother's linoleum.
Looking toward the bedroom. The flooring is a linoleum with an organic appearance and soft feel.
The oven fan overhang is sleek. Kristy is not a fan of the relatively clunky oven overhang in our Airstream Classic. (She’s bumped her head on it more than once.) Here we have elegant rounded surfaces with a minimalist feel.
Kitchen countertops and cabinetry. More Asian design, with a dash of stainless steel.
The backlit frosted glass adds a touch of elegance to the cabinetry.
Frosted glass in cabinets.
The meditation chamber. Feng shui!
Walls and ceiling of meditation chamber (okay, the bedroom) are exposed aluminum.
Water closet. Shower is located across the hall.
Looking toward the living area. Here you can see the frosted glass on the water closet door (LEFT) and get a better feel for the cabinetry.
Sleek, contemporary hardware stylings compliment the interior nicely.
Final glance at the interior from the doorway. Parting is such sweet sorrow.
Overall, my reaction is “Bravo!” It’s nice to see the factory stepping out of the usual bland zone and doing something creative. Of course, the predecessor Ocean Breeze was creative, but the Serenity just makes a little more sense to me. While I thought the Ocean Breeze was a wonderful interior, I wondered if it might feel a little out of place in locales that, you know, lack an ocean. Palm trees work brilliantly in Malibu, not so well in Montana.
Anyway, touring the Serenity we even scored a few decor ideas for our own Airstream. I now feel inspired to further upgrade our interior. Nice job, Airstream!
Sean…
the problem we see with the front bedroom trailers is two fold
First off all the old trailer parks have hookups at the REAR of the trailer thus you would need longer hoses etc unless AS has piped them to the rear…
Second. When we tried one out with the bedroom up front… well the lights, traffic and all the rest are not making for a good nights sleep. Even people walking by have a tendency to talk too loud while your trying to sleep.. and so it becomes a awake’n due to insecurity issues.
But, if you just have to park over the edge of the cliff.. and enjoy the view from the rear of the trailer hanging out their 10 feet into the air… its a experience like no other.. just don’t sleep walk…
They didn’t move the propane tanks either… and when your “sleeping” guess what you can hear hiss… as your head is not far from it…
X says she didn’t like the round sink either. perfers the dual ones or like we did to ours put a small and large dual sink in. That way she can prepare stuff in the small one and put pans and dishes in the large one… or rensing and save the water.. whereas the single large sink doesn’t lend itself well for water savings or useage as its big and takes more water to get the same pan under for cleaning.
She also said that she didn’t like the dark counter top material… perfers light color to the dark so you can see spills better.
Not much counter space in the new ones to work with… but as she says.. todays women doesn’t really do much cooking or meal prep. so they don’t know what they need. Not to mention where is the blender… what no dacks or margs… pooo… how do U make 1 without the blender.. and in the new trailer.. where do you put it to make one??
As to the one we stay’d in… the AC didn’t get back to the bed room.. nor did the heater work that good either back their… AND…
You best lock things down in the bedroom as for some reasion it gets bounced around more and displaced while the rear of the trailer seems to do fine.
Rear door takes some getting used to… as people that come to visit also remark about “REAR DOOR”
As to the floor material. Being that she does interior design (has a degree in it) she said nice stuff but give it a year and see how it wears. The stuff she has experiance with … ahhhh well we won’t repeat it… something about it being cheap and ….*&^%
Ahhh like bill gates said about microsoft NT… the hackers add that the NT stood for NICE TRY… same here… but while interesting.. doesn’t fit into the normal trailer parks. Especally when your backed up to someone elses… nice to be sitting in the “living room” and hear them grunt and groan while using their bathroom.. 2 ft away… makes you want to just run right over and offer them some Kaopectate or… prunes, prune juice, oatmeal, bran cereal but when you leave ’em make sure its a non signed note…suggesting that any of these will help
Then you can have more entertainment… of course in this case don’t open the window up for fresh air …something else… and I am sure while you watch that exciting game on the tv.. they appreciate you rooting and tooting like your in their bathroom…. .:D
LOL GMAs, you have once again shattered the romance here with a dose of cold reality! A few comments…
Our Airstream Classic is an old school rear bedroom floor plan. To me, it’s a time-tested layout that really works well. I believe it’s one of the older plans they make but, as the saying goes, it ain’t broke. So why fix it?
Airstream has a tendency to introduce and then withdraw different floor plans — sometimes without a clear reason. I believe there are some time honored plans (like our own) that should always be available. Some dealers have told me that they can’t get their favorite plans built because they’ve been discontinued!
With regard to the front bedroom floor plans, they are an interesting development to me. Many people LOVE ‘em. They must be outselling many of the rear bedroom plans because Airstream is offering more and more of them.
I respect that everyone has different preferences, but your post vividly illustrates some of my questions about those floor plans.
Kristy’s comments have regarded the layout of the couch – specifically its location opposite the kitchen. When she’s prepping dinner, someone (me) might be on the couch directly behind her.
Her other concern is the location of the dinette. I guess it depends on what you want. Our Airstream doesn’t even have a dinette – we’ve got flip-out wooden tables and they work really well. Our Airstream just doesn’t have space for a dinette. But personally, I’d prefer a comfy couch with the extendable tables.
When we camped in Malibu we backed onto the cliff. The view was out the rear bedroom window, but this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It just meant one could lie in bed and enjoy the view.
I think your most astute observation about the front bedroom designs concerns exposure to outside noise (people driving past and so forth). I guess we’re a little more insulated in the rear bedroom. That said, we usually sleep with one of those “nature sound” sleep machines to adequately drown out background noise. Even that doesn’t work so well in a truck stop, ha ha.
Now, with regard to the Serenity interior… I agree with your wife’s question about longevity – in other words, that’s always a prudent question. I think the flooring would probably hold up well. Linoleum is usually hardy stuff.
I’m not as sure about the laminate surfaces but I certainly HOPE that they stand the test of time. It would be a shame if all of those sleek Christopher Deam interiors didn’t age well. This is one aspect of our Classic that I appreciate. Sure, oak isn’t the sexiest surface on the block – but the stuff lasts forever! And solid wood is always beautiful.
Then there’s the sofa material. Is it cushy, soft, and supportive? Let’s hope so.
We could (and probably should) do a video about Airstream floor plans.
Oh yeah… I’m genuinely impressed with the THEME and DESIGN of the Serenity. I think they are on the right track from a design standpoint and this promises to be a popular model.
By the way, we may be coming to Southern California soon, Airstream in tow! I still wanna look at one of those big boy cameras… 😉
Ahhh… no problem. but you might get wet out their right now… big strom .. 3 inches or rain in one day here at the MBU… new camera SONY is out… wow now were talk’n .. check ’em out.
Hey just got through looking for a Christmas pressent for the X… Chris has a great article on the Wii and thought well now that is good… but, then again wil the x think I got it for her because she is … ahhh well.. you know how they are… … ahhh lets just say 17 again… and may bless me with it like the time I got her some cast iron cooking ware… boy was that a mistake… still have the lumps to show for that one… natch she took it as being I wanted to IMPROVE her cooking… ranted and raved for a week …about HER cooking… not being good enough… Dog and I got to be best buds…
Best get ‘er a outboard motor or new fishing gear.. was my next thought… then we turned our attention to the RV…. ahhh now besides lights what else can I do that would give her the … green light… hmmm well I looked at the gas powered blender… got one of them some years back… and it never broke… then though what about a nice new bed matress… you know one of them memory foam kinds like they show on TV… that the gal can jump up and down on and not spill the glass of wine.. but the guy in the background is wobbling like a webo… but, then she would think it was gotten because when she gets out of bed.. (you know women make more trips at night than the guys do… that I got it because of that… sooooo… after thinking a while longer… I decided that diamond are a girls best friend… sooo… called up the jewler and had ’em make up a silver and tuq neckless that looks like our AS trailer.. and in the middle will have two large stones… (for us) and a little one under for Dog… ahhhh of course she will like it.. its a one of a kind… grin… but, I can hear it now… you shouldn’t have… you spent too much money… awww heck you can never make ’em happy and keep ’em from complaining…
So how is your wiiboad doing… keeping fit? or can’t find it anymore… dog is using it for a snowboard out in the back yard???
Ya ours has about the same layout as yours does but.. the bath is at the back… didn’t like the room they used up with the center bath… and as far as the dinette… what a waist of space… pooo… like yours ours has the swing out table from the side… and modified couch across the front… (we had ours built with lazy boys (leather) at each end … and yes they heat and vibrate..ohhh so good 😀 )) best design for leaving the rest of the room to your like’n
Not only does AS change floor plans like a woman changes a pair of shoes… but wait till you have to get plastic parts… or some of that special alu with the plastic coating on it.. yikes… worse than owning a benz…
As to the couch .. not too soft… we changed the center section (we don’t sleep on it) it for one of them memory foam things and after a while you sink in like the titanic … right to the bottom.. and need one of them pendents that you can push the button… that says.. I sat down and can’t get up… 🙂
Ya we tried out one of them front bed ones… and couldn’t wait to give it back to AS… people next door were up all night banging around.. had we had ours .. much quieter… if you want a view.. you should go outside anyway… inside is for eating and sleeping … or 😀
Ya nothing wrong with the good old airstreams… but, no matter what you get these days… your going ot have to invest to take care of it… if you want it to last…
Was down PCH at the park the other day.. and counted only one AS… Matts … doesn’t seem like AS is selling that good out here on the left coast… but, used… the 25 ft is a big seller… lots of 31 ft’rs though…that go unsold… just too big to haul around for todays weekenders… I guess.
Hey remember to say Merry Christmas to all them nice people from the sand country… not only is it politically correct but drives ’em nuts too… 😀
Merry Christmas all from the land of fruits and nuts… (California)
Ah, the Wii! Well, here are a few thoughts on the Wii Fit.
It’s a great device. I only wish I used it more often!
When we first got our Wii Fit, we used it quite a lot. (I think you can guess where this is going, ha ha.)
No, really, we used it quite a lot, and we saw results. I do think that Wii Fit works. The key is establishing a ROUTINE and making it daily habit. It tracks your weight and BMI and gives you ongoing feedback about progress.
Something I appreciate about Wii Fit is that you can do it for any amount of time you like. I mean, you can theoretically jump on it a couple of times a day for 15 minutes at a time, and see results. (It encourages you to exercise at least 30 minutes a day.)
My downfall with Wii Fit has been our travel, and specifically our extended RV travel. It’s just a fact — we don’t really have enough space in our Airstream to do Wii Fit. If we had a 5th wheel or motorhome with slideouts (or maybe a 34-footer) the story might be different. But in our camper, it’s just a little too tight.
So, earlier this year I was doing a pretty decent job of avoiding beer and getting regular exercise. I definitely dropped a few pounds and felt healthier. But when we departed on one of our big 3-month road trips, we never used the Wii Fit — just due to the space limitations in our RV. I got out of my routine and never really got back into it.
There’s a blog out there somewhere created by a guy who did Wii Fit religiously and lost tons of weight. It’s definitely possible.
All of this writing about Wii Fit has motivated me to start it up again. That’s what New Year’s Resolutions are for…
With regard to camera stuff, I still want to get a nanoFLASH. This will allow me to record via HD-DSI with my EX1in the HDCAM codec at up to 250MB/s (though 100 MB/s is said to look uncompressed). I need to convince Kristy of this “need,” however.
With regard to Los Angeles, I think we will bring our Airstream to California in January and hang around for a while. I want to work on a couple of projects and we’ll just use our camper as an apartment! Who knows, maybe we’ll jaunt down to Mexico while we are out there.
By the way, my team (Alabama Crimson Tide) is playing Texas for the BCS National Championship in the Rose Bowl on January 7. Let me know if you come across any extra tickets. 😉 I actually attended a Bama-UCLA game in the Rose Bowl several years ago (as a guest of Phoenix Pictures’s Mike Medavoy, who generously supplied the tickets) but hopefully this particular game will go better for my team.
Merry Christmas to you!