A West Island woman has gone to extreme measures to live smaller.
Laura Cobham was inspired to change her lifestyle after a backpacking trip through southeast Asia last year.
“After my trip and living out of my suitcase or backpack for three months, it made me realize that I didn’t need everything I had,” she said. “After that trip, it kind of opened my eyes to tinier living.”
Cobham began watching tiny home television shows and downsized.
She moved from a townhouse to a condo, then to a studio apartment.
Her latest effort is perhaps the most ambitious.
Cobham purchased and plans on living in an $8,500, 216-square foot trailer from the 1970s that she’s affectionately named “Suzy the Airstream.”
“I’ve always named all my automobiles,” she said. “When I saw her, she just felt like a Suzy.”
With the help of her father, Cobham plans on turning Suzy into a trailer she can comfortably live in year-round.
“My plan is to renovate it completely and make it more modern and more me,” she said.
Allan Cobham’s confident in his daughter’s mission.
“I know she can do anything she wants,” he said. “Just doing this job and seeing how hard it was, we still continued on.”
One of the biggest challenges will be storing her clothes.
“I work in the fashion industry so I have a pretty big wardrobe,” she said. “I love clothes and shoes.”
The restoration has also served as a chance for Laura and her father to work on a project together.
“It’s a great way to work together,” Cobham said. “Both of us don’t know what we’re doing. We’re learning as we go.”
Like many Quebecers, she plans on moving into her new home on July 1.
