Renovating a Camper
We renovated an RV!
When we sold our house we knew that it would likely take a bit of time to find the house and property we wanted, and also get an accepted offer. We also knew that buying an RV was unlikely due to increased prices on everything. We waited a while hoping we would just simply get a house, but that was not in the cards for us.
About two months before we had to be out of our house I had an urge to check for an RV, I just had a hunch we would need it. Low and behold this beauty popped up on Marketplace and it was honestly a pretty fantastic price for what we got. We took my parents the next morning to check it, and we ended up buying it. We hauled it home later that day. But this is where the fun begins.
The interiors of RV’s are never cute. They’re all pretty standard, and since we bought an older one, it came with pink carpet and floral upholstery, and a box tv. We also knew that our sleeping situation was not going to work with the existing beds in the camper. So we went to work creating a plan to renovate it to work with our needs and our design preferences. There are definitely some things I can say we’ve learned as far as cost and camper renovations vs home renovations. Since my husband and my dad are both carpenters, we definitely had an edge to doing this for the first time, but there is still a learning curve to working on an RV.
We basically ripped out everything but the kitchen cabinets. We used a paint sprayer and painted everything white except the lower cabinets in the kitchen, which we did grey. We did a custom butcher block countertop, as well. Sticky tiles for the backsplash, and I wallpapered several areas with peel and stick wallpaper. I’ll update and let you know how the peel and stick works out after the winter, there are three different brands in there.
All in all, this was a pretty grand adventure. We were probably crazy to do that when we were also packing our house into a storage unit, looking for houses, and trying to find a campground to park for the summer. Gutting and remodeling a camper at the same time felt really overwhelming, and we were exhausted, to say the least. But in the end, this was a far better use of our money than renting and having nothing to show for it. We still have our camper, and we’re starting to rent it out and turn it into income. So it wasn’t a bad idea either.
Here are the rest of the photos that I currently have. I’ll update later this spring when I do the official photos of us not living in there. LOL. If you are local and you’re looking for a camper to rent for your trip, let me know and I’ll send you the details.
