B.C. woman turns trailer into 'happy, creepy' Barbie dream home to help recovery from addiction
Picture a Barbie Dreamhouse but in the form of a camper trailer. The outside features splashes of bright pink, blue, and yellow while the inside has more of a macabre look.
Shannon Gauthier, 43, is the woman behind the "Barbie trailer" and says the project has helped her on her journey of recovery from addiction.
"This is what I always tell people that are trying to get clean and sober ... stay as busy as you can," Gauthier told CBC Radio West.
"This trailer has kept me very busy. I work on it every day."
Gauthier, who lives in Osoyoos in B.C.'s Okanagan, said she's been sober for 22 months following a near-fatal overdose.
To celebrate one year of sobriety, she decided to tour British Columbia.
"[I] slept in the tent for the whole summer with my dog and we came to Osoyoos and I liked it so much here that I decided to move here," she said.
While living in a motel during the winter, Gauthier said she saved up enough money to buy a trailer at the beginning of the year. Renovations included applying paint from Home Hardware's Barbie Dreamhouse Colour Collection to the trailer's exterior.
The inside of the trailer has different look, one Gauthier describes as having a "happy, creepy vibe."
You'll find her collection of antique dolls sitting cozily on a bed, as well as her collection of "Catholic Church stuff, like crucifixes, rosaries, old fixtures of Mary and Jesus," with black walls as a backdrop, although that is changing.
"I kind of realized that it was too dark in here and it was looking kind of a little bit too creepy," Gauthier said. "So then I started adding some more pink and now I'm adding even more pink. So it's brightening up in here a lot."
Gauthier recently shared before and after photos of the trailer on a community Facebook page with users praising her work.
'She's finally found inner peace'
The Barbie-inspired trailer also has a fan in Saskatchewan. Gauthier's mom Janet said she's planning a trip west to visit her daughter, and her dream home, this summer.
Janet said she loves the trailer and it feels wonderful for both her and her husband to hear their daughter say she hasn't felt better, "in many, many years and we could definitely vouch for that."
"So it's just so exciting for her that she's finally found inner peace," Janet said.
Calling Gauthier's 22 months of sobriety a huge achievement, Janet said it was difficult to watch her daughter struggle.
"It's extremely difficult because when they are hurting or they're suffering, you suffer and hurt with them because you just want the best for them," she said.
Gauthier said if she didn't get clean or sober, she wouldn't be where she is today and living in her trailer.
"I've always had the dream of doing it," she said. "When I was in the cycle of addiction, I was just going in circles, doing the same thing over and over and over again, getting nowhere. And now that my mind is clear ... it helped me stay focused on what I wanted in life."
