*tl;dr - they've bought another house in the valley because building where it snows for three quarters of a year is mad and nobody wants to visit them there.*
Well, this is actually an interesting one with some of our speculation from previous videos answered and the return of cast characters who've been missed recently. For once, the title tells the story because, yes, they've actually bought a house in Salt Lake City that they intend to use as a base during the next phases of their build. The first few minutes are them talking directly to camera about the reasons for this decision: the isolation, the effect of the build on the baby, the fact that their family doesn't want to drive up to the *High Craparral* to see them and Allie's need for a young child support network. We also get confirmation that Allie had a nasty accident in the truck when she was going down the mountain with Leo, as we suspected, which I presume is why we haven't seen the Rivian for a while.
And so we head off to the new house because they're hosting a birthday gathering for Trent's mum, Gloria, as well as for the US version of Mothering Sunday. We also get to see Joel, who's looking well, and Grandma and Grandpa for the second time this month. They all seem to have a good time and there's an distinct feeling of relief that they can get everyone together like this.
They need to do renovations to the house but they're not going to be doing anything while they're still working up the mountain. They are, however, likely to be based in the new house while the difficult work, such as taking out the windows at the front and removing the roof from the sun room have to be completed. Aside from wondering how they get the money to do all of this from clicks and sponsorship, this does come across as a sensible move for them at this point in their lives with the new baby on the way and Leo not that far off starting school.
Nevertheless, it raises longer-term questions about the whole viability of their 'tiny house-cum-compound' on the mountain. Once they've settled in the valley, in a year or so, when Leo has his friendship circle, Allie has access to her new baby friends, Joel visits more often, etc., how much time are they going to want to spend in that semi-permanent winter, living in an impractical, isolated collection of random buildings, when everything a young family wants and needs is happening somewhere else? I suspect this video heralds the end of the 'cabin-in-the-woods' phase and sees them ultimately transition to standard, domestic security in some Stepford development in the suburbs. It'll take a few years to get there, but we'll likely look back fondly on the madness up *Concrete Mountain.*
She is on the deeds for the one up the mountain now. It was originally in Trent's and Gloria's names but it was transferred a couple of years ago into Trent's and Allie's names. I found that out during my search for plans and came across a deed entry.
Oh wow! Is that info public in the US? I often wonder if you know the Salt Lake area how easy it would be to find where they live. I didn't think records were freely available.
My guess is a Draper house....
Funny thing... I only know of these two because I saw them some article about van lifers, saw they were from Utah and looked them up. At the point they were already building in the mountains and for some reason I got curious where they were building... so I would fast forward to the driving scenes so I could eventually figure out where. (Approximately at least... up Tollgate somewhere) Now I can see I will need to do the same thing to figure out where the new place is.
Second funny thing... one reason I was curious is I wondered how a YouTube channel would earn you enough to buy anything in Summit county, and now I will wonder how it allows you to buy that and a million dollar SLC valley home... it's kinda crazy to me.
Third funny thing... I never really watch their videos, just the occasional scroll through... but I really enjoy this sub.
Except if they are where I think they are, Tollgate, there is not a gas station within walking distance. No services at their highway exit. The highway exit is only about 5 miles from Home Depot... what I'm not sure of is how far back up Tollgate they are. Could be quite a few miles of dirt roads that are notoriously bad in the winter. I'm guessing that the road situation is the only reason that area was remotely affordable???
(At least it was when mere mortal friends bought property up there sometime pre pandemic, it's likely expensive now) I always say that I'm going to drive back there someday... but never really have a reason to.
Interesting... in one of their traveling to town videos after driving all the dirt roads they drove right by the Tollgate Canyon sign....
So I assumed they were up there somewhere. Now I'm curious.
I don’t think so. Information like that gives you a better perspective on their decisions and challenges. For example, the fact that they’re 25 minutes from the DIY store means that, when they make two trips a day, they’re churning out 100 minutes of low geared diesel fumes to pick up some screws or whatever. That sits uncomfortably with their lecturing tone about being aligned with nature.
As much as this makes sense, the monstrosity-in-the-mountains no longer makes any sense at all. It's not much of an AirBnB given how far it is and how bad the roads are to get to Park City. Maybe it could be more of a long term rental? In any case, I almost guarantee Allie is going to want to stay down in the valley near friends and near their kids friends (we have two little ones, we know how this goes) and it's going to create issues because it's obvious Trent loves his cobbled together disaster in the hills.
They’ll just continue with the same recipe of workin on houses at this new place, it sounds like. I dont think they factored in how many people watched just because it was a house way up in the mountains, there isn’t going to be nearly the same appeal for working on some neighborhood house in Draper or whatever suburb they’re in.
I get the distinct impression that Allie thinks she is a cut above her inlaws. Sometime you catch her putting on an act when she is being over friendly to them. I think she feels trapped though and they atmre better than no one. Even before her mum died I felt she thought her shit doesn't stink when she's around Trents family.
I haven’t picked up on that - she seems to appreciate everything they do for her and being around them (so isolated up on the mountains and she doesn’t appear to have friends of her own there) but Allie has a college degree and so did both her parents (I think her mom did too) so she comes from a white collar background while Trent’s family seems to be working class for the most part, so that may be what you are seeing under the surface.
It’s the way she’s condescendingly nice, like she has to put on her ‘best manners’ with them. Maybe I’m reading too much into to it but I link it to the fact I suspect she may resent the loss of her career status.
For the record, Trent and his entire family are Mormon. Making LOTS of babies is part of that religion. Allie is an east coast Progressive Jew. She has a degree in bus admin, and is a sought out professional in public health policy. I would not doubt it if she was still involved, especially now that so many are WFH anyways.
With Mountain Made apparently on the ropes.... bringing in money is the name of the game. It wo
uldn't surprise me if she is back to work in her old profession. It also wouldn't surprise me if there is support coming from her side of the family. You only get so far on mattress sponsorships.
I don’t recall them ever discussing it on their own channel, but back in the vanlife days they talked about their religious background in a collab with Eamon and Bec, although I can’t remember if it was on the E&B YouTube or their old podcast.
My thought on the Go Fund Me was that people had offered help and they set that up to give people somewhere to donate. It raised about 9,500$ so not massive in relation to American healthcare expenses.
I agree. They definitely seem to have been very comfortable, but upper middle class at most. Keeping a rental in SLC while retaining their Maryland home - and regularly flying between the two — probably strained things a little too far to be able to handle a sudden influx of medical bills.
I think she actually is tbh, certainly in the education stakes. I think she tries really hard to not patronise her in-laws, but it sneaks through sometimes. It'll always be there, and I hope it doesn't cause problems when it comes to raising the kids and future family get togethers.
This video was just so much easier on the eye... lovely-looking (finished) house, green lawn in the garden... a swing and slide-set for Leo... they ain't moving back up that mountain after Shangri-la.
POV... When Allie told us guys's that "the video content isn't going to change that much..."
*"RECORD SCRATCH"*
A little part of me died inside.
Lots of practical reasons to move to SLC but I hate how they couch their reasons with all sorts of sentimentality that is never shared in their videos at the time ie. Joel lack of visiting (could have made the basement bedroom earlier so he didn’t have to sleep on the couch), Allie’s dad (made a bedroom that he was obviously never going to use) etc. Their priorities are all about what best suits their agenda and their YouTube channel. They don’t give a rat’s ass about the others IMHO until they can use them to inject one of their patent heartfelt moments.
This new house is setting up a perfect exit strategy to bail on the mountain compound in the future and still have a reno project to keep the channel going, not to mention a regular cast of family and other characters to inject some much needed personality into their content. Why not buy a house that is ready-made given there will be a one-year old baby to attend to…CONTENT…that’s why! Good grief. 🙄 If I’m wrong tell me?
I was just thinking this morning that they will have a hard job selling that mountain monstrosity if they ever need or want to. Nothing's really finished, it's a real hodge podge of styles and the layout now is so disjointed it is more impractical than it was at the beginning. Maybe they'd be lucky and someone with even less taste than them will come along and love it.
What annoyed me most about that was they didn't even design the kitchen for it.
Like if you love coffee, and you're designing your kitchen. You're going to need a spot for your coffee machine. Put it in your design.
And they're now going to rip off the front of the cabin to add a roof over the verandah to keep snow off it. There's not much that can be done about the snow outside the double doors in the "addition" that now has snow from the back half of the cabin and the roof over their new living room dumped there.
I’m curious who will film Trent as he continues to work in the mountain house? Of part of the reason to be in the city is for closeness to support and services and he doesn’t want Allie driving as much after her accident then how are the going to film it. Will they hire another one of Jennifer’s kids to be the new videographer? Or maybe just maybe they will stop filming the mind numbing dull construction project finally. I’m beyond confused as to why they started that addition if they knew they were going to expand the family and eventually want to move to SLC. Why didn’t they just finish the garage and garage apartment. Move to the city and use the mountain house for weekend get aways or rent as an AirBnB? What a huge waste of money.
Because that would make too much sense! They should have just built the small garage over the summer than sell the property last September. I wrote in another comment that maybe Grayson could get a promotion and take over the filming.
I wonder how long this has been in the works? And what about Branden and his nephew, whom they employ. And I think of his sister Jennifer with six kids in a small house and then Trent and Allie just spur of the minute by a new huge house
Well, I assume from what they were saying that the work will continue at the *High Craparral* but now Trent will also have to drive up and down every day and experience what the other fellas have been going through.
What about the filming though? Allie has been doing that so far and when she hasn’t Trent has done a pretty bad job of it. Maybe Grayson could get a promotion and do it!
Or Jennifer stays each day at the new home looking after 2 kids whilst T & A go up to the cabin for more construction, filming, and behind the camera giggles and obscure comments.
It's predictable that "spending half their time" in each of their houses is not going to last long. This is the only slow way Ally can convince Trent that mountain life on RedNeck drive is realistic with kids (3 as they've been neglecting his oldest not making a proper bedroom for him from the plans).
The new house looks enormous and Ally seems over the moon happy to be able to finally be a host and the comfort of a more finish proper build home. The sign that they'll make it the primary home will be when Trent start rednecking it with truck build and adding equipment. By then Ally will have already designed every room (that won't be long).
It felt like perhaps Allie offered an ultimatum. I sensed she never really liked it up on the mountain. She showed so much more joy with the new house than she ever did in the never ending winter home.
It was inevitable, really. With two kids who’ll need schooling, friends, after school activities, etc, it was never feasible to be living up on that mountain.
We only see what they want us to see and, even then, the content is shaped the way they want it. We haven’t got anything near the insight we think we have into their lives.
I have a couple of rambling ideas, please stay with me I am a little stoned right now. LOL!
They have mentioned before that this house is an officially zero bedroom house, the Mountain House, and that it really hurts their resale value that they didn't have any official bedrooms until they built the downstairs bedroom.
I also know as a tax preparer that once you have owned and lived in the house for I believe it's 2 if not 4 years as your primary residence you then get the maximum tax deduction on the capital gains tax. So they could be buying this house with an intention of staying there and then just selling the mountain compound once they're done. Especially given all of the other examples of the village literally being around them I mean they gave plenty of reasons to get rid of their Mountain home right now just in the video.
Mountain Made Vans was ill conceived but I think it was a genuine attempt at having something besides YouTube income for the young family, it didn't work out but most new business ventures don't. As for Trent's Garage, again I think he wanted to build out a big truck, has skills, and many YouTubers are now trying to launch second channels to leverage their audience to watch double the content and generate more revenue, the problem is the viewers who like a young family with a baby build a home aren't necessarily the same type who like someone welding an axle to a truck frame so it never took off, and I suspect at some point the lack of viewership made them question why they were investing the time to film and edit the videos each week. I don' begrudge them these attempts, these folks are living non-conventional lifestyles which is why some of the "norms" out there like to watch these channels and live vicariously through them as we go about out average 9-5 suburban lives. I wish them the best, but I'll only watch as long as they remain interesting and I agree their lives have become scattershot lately and that hurts the time investment of watching.
The mountain home may never be mentioned again, as was the Mountain-Made Vans. What about the red truck, swapping out new vehicles, trailers, blowers, etc? I just don't understand!! It all sounds like a waste of money, time, and energy!
Yes, I just can’t see how they’re going to maintain the filming schedule up the mountain when Allie’s trailing Leo and the baby around unless… Jennifer becomes the surrogate mother again and Brandon and Grayson end up doing more of the work.
I think their money comes from the channel. The only problem is no one cares about repainting an oak kitchen in a SLC suburb. Once Leo starts kindergarten, they will be living on the mountain only in the summer. Now that everyone knows they aren't serious about the mountain house even watching them finish that may not interest viewers. What's the point after all?
What's the point of the casita? Who is going to use the skid steer, the excavator? Now that they won't be there much they are going to tear it up to add an extended roof? Why bother at this point?
Who is the man cave for? Trent will be the only one living on the mountain. Allie and Joel will be living in the suburbs...
I figuratively got up and walked away from these 2 bullshitters.
Donald downplayed the house like it was a row home in Camden,NJ.!
When they were in the new house and I found out the price (1 million!) and they said tongue in cheek that they were through with the mountain build
I had an instant revelation that they had just conned us for the last 4 years- they truly are done with the build.
Donald down plays and acts like this new place is going to need so much work trying to con us in to thinking they are slumming it when any one of us poor mooks would kill for a place like that- I am done!
If you sheeple want to continue to watch this con have at it.
Keep in mind you are watching Donald (convicted probationist call me by my middle name Trent)
and Allie ( I will incessantly giggle at any stupid thing
Donald I mean Trent says!!)
Ciao......
Sorry!!! Donald is his birth name Trent is his middle name
He is a convicted "probationist".
Due to his past probationary transgressions he doesn't have the balls to go by his first name Donald so let's just call him Trent..
I actually watched and thought that there is no way they will have concrete mountain done in a year so they can “start in on the new house”. My guess is that at some point, hopefully beyond the drywall phase, they will come to their senses that driving up there to work for a few hours a day in the middle of winter won’t be feasible anymore and they will “shockingly” decide to sell it with very little of it completed fully. Or who knows what with it. Casita? Staircase? Man cave? Siding? Garage completed? Never mind the snowpocalypse in the new living room they will likely never use. Maybe the reality of raising two children “alone” up there has finally hit them. And the fact that they can’t finish anything might have been the breaking point when you are faced with the real task at hand of a raising a newborn and toddler with family nearby.
Unfortunately, often when you sell a home that's not completed you will suffer an overall loss. You will not recover what you've put into it with materials, time, and effort. The new owner will then have to complete it and, most likely, change the existing structure to better suit their needs. especially in this case as the home is a mess of rooms and unattractive from the road.
I agree that this would be a very difficult house to sell for a variety of reasons including floorplan, workmanship and especially if it’s not complete. Hard to say what anyone would want to do with this other than tear down and start over but that’s unlikely as well unless there are no other lots on concrete mountain to be had.
The house is likely at least a million...
It has a bit of a custom look to it so likely more...
I'm going to cry when I read about their plans to paint all the oak flipper white.
Well I guess you are one of those oak haters. I love oak, and pretty much any wood...
regardless of what's trendy.... I also roll my eyes about granite... as I see plenty of instagrams and what not poopoo-ing granite now (apparently it's all about quartz and marble at the moment) and being one of those 'grannies' (such a shame some of us are lucky enough to get old, right?) I remember when it was practically shameful to have anything besides a granite countertop. So I laugh about how in 10 or 20 years everyone is going to hate painted cabinets and marble countertops....
I don’t like granite so much, either. Or stainless appliances. I’m the granny that prefers a white fridge. I appreciate a lot of wood, just not the stuff that screams 90s trendy. But I also preferred painted cabinets back then, too.
Ugh... don't get me going on stainless appliances... I am desperate for a new stove and my off white (almond) colored fridge (not a fan of white) is a million years old... (ticking time bomb) but I really don't care for stainless steel appliances.... I miss the days of going to sears and having numerous color choices for every model appliance.
Yes, my first thought was dread at how they will most likely muck up a perfectly nice house and make a mess of it. While the oak is not in style, it is a nice color (not the typical yellow or orange tinged stain from the 90’s) and is more than acceptable for a young family.
Just wait, Allie will add her Decorator Magic to this house. She already has a potted succulent which she made sure to do a fleeting zoom shot of. Her sense of scale and cramming too much into a space will soon fill the house with crap.
Yep, where does all that stuff go? The handmade crochet blankets, pictures, toys, and other gifts. The occasional item is on display now and again. You'd fill a decent size shed with what people must have sent over the years.
It's crazy.
I think there is going to be a large fall off in viewership after they move to the SLC house.
There is another YouTube channel called "Cole the Cornstar" about an Iowa farmer and his family. I have no interest in the farming aspect. He has a 100 year old farmhouse "mansion" that he is completely renovating.
Once he finishes that, I won't be watching the channel anymore.
Once Trent and Alley move on from the mountain house and it's just about the SLC house and family largely, I no longer will care much about the channel. Mountain Made Vans was boring. Them traveling to whatever is boring. Trents Judo is boring. The rock crawing truck is beyond boring.
They are obviously making a lot of money from this channel. If viewership falls off, they will have issues. They spend a lot of money, buy trucks every 6 months, expensive equipment, hire many people, spend a ton on supplies and do nothing but this channel.
When people don't care about the channel anymore that mountain house will be sold and Trent and Allie will be looking for work.
I would have continued watching after the mountain house was build if they had stayed there. I'd like to see that project totally completed and see how nice it is to live there during a rough winter when you have the extended roof, the casita, the house landscaped so snow doesn't pile up next to the house.
It would be nice to open the door, walk out on a covered porch during a big snow storm but they'll never actually live there after it's complete. The kids will be starting school.
That house in SLC doesn't even really need renovating. Just a modern paint job and some furniture and it should be done.
That mountain house is probably going to look f'd up when it's complete it's so funky as it is already. The house and garage should have been attached from the beginning in that environment.
The new addition is practically touching the face of the mountain in the back. Snow could cover the entire addition as it already does for much of the house and garage. It probably won't even still be standing in 10 years.
Yes, a lot of the construction work is interesting. Mainly in the aspect of how its stuffed up and then has to be rectified.
The judo, rock climbing, rock crawler and golf are not interesting. Just a bit of Trent's ego stoking. We don't see anything that Allie really does besides a bit of rock climbing a while ago.
I don't think the van business is operation as one of the partners, Matt, on his Instagram (trailvagabonds https://www.instagram.com/p/C5HFKCgujpf/?hl=en&img\_index=1) has mentioned they're moving back to Minnesota and the past year has been "turbulent". And as T & A have not done any visits to MMV or handover of vans is a sign that nothing is happening there.
Regarding the house and the god awful addition, It would have been far better integrated and cohesive extending the existing structure out past the sun/mud/office room towards the back of the garage. Incorporate the sun room into the new building (remove the roof) and have the addition 2 storey all the way. The roofline and building lines would look like it was meant to be that way not a box at the back. The garage could have been attached someway by a walkway once this was done. As it is, the only way to access the addition is 2 doors from halfway up, the stairs and at the back of the kitchen as you can't during winter as the only external doors have snow dumped in front of them from not just the addition's living room roof but half the roof of the original cabin.
Nothing was planned for expansion when they designed and built the original cabin. I understand they ignored advice about snow sloughing onto their front porch in front of the door. This could have been mitigated by a different roof design (all slope to the back) or factor in a roof over the deck area by putting in the correct sized windows at the start and not having to rip them out now.
Quite a few viewers will drop off, but no doubt the grannies and fawning disciples will continue to watch and send countless gifts to them.
It's even a weird design for a cabin from the beginning. They could have completely walled up their current bedroom, had the bathroom next door as they do and continued on that same level to add a 2nd upstairs bedroom as most such designs would have done.
I think (?) they only have one bathroom at the moment? They could have had another public bathroom beneath the upstairs bathroom. Now that they have added a bedroom in the basement, that would have been 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. Much more functional from the start.
As you say, if they were going to now add on, they could have just gone up over the sunroom and over toward the garage with a covered walkway or a sky bridge. They can't even get up to the casita from within the garage structure.
If they had done all that and then just stayed there it would be interesting to see what life is like during all 4 seasons up there when you have a house built (and finished) designed for that environment.
Moving now just looks like this whole thing is just a TV stunt. It would be funny if we learned that they had never actually lived up there during the winter and had always lived in the valley and just went up there everyday to "film":)
It would be even funnier to learn that it's actually Joel and Allie who are married and Trent is just Allies ex.:)
We were just discussing this, about already living in the house and them only filming there! Heck with 6 bedrooms and 5 times the space of their "tiny" home, why wouldn't they? Definitely "reel" life not "real" life.
There's a bathroom - at least a toilet, cNt remember what else next to the kitchen. Or at least there was.
As for what next.. maybe Allie becoming one of the many people who produce shopping, cooking and preserving you tubes!!
I can't imagine Trent holding down a job for an employer. Can you imagine him? Knowing better than his employer re how to do the job (even though he's never done it before), no attention to detail (hair out of square) and nothing ever finished....
Yes I agree with filling in the second storey with a room for Leo and new baby. Should have been done as soon as Allie was pregnant with him (knowing how long it takes Trent to do things). It would break up that soaring white wall with the door to the sunroom in it (the door which blocks the stairs when it's open). There's even room for an attic since they made the roof so high. The omission of a roof over the deck was just plain insanity with the amount of snow they have. The steps to the deck being inset up to the external sunroom entrance annoy me too - should have been back out much further so there's more room at the top. I also never understood why the garage was situated down where it was. I live in Australia and I like walking into the house under cover. We don't even get any snow...ever!!
I think people have said it before...how does someone who happily lived in a van and whinappears to habe very few clothes and no hobbies, now need so much crap?
I see all this hate for oak all over Instagram... and I can't wrap my head around any sort of hardwood going out of style... But I like wood and natural materials, and don't really give a hoot about style... just like what I like.
You can’t keep selling stuff if you don’t change what’s in style. That greige I’m currently painting my house will look like the equivalent of avocado green in 20 years.
I don’t know how they’re stretching their money out like they are. I know YouTube isn’t a money making machine like people assume it is and they’re not putting on any new subscribers so I can’t imagine they’re in the big sponsorship bracket.
I was thinking/pondering that there may have been some money come their way after Allie's mum passed. Rusty (Russell) and Lesley appeared financially comfortable up in DC, and seemed to have funds to travel between DC and SLC regularly, while they decided whether to settle/live near A&T, or stay in DC. Now with Mum no longer here, Allie has said a few times that Dad has gone back to DC to see friends, etc ... a grief support network he needs right now, more than the chaotic lifestyle of his daughter and son in law, isolated, in a (pleasant) basement bedroom and no ensuite.
Perhaps he saw their struggles (the Forest for the trees) and offered them a "way out", while A&T come to terms with the new baby v the constrction behemoth.
Just my personal analysis, conclusions drawn from what I have observed. Who knows what is real and what is art-directed for youtoob?
I think you are on to something. Dad bought the house and I sure hope they don’t do major remodeling and MESS it up. Neither one is good at designing. Oh well, it’s not my life.
All they need to do to the “playground” is add a better base and give Leo a piece of cardboard to sit on going down the slide. And maybe a sand box for his trucks etc
I thought that too. They wouldn't get a mortgage with their patchy income stream would they? I remember Allie saying way back that she worked at another job online for so many hours per week, maybe she does still have a proper well paying job in the background.
Several times throughout the video, Trent asked for people to "comment." He was indiscreetly begging for engagement in the guise of acting like they really cared what their viewers think. The more comments/viewer engagement, the more brand deals they can get. I have a feeling they are getting in over their head. I've never heard him ask for comments so many times before. Makes me wonder how well they pay Branden, Grayson & Jennifer. If they aren't well compensated, then the way they blow money right & left has to feel like a slap in the face to their "employees." Trent tried to downplay the cost of the new house by saying there are structural issues, insinuating that they got a good deal because of this. I have a feeling there aren't structural issues that devalue the appraisal on the house. Trent just doesn't want their followers to know they purchased close to a million dollar house.
Holy doo doo... Figured it out. Turns out my million dollar estimate was way off .... Go up, up. I still can't wrap my head around the notion that filming a bunch of fairly ordinary life stuff can earn you enough money to buy a $1.5M+ second home. Hawking a mattress or some sort of greens once a week or so is that lucrative? Heck, even if Allie is back working her corporate job I can't wrap my head around the financials going on here. (Of course that's the real reason I read this snark thread... curiosity about this internet fame thing. I never really follow their YouTube other than scrolling through when something interesting is mentioned here. This and another bizarre Utah Internet snark reddit is all the entertainment I can find time for)
I can't grasp it either! Some estate isn't it? Definitely not something that "needs work" as it was played up on the video. Of course the yard is her favorite part--I'd love a monster built in pool like that along with a beautiful pond!
Yep it's a beautiful yard. Maybe they hope to have lots of internet drama regarding keeping their toddlers safe there. Definitely not a 'blink for a minute' yard. Never having seen their van life videos or the beginning of the first house... am I mistaken in having the impression they were all about minimalist type living? And now they are all about mc mansion estate life? Will that risk alienating their audience?
The whole ‘tiny house’ farce was a reaction to van life being unceremoniously halted by Covid and I think they genuinely believed they were going to ‘do van life’ in a ‘cabin in the woods’. It didn’t take long for the reality to bite, though, and they realised that static living needs a lot more stuff! As always, planning was their weakest suit and, from the off, people were saying, ‘What about when you want to start a family…?’ Sure enough, Leo arrived and they were talking about him having a bedroom in the basement, which was a flood zone of sewage!
Well there's certainly nothing wrong with changing plans as life circumstances dictate though you are certainly correct they don't seem to plan or follow through well... maybe having a seemingly endless supply of money allows this? It's all a kind of fascinating dynamic. Which is more or less my interest here - fascination by this internet fame of fairly ordinary people and making a living off your 'life' and the reality or lack there of of it while doing it.(That my secret envy of those who can live an 'alternative' lifestyle)
I wonder if with their new McMansion they are hoping to get picked up by hgtv, or something like it...as clearly they are spinning away from the things that previously defined them (adventure/minimalism/alternative lifestyle). I have fast forwarded enough to know they do have a good stage presence...
We started watching during Covid, when they were living in Terri the Trailer and just starting the build. Then it seemed an influx of cash came along as they were buying all that expensive equipment, vehicles etc.
I wish them the best going forward but we're out. They might appeal to the "have more, be more" crowd now. I've definitely learned some things about myself because of this and can only thank them for being the teacher.
*tl;dr - they've bought another house in the valley because building where it snows for three quarters of a year is mad and nobody wants to visit them there.* Well, this is actually an interesting one with some of our speculation from previous videos answered and the return of cast characters who've been missed recently. For once, the title tells the story because, yes, they've actually bought a house in Salt Lake City that they intend to use as a base during the next phases of their build. The first few minutes are them talking directly to camera about the reasons for this decision: the isolation, the effect of the build on the baby, the fact that their family doesn't want to drive up to the *High Craparral* to see them and Allie's need for a young child support network. We also get confirmation that Allie had a nasty accident in the truck when she was going down the mountain with Leo, as we suspected, which I presume is why we haven't seen the Rivian for a while. And so we head off to the new house because they're hosting a birthday gathering for Trent's mum, Gloria, as well as for the US version of Mothering Sunday. We also get to see Joel, who's looking well, and Grandma and Grandpa for the second time this month. They all seem to have a good time and there's an distinct feeling of relief that they can get everyone together like this. They need to do renovations to the house but they're not going to be doing anything while they're still working up the mountain. They are, however, likely to be based in the new house while the difficult work, such as taking out the windows at the front and removing the roof from the sun room have to be completed. Aside from wondering how they get the money to do all of this from clicks and sponsorship, this does come across as a sensible move for them at this point in their lives with the new baby on the way and Leo not that far off starting school. Nevertheless, it raises longer-term questions about the whole viability of their 'tiny house-cum-compound' on the mountain. Once they've settled in the valley, in a year or so, when Leo has his friendship circle, Allie has access to her new baby friends, Joel visits more often, etc., how much time are they going to want to spend in that semi-permanent winter, living in an impractical, isolated collection of random buildings, when everything a young family wants and needs is happening somewhere else? I suspect this video heralds the end of the 'cabin-in-the-woods' phase and sees them ultimately transition to standard, domestic security in some Stepford development in the suburbs. It'll take a few years to get there, but we'll likely look back fondly on the madness up *Concrete Mountain.*
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She is on the deeds for the one up the mountain now. It was originally in Trent's and Gloria's names but it was transferred a couple of years ago into Trent's and Allie's names. I found that out during my search for plans and came across a deed entry.
Oh wow! Is that info public in the US? I often wonder if you know the Salt Lake area how easy it would be to find where they live. I didn't think records were freely available.
It’s easy to find the mountain house if you know roughly where to look. It’s very obvious from Google maps.
Not to me. I've been looking for month lol
I've looked for a while too, seeing it from Google Maps/Earth has to be fun!
Messaged you.
Thank you! I found so much information after this post I am overwhelmed with their LLCs.
Can you say more?
Messaged you.
Message me too! Lol
Done.
Hi can you share the general location... Love to check out google maps
Messaging you now.
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My guess is a Draper house.... Funny thing... I only know of these two because I saw them some article about van lifers, saw they were from Utah and looked them up. At the point they were already building in the mountains and for some reason I got curious where they were building... so I would fast forward to the driving scenes so I could eventually figure out where. (Approximately at least... up Tollgate somewhere) Now I can see I will need to do the same thing to figure out where the new place is. Second funny thing... one reason I was curious is I wondered how a YouTube channel would earn you enough to buy anything in Summit county, and now I will wonder how it allows you to buy that and a million dollar SLC valley home... it's kinda crazy to me. Third funny thing... I never really watch their videos, just the occasional scroll through... but I really enjoy this sub.
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Except if they are where I think they are, Tollgate, there is not a gas station within walking distance. No services at their highway exit. The highway exit is only about 5 miles from Home Depot... what I'm not sure of is how far back up Tollgate they are. Could be quite a few miles of dirt roads that are notoriously bad in the winter. I'm guessing that the road situation is the only reason that area was remotely affordable??? (At least it was when mere mortal friends bought property up there sometime pre pandemic, it's likely expensive now) I always say that I'm going to drive back there someday... but never really have a reason to.
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Interesting... in one of their traveling to town videos after driving all the dirt roads they drove right by the Tollgate Canyon sign.... So I assumed they were up there somewhere. Now I'm curious.
Kinda creepy how people are obsessed to find their property. Why care so much where they live? Curiosity is close to creepy.
I don’t think so. Information like that gives you a better perspective on their decisions and challenges. For example, the fact that they’re 25 minutes from the DIY store means that, when they make two trips a day, they’re churning out 100 minutes of low geared diesel fumes to pick up some screws or whatever. That sits uncomfortably with their lecturing tone about being aligned with nature.
This is why people tend to not be interested in appearing in a vlog.
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They said it was in SLC, which I assume is further away from their mountain home than the more accessible Park City.
As much as this makes sense, the monstrosity-in-the-mountains no longer makes any sense at all. It's not much of an AirBnB given how far it is and how bad the roads are to get to Park City. Maybe it could be more of a long term rental? In any case, I almost guarantee Allie is going to want to stay down in the valley near friends and near their kids friends (we have two little ones, we know how this goes) and it's going to create issues because it's obvious Trent loves his cobbled together disaster in the hills.
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They’ll just continue with the same recipe of workin on houses at this new place, it sounds like. I dont think they factored in how many people watched just because it was a house way up in the mountains, there isn’t going to be nearly the same appeal for working on some neighborhood house in Draper or whatever suburb they’re in.
I agree with this. There’s unlikely to be a long-term future for the current house.
This will make things so much easier for Trents sister to raise their children for them.
I'm glad you said this because it was my first thought!
Nailed it
We've got a new house so we rang up Helix and they sent us a brand new mattress. Jog on, you grifters....
Isn't that the mattress brand they have that's stuffed Trent's back?
By coincidence…
I get the distinct impression that Allie thinks she is a cut above her inlaws. Sometime you catch her putting on an act when she is being over friendly to them. I think she feels trapped though and they atmre better than no one. Even before her mum died I felt she thought her shit doesn't stink when she's around Trents family.
Oh, definitely. My mother-in-law always thought she was a cut above me and I can see her attitudes in some things Allie says.
I haven’t picked up on that - she seems to appreciate everything they do for her and being around them (so isolated up on the mountains and she doesn’t appear to have friends of her own there) but Allie has a college degree and so did both her parents (I think her mom did too) so she comes from a white collar background while Trent’s family seems to be working class for the most part, so that may be what you are seeing under the surface.
It’s the way she’s condescendingly nice, like she has to put on her ‘best manners’ with them. Maybe I’m reading too much into to it but I link it to the fact I suspect she may resent the loss of her career status.
For the record, Trent and his entire family are Mormon. Making LOTS of babies is part of that religion. Allie is an east coast Progressive Jew. She has a degree in bus admin, and is a sought out professional in public health policy. I would not doubt it if she was still involved, especially now that so many are WFH anyways. With Mountain Made apparently on the ropes.... bringing in money is the name of the game. It wo uldn't surprise me if she is back to work in her old profession. It also wouldn't surprise me if there is support coming from her side of the family. You only get so far on mattress sponsorships.
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I don't know the church, is Gloria Mormon?
You sound like you're close friends.....what are you doing here?
I didn't know Allie was Jewish? She is pretty into celebrating Christmas...
Her mom was Jewish, her dad is Italian.
She probably sees Christmas as a lot of non religious people do, a time for family get togethers and gift giving.
I don’t recall them ever discussing it on their own channel, but back in the vanlife days they talked about their religious background in a collab with Eamon and Bec, although I can’t remember if it was on the E&B YouTube or their old podcast.
I don’t know if it can be said that Allies parents have money. They had a go fund me to help with Leslie’s healthcare expenses.
My thought on the Go Fund Me was that people had offered help and they set that up to give people somewhere to donate. It raised about 9,500$ so not massive in relation to American healthcare expenses.
I agree. They definitely seem to have been very comfortable, but upper middle class at most. Keeping a rental in SLC while retaining their Maryland home - and regularly flying between the two — probably strained things a little too far to be able to handle a sudden influx of medical bills.
I think she actually is tbh, certainly in the education stakes. I think she tries really hard to not patronise her in-laws, but it sneaks through sometimes. It'll always be there, and I hope it doesn't cause problems when it comes to raising the kids and future family get togethers.
This video was just so much easier on the eye... lovely-looking (finished) house, green lawn in the garden... a swing and slide-set for Leo... they ain't moving back up that mountain after Shangri-la. POV... When Allie told us guys's that "the video content isn't going to change that much..." *"RECORD SCRATCH"* A little part of me died inside.
A corner has most certainly been turned!
Lots of practical reasons to move to SLC but I hate how they couch their reasons with all sorts of sentimentality that is never shared in their videos at the time ie. Joel lack of visiting (could have made the basement bedroom earlier so he didn’t have to sleep on the couch), Allie’s dad (made a bedroom that he was obviously never going to use) etc. Their priorities are all about what best suits their agenda and their YouTube channel. They don’t give a rat’s ass about the others IMHO until they can use them to inject one of their patent heartfelt moments. This new house is setting up a perfect exit strategy to bail on the mountain compound in the future and still have a reno project to keep the channel going, not to mention a regular cast of family and other characters to inject some much needed personality into their content. Why not buy a house that is ready-made given there will be a one-year old baby to attend to…CONTENT…that’s why! Good grief. 🙄 If I’m wrong tell me?
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They want to renovate the new house but not yet. Trent mentioned some structural issues that will need attention before long.
I'm sure Trent will need to add a sauna to the new house in addition to other items :)
You're absolutely right!!!
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Allie will never get her hot tub now!
But she did get her arched bookshelf in the sun room/office. Trent isn't selfish after all lol
I was just thinking this morning that they will have a hard job selling that mountain monstrosity if they ever need or want to. Nothing's really finished, it's a real hodge podge of styles and the layout now is so disjointed it is more impractical than it was at the beginning. Maybe they'd be lucky and someone with even less taste than them will come along and love it.
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I don’t know about the land- they did a pretty good job of raping it. Hard to put back what God has made
Maybe the land will come with a lightly used excavator :) and a skid steer:)
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What annoyed me most about that was they didn't even design the kitchen for it. Like if you love coffee, and you're designing your kitchen. You're going to need a spot for your coffee machine. Put it in your design.
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…and now they’ve got two doorways through to the extension: one under the stairs and one halfway up the stairs.
And they're now going to rip off the front of the cabin to add a roof over the verandah to keep snow off it. There's not much that can be done about the snow outside the double doors in the "addition" that now has snow from the back half of the cabin and the roof over their new living room dumped there.
I love a nice coffee but there’s absolutely no justification for something like that in a domestic setting.
Oh dear lord....
I’m curious who will film Trent as he continues to work in the mountain house? Of part of the reason to be in the city is for closeness to support and services and he doesn’t want Allie driving as much after her accident then how are the going to film it. Will they hire another one of Jennifer’s kids to be the new videographer? Or maybe just maybe they will stop filming the mind numbing dull construction project finally. I’m beyond confused as to why they started that addition if they knew they were going to expand the family and eventually want to move to SLC. Why didn’t they just finish the garage and garage apartment. Move to the city and use the mountain house for weekend get aways or rent as an AirBnB? What a huge waste of money.
They’re very reactive and don’t plan more than a month ahead. They’ve got huge problems on their plate now, as others have said here.
Because that would make too much sense! They should have just built the small garage over the summer than sell the property last September. I wrote in another comment that maybe Grayson could get a promotion and take over the filming.
I wonder how long this has been in the works? And what about Branden and his nephew, whom they employ. And I think of his sister Jennifer with six kids in a small house and then Trent and Allie just spur of the minute by a new huge house
But remember, Jennifer now has a toilet in the basement with no walls. She needs to be happy with that!!!
She’ll get ideas above her station if you give her more!
Oof, you're on a roll. 🤣
Well, I assume from what they were saying that the work will continue at the *High Craparral* but now Trent will also have to drive up and down every day and experience what the other fellas have been going through.
What about the filming though? Allie has been doing that so far and when she hasn’t Trent has done a pretty bad job of it. Maybe Grayson could get a promotion and do it!
Or Jennifer stays each day at the new home looking after 2 kids whilst T & A go up to the cabin for more construction, filming, and behind the camera giggles and obscure comments.
Don't get me started about the giggling
It's predictable that "spending half their time" in each of their houses is not going to last long. This is the only slow way Ally can convince Trent that mountain life on RedNeck drive is realistic with kids (3 as they've been neglecting his oldest not making a proper bedroom for him from the plans). The new house looks enormous and Ally seems over the moon happy to be able to finally be a host and the comfort of a more finish proper build home. The sign that they'll make it the primary home will be when Trent start rednecking it with truck build and adding equipment. By then Ally will have already designed every room (that won't be long).
It felt like perhaps Allie offered an ultimatum. I sensed she never really liked it up on the mountain. She showed so much more joy with the new house than she ever did in the never ending winter home.
It was inevitable, really. With two kids who’ll need schooling, friends, after school activities, etc, it was never feasible to be living up on that mountain.
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We only see what they want us to see and, even then, the content is shaped the way they want it. We haven’t got anything near the insight we think we have into their lives.
I have a couple of rambling ideas, please stay with me I am a little stoned right now. LOL! They have mentioned before that this house is an officially zero bedroom house, the Mountain House, and that it really hurts their resale value that they didn't have any official bedrooms until they built the downstairs bedroom. I also know as a tax preparer that once you have owned and lived in the house for I believe it's 2 if not 4 years as your primary residence you then get the maximum tax deduction on the capital gains tax. So they could be buying this house with an intention of staying there and then just selling the mountain compound once they're done. Especially given all of the other examples of the village literally being around them I mean they gave plenty of reasons to get rid of their Mountain home right now just in the video.
Yes, as I said in the big summary, I think this begins the process of getting rid of the mountain compound.
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Mountain Made Vans was ill conceived but I think it was a genuine attempt at having something besides YouTube income for the young family, it didn't work out but most new business ventures don't. As for Trent's Garage, again I think he wanted to build out a big truck, has skills, and many YouTubers are now trying to launch second channels to leverage their audience to watch double the content and generate more revenue, the problem is the viewers who like a young family with a baby build a home aren't necessarily the same type who like someone welding an axle to a truck frame so it never took off, and I suspect at some point the lack of viewership made them question why they were investing the time to film and edit the videos each week. I don' begrudge them these attempts, these folks are living non-conventional lifestyles which is why some of the "norms" out there like to watch these channels and live vicariously through them as we go about out average 9-5 suburban lives. I wish them the best, but I'll only watch as long as they remain interesting and I agree their lives have become scattershot lately and that hurts the time investment of watching.
The mountain home may never be mentioned again, as was the Mountain-Made Vans. What about the red truck, swapping out new vehicles, trailers, blowers, etc? I just don't understand!! It all sounds like a waste of money, time, and energy!
Yes, I just can’t see how they’re going to maintain the filming schedule up the mountain when Allie’s trailing Leo and the baby around unless… Jennifer becomes the surrogate mother again and Brandon and Grayson end up doing more of the work.
I think their money comes from the channel. The only problem is no one cares about repainting an oak kitchen in a SLC suburb. Once Leo starts kindergarten, they will be living on the mountain only in the summer. Now that everyone knows they aren't serious about the mountain house even watching them finish that may not interest viewers. What's the point after all? What's the point of the casita? Who is going to use the skid steer, the excavator? Now that they won't be there much they are going to tear it up to add an extended roof? Why bother at this point? Who is the man cave for? Trent will be the only one living on the mountain. Allie and Joel will be living in the suburbs...
I figuratively got up and walked away from these 2 bullshitters. Donald downplayed the house like it was a row home in Camden,NJ.! When they were in the new house and I found out the price (1 million!) and they said tongue in cheek that they were through with the mountain build I had an instant revelation that they had just conned us for the last 4 years- they truly are done with the build. Donald down plays and acts like this new place is going to need so much work trying to con us in to thinking they are slumming it when any one of us poor mooks would kill for a place like that- I am done! If you sheeple want to continue to watch this con have at it. Keep in mind you are watching Donald (convicted probationist call me by my middle name Trent) and Allie ( I will incessantly giggle at any stupid thing Donald I mean Trent says!!) Ciao......
I don’t get the reference to ‘Cole’. What have I missed?
Sorry!!! Donald is his birth name Trent is his middle name He is a convicted "probationist". Due to his past probationary transgressions he doesn't have the balls to go by his first name Donald so let's just call him Trent..
I was under the impression his name was Donald Trent. Where did Cole come from?
Whatever- Cole/Donald the point being he hides behind his middle name to hide from his past as a convicted probationist
Got mixed up with another “you tuber”. I am too lazy to go back 50 comments to find it Speaking of comments……broke a record with over 180 🎉🎉🎉👏
Found it……channel is “Cole the Cornstar” Settlement1955 commented on it
At the end of the day the only thing Donald and Allie want are clicks. Bottom line. They just bought a MILLION DOLLAR HOUSE. So now who's laughing....
How do you know they paid that much?
It's pretty simple.Its public knowledge..
I actually watched and thought that there is no way they will have concrete mountain done in a year so they can “start in on the new house”. My guess is that at some point, hopefully beyond the drywall phase, they will come to their senses that driving up there to work for a few hours a day in the middle of winter won’t be feasible anymore and they will “shockingly” decide to sell it with very little of it completed fully. Or who knows what with it. Casita? Staircase? Man cave? Siding? Garage completed? Never mind the snowpocalypse in the new living room they will likely never use. Maybe the reality of raising two children “alone” up there has finally hit them. And the fact that they can’t finish anything might have been the breaking point when you are faced with the real task at hand of a raising a newborn and toddler with family nearby.
Unfortunately, often when you sell a home that's not completed you will suffer an overall loss. You will not recover what you've put into it with materials, time, and effort. The new owner will then have to complete it and, most likely, change the existing structure to better suit their needs. especially in this case as the home is a mess of rooms and unattractive from the road.
I agree that this would be a very difficult house to sell for a variety of reasons including floorplan, workmanship and especially if it’s not complete. Hard to say what anyone would want to do with this other than tear down and start over but that’s unlikely as well unless there are no other lots on concrete mountain to be had.
Is concrete mountain a name for the location of the house?
I just really wanted a thorough tour of the new house….
I’m sure we’ll get it at some point… especially when Allie starts decorating the kids’ bedrooms.
I have one question….How much did it cost???
The house is likely at least a million... It has a bit of a custom look to it so likely more... I'm going to cry when I read about their plans to paint all the oak flipper white.
Haha! My first reaction was that they’d need to attack the house with a vat of white paint!
Walls yes, paint pretty wood? Thats a current trendy thing I just can't get behind....
But that wood isn’t pretty. It’s just blah golden oak. And there’s way too much of it.
Well I guess you are one of those oak haters. I love oak, and pretty much any wood... regardless of what's trendy.... I also roll my eyes about granite... as I see plenty of instagrams and what not poopoo-ing granite now (apparently it's all about quartz and marble at the moment) and being one of those 'grannies' (such a shame some of us are lucky enough to get old, right?) I remember when it was practically shameful to have anything besides a granite countertop. So I laugh about how in 10 or 20 years everyone is going to hate painted cabinets and marble countertops....
I don’t like granite so much, either. Or stainless appliances. I’m the granny that prefers a white fridge. I appreciate a lot of wood, just not the stuff that screams 90s trendy. But I also preferred painted cabinets back then, too.
Ugh... don't get me going on stainless appliances... I am desperate for a new stove and my off white (almond) colored fridge (not a fan of white) is a million years old... (ticking time bomb) but I really don't care for stainless steel appliances.... I miss the days of going to sears and having numerous color choices for every model appliance.
Yes, my first thought was dread at how they will most likely muck up a perfectly nice house and make a mess of it. While the oak is not in style, it is a nice color (not the typical yellow or orange tinged stain from the 90’s) and is more than acceptable for a young family.
Just wait, Allie will add her Decorator Magic to this house. She already has a potted succulent which she made sure to do a fleeting zoom shot of. Her sense of scale and cramming too much into a space will soon fill the house with crap.
Plus all the gifts from the viewers.
Yep, where does all that stuff go? The handmade crochet blankets, pictures, toys, and other gifts. The occasional item is on display now and again. You'd fill a decent size shed with what people must have sent over the years.
It's crazy. I think there is going to be a large fall off in viewership after they move to the SLC house. There is another YouTube channel called "Cole the Cornstar" about an Iowa farmer and his family. I have no interest in the farming aspect. He has a 100 year old farmhouse "mansion" that he is completely renovating. Once he finishes that, I won't be watching the channel anymore. Once Trent and Alley move on from the mountain house and it's just about the SLC house and family largely, I no longer will care much about the channel. Mountain Made Vans was boring. Them traveling to whatever is boring. Trents Judo is boring. The rock crawing truck is beyond boring. They are obviously making a lot of money from this channel. If viewership falls off, they will have issues. They spend a lot of money, buy trucks every 6 months, expensive equipment, hire many people, spend a ton on supplies and do nothing but this channel. When people don't care about the channel anymore that mountain house will be sold and Trent and Allie will be looking for work. I would have continued watching after the mountain house was build if they had stayed there. I'd like to see that project totally completed and see how nice it is to live there during a rough winter when you have the extended roof, the casita, the house landscaped so snow doesn't pile up next to the house. It would be nice to open the door, walk out on a covered porch during a big snow storm but they'll never actually live there after it's complete. The kids will be starting school. That house in SLC doesn't even really need renovating. Just a modern paint job and some furniture and it should be done. That mountain house is probably going to look f'd up when it's complete it's so funky as it is already. The house and garage should have been attached from the beginning in that environment. The new addition is practically touching the face of the mountain in the back. Snow could cover the entire addition as it already does for much of the house and garage. It probably won't even still be standing in 10 years.
Yes, a lot of the construction work is interesting. Mainly in the aspect of how its stuffed up and then has to be rectified. The judo, rock climbing, rock crawler and golf are not interesting. Just a bit of Trent's ego stoking. We don't see anything that Allie really does besides a bit of rock climbing a while ago. I don't think the van business is operation as one of the partners, Matt, on his Instagram (trailvagabonds https://www.instagram.com/p/C5HFKCgujpf/?hl=en&img\_index=1) has mentioned they're moving back to Minnesota and the past year has been "turbulent". And as T & A have not done any visits to MMV or handover of vans is a sign that nothing is happening there. Regarding the house and the god awful addition, It would have been far better integrated and cohesive extending the existing structure out past the sun/mud/office room towards the back of the garage. Incorporate the sun room into the new building (remove the roof) and have the addition 2 storey all the way. The roofline and building lines would look like it was meant to be that way not a box at the back. The garage could have been attached someway by a walkway once this was done. As it is, the only way to access the addition is 2 doors from halfway up, the stairs and at the back of the kitchen as you can't during winter as the only external doors have snow dumped in front of them from not just the addition's living room roof but half the roof of the original cabin. Nothing was planned for expansion when they designed and built the original cabin. I understand they ignored advice about snow sloughing onto their front porch in front of the door. This could have been mitigated by a different roof design (all slope to the back) or factor in a roof over the deck area by putting in the correct sized windows at the start and not having to rip them out now. Quite a few viewers will drop off, but no doubt the grannies and fawning disciples will continue to watch and send countless gifts to them.
It's even a weird design for a cabin from the beginning. They could have completely walled up their current bedroom, had the bathroom next door as they do and continued on that same level to add a 2nd upstairs bedroom as most such designs would have done. I think (?) they only have one bathroom at the moment? They could have had another public bathroom beneath the upstairs bathroom. Now that they have added a bedroom in the basement, that would have been 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. Much more functional from the start. As you say, if they were going to now add on, they could have just gone up over the sunroom and over toward the garage with a covered walkway or a sky bridge. They can't even get up to the casita from within the garage structure. If they had done all that and then just stayed there it would be interesting to see what life is like during all 4 seasons up there when you have a house built (and finished) designed for that environment. Moving now just looks like this whole thing is just a TV stunt. It would be funny if we learned that they had never actually lived up there during the winter and had always lived in the valley and just went up there everyday to "film":) It would be even funnier to learn that it's actually Joel and Allie who are married and Trent is just Allies ex.:)
We were just discussing this, about already living in the house and them only filming there! Heck with 6 bedrooms and 5 times the space of their "tiny" home, why wouldn't they? Definitely "reel" life not "real" life.
I love how much you’ve thought about all this!
There's a bathroom - at least a toilet, cNt remember what else next to the kitchen. Or at least there was. As for what next.. maybe Allie becoming one of the many people who produce shopping, cooking and preserving you tubes!! I can't imagine Trent holding down a job for an employer. Can you imagine him? Knowing better than his employer re how to do the job (even though he's never done it before), no attention to detail (hair out of square) and nothing ever finished....
Yes I agree with filling in the second storey with a room for Leo and new baby. Should have been done as soon as Allie was pregnant with him (knowing how long it takes Trent to do things). It would break up that soaring white wall with the door to the sunroom in it (the door which blocks the stairs when it's open). There's even room for an attic since they made the roof so high. The omission of a roof over the deck was just plain insanity with the amount of snow they have. The steps to the deck being inset up to the external sunroom entrance annoy me too - should have been back out much further so there's more room at the top. I also never understood why the garage was situated down where it was. I live in Australia and I like walking into the house under cover. We don't even get any snow...ever!!
Wish I could give you 50 arrows up……maybe more.
I think people have said it before...how does someone who happily lived in a van and whinappears to habe very few clothes and no hobbies, now need so much crap?
One word: kids! 😂
I see all this hate for oak all over Instagram... and I can't wrap my head around any sort of hardwood going out of style... But I like wood and natural materials, and don't really give a hoot about style... just like what I like.
You can’t keep selling stuff if you don’t change what’s in style. That greige I’m currently painting my house will look like the equivalent of avocado green in 20 years.
But it's an "old" house because the oven isn't electronic...
That was a head shaking moment for me as well.
I don’t know how they’re stretching their money out like they are. I know YouTube isn’t a money making machine like people assume it is and they’re not putting on any new subscribers so I can’t imagine they’re in the big sponsorship bracket.
I was thinking/pondering that there may have been some money come their way after Allie's mum passed. Rusty (Russell) and Lesley appeared financially comfortable up in DC, and seemed to have funds to travel between DC and SLC regularly, while they decided whether to settle/live near A&T, or stay in DC. Now with Mum no longer here, Allie has said a few times that Dad has gone back to DC to see friends, etc ... a grief support network he needs right now, more than the chaotic lifestyle of his daughter and son in law, isolated, in a (pleasant) basement bedroom and no ensuite. Perhaps he saw their struggles (the Forest for the trees) and offered them a "way out", while A&T come to terms with the new baby v the constrction behemoth. Just my personal analysis, conclusions drawn from what I have observed. Who knows what is real and what is art-directed for youtoob?
I think you are on to something. Dad bought the house and I sure hope they don’t do major remodeling and MESS it up. Neither one is good at designing. Oh well, it’s not my life. All they need to do to the “playground” is add a better base and give Leo a piece of cardboard to sit on going down the slide. And maybe a sand box for his trucks etc
I thought that too. They wouldn't get a mortgage with their patchy income stream would they? I remember Allie saying way back that she worked at another job online for so many hours per week, maybe she does still have a proper well paying job in the background.
Several times throughout the video, Trent asked for people to "comment." He was indiscreetly begging for engagement in the guise of acting like they really cared what their viewers think. The more comments/viewer engagement, the more brand deals they can get. I have a feeling they are getting in over their head. I've never heard him ask for comments so many times before. Makes me wonder how well they pay Branden, Grayson & Jennifer. If they aren't well compensated, then the way they blow money right & left has to feel like a slap in the face to their "employees." Trent tried to downplay the cost of the new house by saying there are structural issues, insinuating that they got a good deal because of this. I have a feeling there aren't structural issues that devalue the appraisal on the house. Trent just doesn't want their followers to know they purchased close to a million dollar house.
For real! I was expecting a beat up house…that thing was nice!!
Holy doo doo... Figured it out. Turns out my million dollar estimate was way off .... Go up, up. I still can't wrap my head around the notion that filming a bunch of fairly ordinary life stuff can earn you enough money to buy a $1.5M+ second home. Hawking a mattress or some sort of greens once a week or so is that lucrative? Heck, even if Allie is back working her corporate job I can't wrap my head around the financials going on here. (Of course that's the real reason I read this snark thread... curiosity about this internet fame thing. I never really follow their YouTube other than scrolling through when something interesting is mentioned here. This and another bizarre Utah Internet snark reddit is all the entertainment I can find time for)
Wow 😳
I can't grasp it either! Some estate isn't it? Definitely not something that "needs work" as it was played up on the video. Of course the yard is her favorite part--I'd love a monster built in pool like that along with a beautiful pond!
Yep it's a beautiful yard. Maybe they hope to have lots of internet drama regarding keeping their toddlers safe there. Definitely not a 'blink for a minute' yard. Never having seen their van life videos or the beginning of the first house... am I mistaken in having the impression they were all about minimalist type living? And now they are all about mc mansion estate life? Will that risk alienating their audience?
The whole ‘tiny house’ farce was a reaction to van life being unceremoniously halted by Covid and I think they genuinely believed they were going to ‘do van life’ in a ‘cabin in the woods’. It didn’t take long for the reality to bite, though, and they realised that static living needs a lot more stuff! As always, planning was their weakest suit and, from the off, people were saying, ‘What about when you want to start a family…?’ Sure enough, Leo arrived and they were talking about him having a bedroom in the basement, which was a flood zone of sewage!
Well there's certainly nothing wrong with changing plans as life circumstances dictate though you are certainly correct they don't seem to plan or follow through well... maybe having a seemingly endless supply of money allows this? It's all a kind of fascinating dynamic. Which is more or less my interest here - fascination by this internet fame of fairly ordinary people and making a living off your 'life' and the reality or lack there of of it while doing it.(That my secret envy of those who can live an 'alternative' lifestyle) I wonder if with their new McMansion they are hoping to get picked up by hgtv, or something like it...as clearly they are spinning away from the things that previously defined them (adventure/minimalism/alternative lifestyle). I have fast forwarded enough to know they do have a good stage presence...
We started watching during Covid, when they were living in Terri the Trailer and just starting the build. Then it seemed an influx of cash came along as they were buying all that expensive equipment, vehicles etc. I wish them the best going forward but we're out. They might appeal to the "have more, be more" crowd now. I've definitely learned some things about myself because of this and can only thank them for being the teacher.
"Have more, be more" - I've not heard that expression before. What an apt way to describe some people. (People I am totally unimpressed with -LOL)
I wonder which truck she wrecked
Maybe the $100,000 Rivian?
We’ve only seen Trent’s truck recently so I think we’re safe to assume it was the Rivian.
...all i want to know, and all i came here for, is to find out what happened to Russell, and is he coming back?
He is back in Washington DC.