As an advocate for affordable housing, artist and designer Timo Elliott is on a mission to get others, and himself, around a stigma that emerged nearly a century ago: down with the concept of trailer trash, up with trailer treasure. So, when he moved into a motorhome park near Downtown Tucson, he painted his new home metallic gold.
“I knew from the beginning that I needed to remove all of the telltale signs of the trailer that said this is a trailer,” said Timo Elliott, who moved to Tucson — and into the trailer — during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before that, though, Elliott was no stranger to tight squeezes, and even had “minimal living requirements” that he picked up during his time working in Martha’s Vineyard. Elliott, who lists the Cronkite family, Bill Murray and James Taylor as some of his clientele, specialized in indoor/outdoor design. According to him, it wasn’t uncommon for creatives like himself to take up living in garden sheds, chicken coops, and all sorts of minimalistic spaces while working for the wealthy during the summers.
Later, he bought a trailer in San Diego, where he worked in the costume department for an opera company. He set up shop near the peak of a mountain, which overlooked the Salton Sea and the Pacific Ocean, and dwelled there intermittently for many years.
“It was rustic, but I always felt like the trade-off was worth it,” Elliott said. “That’s sort of been my MO, a rustic lifestyle.”
After living in conditions he described as “totally off the grid,” it was a relief for the designer, when he moved to Tucson, that running water, plumbing and electricity weren’t among the renovations he’d have to undertake. One of the toughest challenges of designing a space of that size, according to Elliott, was parting with his worldly possessions, the articles of his previous, bicoastal life, of which he said goodbye to about 95%.
“That stuff can be really nice. But how many times do I want to look at a pretty little picture, or a vase, or whatever,” Elliott said.
The other obstacle was getting past the stigma of living in a trailer park, the long-standing negative perception that Elliott is trying to help upend.
In the beginning, in the early 20th century, owning a trailer was a symbol of luxury. They were recreational tools for the wealthy, while the average American who couldn’t afford it was forced to camp outside (imagine!) But it wasn’t long before the great depression displaced an enormous portion of the American population, and, penniless, many turned to these mobile homes for permanent living. The first bonafide trailer parks were established, and the prevailing association with poverty began. Due to these perceptions, many trailer parks today have difficulty with maintaining and surviving.
For Elliott, rectifying the stigma and improving the quality of trailer parks is an important step toward affordable housing, a topic which is near and dear to the artist. In one of his many past lives, he worked in advertising in Los Angeles, and was troubled by the growing homeless problem. He largely attributes the issue to the gentrification of Downtown LA, the trend of renovating and repurposing old, single-residence occupancies, which had long served as last chance housing for those living in poverty. “All those people were displaced, and that just magnified the housing problem downtown,” Elliott said.
During his time in Los Angeles, Elliott became profoundly concerned with the topic of affordable housing. So, when he moved to Tucson, he saw the opportunity for change.
“An extraordinary amount of the homes here are trailer homes,” Elliott said. He’s correct; precisely 10% of all houses in Tucson are manufactured homes. Per the Making Action Possible for Southern Arizona Dashboard, this is over twice the percentage of Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
“So if those could be reframed and used in a healthier way, it would be really good for everybody. Refurbish a property such as this one, move people in and teach them how to work with it, and make it a viable space again. It’s a reclaiming of what’s been discarded in our culture.”
He got right to work on the “moderately priced” and “somewhat dilapidated” trailer, removing a sort of molding on the ceiling, painting some less-than-appealing faux-wood paneling. He took out a sliding mirror closet door to open up some storage space, and jettisoned a bathroom door to create a bedroom suite. Among all of the amendments, he recognizes changing out faucets, modernizing light fixtures, and “immediately rectifying the heating and cooling” as especially crucial.
As to design, Elliott focused on giving the standard, austere trailer more than a splash of his distinctive style. The walls are covered floor-to-ceiling with a collage of 1920s newspaper clippings, and he furnished the interior with bohemian rugs, artwork, and any mementos that made it through his severe process of minimization.
Outside, he replaced those classic trailer steps with a covered “side porch entrance” that improved his sense of privacy. Adjacent to the entrance, tall, Mexican sunflowers shoot up from a formidable garden, a decision he made after two years of experimenting with the soil. And, of course, the whole exterior is painted gold. Elliott hopes that by putting his unique touch on his trailer, he will inspire others around him to follow suit.
“They all looked the same, like they were from 1978,” Elliott said. “We could get trees growing here. Nobody had any trees growing, and there were no plants. And nobody had painted their trailer.”
“If you grow flowers, your next-door neighbors will grow flowers,” he continued. “If I could take that space and bring it to life, it would have an influence on the neighborhood. We can make it a source for people to express their individuality and also be a part of a community.”
As for his next step, Elliott is focused on advocating for trailer park improvement. He is interested in approaching the city, housing foundations, the homeless coalition, and any other groups that might take interest in his ideas. “It would be in keeping with what I’ve been doing over time,” Elliott said.
Elliott also wants to inform others about the importance of living simply. To get the word out there, he is in the process of creating a sort of talk or lecture built around his own minimalist lifestyle.
“A workshop about simplicity and living your best life,” Elliott said. “About living in such a way that you can achieve your goals and have more vitality. Simplifying your life and making it richer. Giving up the precepts of what your next-door neighbor is doing, the expectations of how you are supposed to live. Getting people out of that mindset.”
