Posted February 3, 2020 – Narrated by Jim
“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.”
– Frank Lloyd Wright – architect of organic design
We haven’t moved in three weeks and plan to stay-put for another week. It feels like a long time to take a rest.
But don’t think I’m just sitting around staring at the floor. We’re both focused on health, eating clean and exercising in the dry, dry desert.

What a surprise to learn that there’s a place in America – that is not Mississippi – without a brewery, tap house, winery or distillery within an hour in any direction. But that makes sense because just trying to find fresh food here is a sobering experience.
Finally, after two weeks of picking through wilted, bruised and rotten produce, my hunter-gatherer instincts kicked in. So, I stalked the local market at all hours, and managed to crack the code to the delivery schedule. Nothing to pound my chest about but, twice now, I’ve beat the Snowbirds to the fresh arugula and greek-style yogurt. Yep. I sure did.
Okay, now about that floor …
Good thing it’s nice to stare at. Over the last couple of years our cork floor has enhanced our travels. It’s a time saver, comfy to walk on and has a beautiful color that reminds me of a full-bodied unfiltered red ale I tasted at a micro-brewery in Ohio.
Remodeling slowly, one step at a time, is our style. As homeowners we had the same philosophy. Since the moment we set our eyes on Beauty, we committed to giving her something new every year.

It’s about comfort and pride of ownership. This is our home.

Taking on a twenty year-old Airstream guarantees that I will always have a “Do-It-Yourself” project. I enjoy the product research and project planning, and we both dig the teamwork.
Last Christmas, in San Diego, Beauty got new upholstery, tires and a power hitch. Last summer, in Ohio, we gave her a 4″ lift with new axels, shocks, and wood valances. Back in 2018 we sprung for a new cork floor.
The old vinyl floor was okay. It was in fairly new condition when we bought the Airstream in 2015. I just didn’t care for it.

Also, the bedroom was carpeted. We hate carpet. And after two years on the road the stuff was looking rank..

My aesthetic is natural fibers and textures – not merely natural-looking.
In 1986, I bought a fixer-upper 1960 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud II because I loved the wood interior.



Decorating an RV interior is tricky. Charming patterns and bright colors that are so fun for short-term camping just doesn’t hold up to the wear and tear of full-timing. And, as for color, soft earth tones in deep textures with straight lines and monochromatic appliances and surfaces are both visually pleasing and functional.
Why did we wait two years to announce our new floor?
We waited this long to spotlight the new floor because we wanted to find out if it worked. LIB is our story, but we avoid weighing readers down with product recommendations. When we like something so much that it becomes part of the story, it either ends up in Our Gear or it gets the full review.
So, after living on this new floor for almost two years, it’s time to unveil the attributes of cork.
Cork is nothing like vinyl. Vinyl is thin and heavy. Cork is thick and light. Vinyl is synthetic. Cork is natural. Vinyl is cold to the touch. Cork is warm. Cork also absorbs sound, making the Airstream quieter for recording audio, like our podcast.
Because it’s naturally insulated, we can walk barefoot even in freezing weather.

Our decision to go for cork flooring was based on recommendations by two people, Vinnie Lamica, our Airstream specialist, and our friend Susan who’s cork kitchen floor has held up great for thirty years.
How’s the “new” cork floor performing?
We love the look. It brightens the interior and feels great underfoot. Cork is softer than vinyl – kind of cushy – Not as soft as a yoga mat, but comfortable to stand on without extra padding beneath our feet while preparing meals in the kitchen.
We needed a comfortable floor because we don’t wear shoes inside the trailer. For decades we’ve been a shoes off at the door household, and after witnessing a few black-water tank accidents in campgrounds, we are even more committed to leaving our shoes outside.
Cork is also easy to clean because it’s practically dirt resistant. Dust, grease and hair don’t cling to cork like they do to vinyl.
We vacuum the floor daily and wipe it clean once a week – with warm water and a wet cloth – then follow up with a drying cloth – but no matter what we do, the floor always gleams.
Cork is also durable. Our floor is in the same condition as the day it was installed and we’ve been camping on it for two years.
Do-It-Yourself or hire a Pro?
I’m fairly handy and able to pull off most jobs alone. Installing almost 200 square feet of flooring didn’t seem all that difficult. But it would be impossible to live in the trailer during the install. Not only did I need expert advice, I needed someone to help me get it done fast and done right. This was a job for …
Vinnie Lamica at Vinnie’s Northbay Airstream Repair.
We scheduled the installation for May 2018.
Meanwhile, we went shopping for cork. We chose the CaliBamboo Shoreline because it has natural elastic properties, great sound conditioning, temperature insulation, is mold and water resistant, low maintenance, and contains 43% recycled content.
It also looks like what it is… cork.
Unfortunately, our exact cork floor choice is no longer available from CaliBamboo or US Floors.
Within three weeks the cork arrived and we loaded it into the truck.

In twenty days, we had an installation appointment in Wilton. No problem.
We followed the vineyards all the way to Vinnie’s.





About fifteen miles outside of Wilton, we rented a Cruise America RV and parked it at Vinnie’s. This was our solution for being homeless during the install and it also served as a storage container for our stuff because …

… we had to strip everything out – all of our clothing and food and supplies we keep in the under-bed storage, bench bins and lockers. Anything fastened to the floor had to be emptied. After that was done, Vinnie met with us to talk about the schedule for the next few days.

Then Vinnie hauled Beauty into his workshop.

Preparing Beauty
We followed and immediately began prepping Beauty for the new floor.
First, we took out all the furniture. We’ve done this three times in three years. The first time was when Vinnie installed our solar, the last time was Christmas for the reupholstering. Un-installing our 30′ Airstream only takes a couple of hours.






Vinnie’s shop became our temporary furniture warehouse.

Then, we ripped out the old carpeting in the bedroom


Removed the old baseboard.

The old vinyl floating floor came up easily.

Pico supervised the job …



We cleared the subfloor of nails, staples, debris and smoothed out any abnormalities.

The installation
Vinnie expertly installed the new floor.





While the floor was being installed, we cut, stained and finished new moldings and bedroom soffits.


Before re-installing the furniture, we cleaned each piece thoroughly, gave it all a good polishing and then – for even more sound-conditioning in the trailer –we covered the bottoms of the drawers and cabinets with cork drawer liner.


The Re-Install
Then, I screwed all of the furniture back into place.




Putting in new moldings took less than an hour.

The old carpet-covered bedroom soffits …

were replaced with newly-built oak soffits.

Voila. The new look.


We paid $1,400 for the cork, $1,200 for the installation, for a total cost of $2,600.
Much as we love cork flooring we can’t recommend it for all RVs. If you need a floor that’s 100% water-proof or if you have large dogs with long, thick nails, or if you transport bikes inside the trailer, then vinyl may be a better choice.
We’re pro-cork because it’s a natural, environmentally sustainable product. It’s warm, quiet, clean and, with the right care, can be incredibly durable. It’s also beautiful. In fact, I’m looking at the floor right now, and, you know, in this light, at this angle, from this distance … it reminds me of the hazy double IPA at that terrific brewery in upstate New York.
One more week.
OCTOBER 2022 UPDATE: We still love our cork flooring after all these years.
If you want to see our exact route, click here.
*photos in this post (unless otherwise noted) were taken and copyrighted by Living In Beauty.
Looks great and have always been curious if dirt would hang up in the texture on cork. Jury is still out on the marine flooring in our Globetrotter but my new Karcher vacuum/scrubber combo seems to be doing the trick. Great finally meeting both of you and Pico last week in the desert while you were out on your walk!
Hey Kathy,
So great to meet you! We must visit longer next time. We wish we’d discovered cork sooner. I don’t know if it’s better than the marine flooring we’ve only seen in the new Airstreams. But I think that if I were to order a new Airstream, I’d want to have the cork rather than the marine flooring because the cork is so beautiful.
Safe and Happy Travels!
LIB
Love cork floors! Had them in our sticks and bricks. Someday in our AS!!
Hey Maryl,
We’ve always found that the simple, organic solution is usually right for our decorating issues. Thank you for being with us!
Safe and Happy Travels,
LIB
Thank You for sharing! Nice floor! So, what happened to that beautiful Rolls? Safe travels!
Hey Kathy,
The beautiful Rolls was purchased by a middle-eastern guy with a suitcase full of cash in a K-mart parking lot. True story. Our son still misses that car.
Be well and prosper!
Carmen & Jim
That floor is truly beautiful, but I wonder if the cats would leave it alone.
Hey JoEllen,
My girlfriend, Susan had a cat for many years and her floor still looks great.
Thank you for being with us.
Safe and Happy Travels!
LIB
I love cork flooring!
Hey Kim,
Thank you for being with us!
Safe and Happy Travels,
LIB
Thanks for the review. Kind of hear a little brewery missing in your description. Have heard mixed reviews about cork but I have a feeling that not all cork is equal…so if I am ever thinking about it, will check with you first. Sounds like you are enjoying your current location…good to hear. Safe travels, looking forward to the next post. Love the pics.
Hey Jan,
Our flooring has a good, strong finish. Some of the cork we looked at didn’t have as good a reputation. So, yes, it requires research. Also, it’s not a bad idea to test the product on a small project first just to be sure. That’s what we would have done if we’d had the opportunity. It was really a leap of faith for us. But we also ordered an extra box or two just in case of a problem. But so far, so good.
We are so blessed to have you with us.
Safe and Happy Travels!
LIB
Great blog, as always!
Hey Eva!
We are so honored to have you on board. What a blessing. xoxo
Safe and Happy Travels,
Carmen & Jim
That was a corking good blog post
Hey Jim!
Great to hear from you! Give Sam a hug for us.
xoxo,
Carmen & Jim
Never even heard of cork flooring. We will be remodeling this year and love the idea:-) Looks beautiful. Great job! And thanks for the idea!!
Hey Christina,
Like marine flooring, cork is a specialty fringe product that grew out of the social responsibility movement and is mostly found in flooring stores – however it is rapidly gaining in popularity. Most cork comes from Portugal and Africa and there are many grades and varieties, so you will need to research and find a good flooring specialist.
Thank you so much for being with us. Enjoy Florida for us!
Safe and Happy Travels,
LIB
We had cork floors in our house. We will probably put it in our AS at some point.
Hey Page,
Thank you so much for being with us. Cork rules!
Safe and Happy Travels,
LIB
I love cork flooring. Will install at my brick and stick home. What a big project! It looks great
Wow! We are so honored that Jihong Tang The Snow Queen of Airstream actually reads our blog! Let us know what you think of the cork after you have installed it in your B&S home.
xoxo,
Carmen & Jim
haha, Jim, are you making fun of me? You made me flush😊. Love your blog! Now I discovered the audio part…really well done. Thanks for sharing
Far from it, Jihong! We, along with countless others, are in awe with your cold weather camping expertise. You are truly inspiring.
xoxo
Carmen & Jim
Hey Jim, thanks for sharing details on your flooring project. Two questions. 1) On the Cruise America RV, did you have the Golden Retriever decal in the window? and 2) Noticed you have reflectix under your bed. Did you install that, and did you notice a difference after you did? Thanks! – Steve
Steve, yes we did have a golden retriever plastered on the door of our Cruise America RV. I thought they all did. The reflectix under our bed was there when we bought it from Larry Cook in April 2015, so we do not have experience without it. Glad you enjoyed this post about our cork floor, it sure has made a difference in our Airstream. Hope our paths cross again with you and Sue someday one the road!
Hi Jim. Glad you had the Golden Retriever decal! Did not see one in your picture and was concerned you’d gotten less than what you paid for… LOL. Hopefully we will be back on the road full time for Phase II of our adventure in the Fall. We now have a puppy for Pico to meet so it will be fun to rendezvous somewhere. The cork flooring looks great by the way and appreciate your comments about how it feels. With our 2019 GT we have the marine flooring which can be pretty cold when you get out of bed with bare feet. Take care and safe travels!
ALL I can say is WOW!!! Great pics of a what had to be… an interesting project! Very interesting to read and presented in a way that kept MY short attention span on point! You are living the life we couldn’t even contemplate given the political atmosphere we are in now. GREAT pics ya’ll be posting too. Greatly enjoyed…SCREENSAVERS for sure!!
Hey Deb! Always wonderful to hear from you. Like houses, RVs are an on-going project – a hole in road you keep throwing money into 😀 Jim does a good job on these How-To posts and tries to keep it inspiring. We will be in San Diego several times in the next few months. Hope to meet up with you and Janine … Ah, politics. Hopefully, something good will come out of these “interesting times” and Beauty will not have to become our escape pod.
Thank you for your encouragement and a near lifetime of friendship! xoxo
Safe and Happy Travels!
Carmen & Jim
LIB
Thank you sharing. If you addressed this in the post, I missed it; but, how much weight did the new flooring add to Beauty?
Jeffrey, sorry we missed this comment. We have been off grid for a few weeks in campgrounds without any internet. We think the cork flooring weighed a lot less than the vinyl flooring we removed. When we took out the old vinyl flooring, it was quite heavy as we carried the pieces to the trash dumpster. Also, the cork flooring is much warmer than the cold vinyl, especially on a cold morning. 😁 After all these years, we have not regretted our choice even one time. We love the soft feel and beautiful look. Hope this answers your question. Jim