When Jill shared her makeover with me, I may have squealed with excitment. I have always wanted a Fleetwood high wall camper, and I am just in love with what Jill did with hers. It is absolutely gorgeous–the ultimate glamper! Jill was kind enough to allow me to share her remodel here with you on the blog, so I’m going to let her tell you all about it. Here ya go, Jill!Jill’s Pop Up Camper Makeover
The things you do for your kids… 😉 I had never been camping in my life. In fact, I knew nothing about camping. Sleeping on the hard ground didn’t sound like fun to me. It just wasn’t on my radar, but when my 5-year-old son asked if we’d take him camping, my husband and I jumped at the chance to provide him with some fun childhood memories. And, that’s the day I discovered The Pop Up Princess! We started looking for pop up campers on Craigslist that very same day, and the next day we bought one. We really jumped in head first.
My husband had camped in a pop up with his father and had wonderful memories of that time. His father passed away several years ago, so we named our pop up the “Billy Joe” in memory of him. 🙂 I had no clue what I was looking for, but I knew I wanted a bathroom, an oven, and the pop up couldn’t stink. The one we wanted happened to be four hours away from home, so we took off early the next morning to get it. I was grateful to be a passenger in the car for those four hours so I could scour The Pop Up Princess to get ideas for our renovation. I had the Billy Joe renovated in my head before I ever saw it in person. The Pop Up Princess has been my go-to for every step of this process. We ended up with a 2004 Fleetwood with high walls, and it’s perfect for our family. Since we were already four hours from home and only one hour from the beach, we decided to try it out right away. We took it camping immediately and had our very first adventure. What a great experience! We loved it!
We got home and started on our renovations right away. We replaced the yellow linoleum with River Rock vinyl plank from Surplus Warehouse. That was the easiest part of our renovation. My husband laid the whole floor in one evening.
Painting, on the other hand, was a nightmare. We initially used a deluxe white paint with primer already in it, and it just wasn’t covering the wood well. After four coats and a panic attack that I’d ruined our new pop up, I gave in and applied a coat of primer. That did the trick! After four coats of paint, one coat of primer, and then another coat of paint, I finally got coverage I could live with. Learn from my mistake! Don’t skip the primer even if it’s already in your fancy paint. 😛
Painting, on the other hand, was a nightmare. We initially used a deluxe white paint with primer already in it, and it just wasn’t covering the wood well. After four coats and a panic attack that I’d ruined our new pop up, I gave in and applied a coat of primer. That did the trick! After four coats of paint, one coat of primer, and then another coat of paint, I finally got coverage I could live with. Learn from my mistake! Don’t skip the primer even if it’s already in your fancy paint. 😛
Our camper is a 2004. I was in college in 2004, and I certainly don’t remember these fabric colors being in style. Mauve and green are very 1994 rather than 2004, and I knew I was going to have to reupholster the cushions. I decided to follow the advice of many of the folks featured on The Pop Up Princess and use mildew resistant shower curtains for our seat fabric, but then one day we were out shopping and found gorgeous thick curtains for $5 a panel. We decided instead to use different variations of those $5 curtains for our seats and curtains, and use the shower curtains for the back of the seats.
Since I don’t know how to sew, we used every method possible to get our fabric changed out. We hired a seamstress to cover the seat cushions, but we had a crazy short deadline for our pop up’s grand reveal. We had a big family camping trip planned on 4th of July, and we really wanted to show our new PUP off to the whole family then. Our seamstress was able to complete all of the seat backs in time, so my husband and I covered the rest of the cushions using the wrap and staple method. It was super helpful to have both of us working on it at the same time.
My generous and talented mom spent hours and hours sewing the window curtains, hemming them to the correct length and width. I’d cut off the curtain runner from the top of the old curtains in one long strip, and she sewed that on the new ones enabling us to use the original curtain track. Once again, we ran out of time to sew the bed curtains and we ran out of $5 curtains, so I ran off to JoAnn’s Fabric to purchase a couple yards of a coordinating fabric. I iron-hemmed them straight onto the old curtains. I think it was a happy accident because I love the additional patterned fabric.
My husband was unhappy with the exterior of the Billy Joe. He scraped off the stripe and logo on the outside using a 3M eraser wheel, and then he decided to spray paint it in gun-metal gray. It turned out beautifully, and it was quick, easy and cheap enough to re-do it if it ever fades.
Our goal in the purchase and renovation of our pop up was to create memories with our family, and even though we’ve only owned the Billy Joe for a couple months, we’ve already had amazing experiences. We even had nine family members cram into it to spend the night over the 4th of July. I’m so thankful for the great inspiration I found on The Pop Up Princess. Oh, and as for the must-have bathroom and oven? Neither have been used, but they’re GREAT for storage. 😉
What an amazing transformation, right? I’m so impressed with how Jill’s makeover turned out, and I love that she’s already had it out on several family adventures. That makes all the hard work worth it to me.
Beautiful makeover, Jill. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. I hope you have many more amazing adventures with your family.
Happy Camping!
Happy Camping!
So bright and airy!
Jill, it turned out amazing! And, I love your passion – the fact that you picked it up and headed straight off to camp is awesome. I love people who just jump right in! Your son will have great memories. And, I love that on this crazy day in the U.S., we can have a few minutes away from it all on this site. Thanks Larissa!
Thanks Laurie!! It’s been a fun adventure!!
Dear Jill,
We have a 2006 Viking Camper that is a lot like yours, we even have the same yucky curtains as your originals. It reminds me of the old places with all the paneling YUCK! So, like you I’m going to change all the curtains and cushion covers. Our old ones are in perfect shape, but BORING! So a face lift is definitely in order.
We do have one problem that I am struggling with and that is the zippers on the windows. Did you have this problem? If so, how did you fix it? I’m going to try WD40 and see if that helps. Thanks for all your great ideas!
Sharon
Pinellas Park, FL
What a comfortable and beautiful space to relax in. Nice Job Jill !!
Me again. I meant to tell you how happy I was to see your finished exterior. We’ll be finished with our interior very soon and want to move straight to the exterior so we’ll be all fresh for spring. Any insight into how the prep work was for the exterior?
I don’t have great insight, my husband did it. First, he tried a heat gun, but that didn’t work so he scraped it off with a 3m wheel. He only did that to the stripe and logo. He didn’t do anything else to prep, other than tape off the parts he didn’t want painted! The whole process only took a couple hours, so if the paint fades or we get a whim to change the color, it wasn’t a big investment of time or money!
https://www.amazon.com/3M-Stripe-Wheel-Mandrel-Diameter/dp/B00063VT0G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478732496&sr=8-1&keywords=3m+wheel
Very nice remodel! I think something like 80% of campers that I’ve seen originally have mauve and green fabrics, or some combination thereof. Not sure why, but they always pick the most dull shade of green. I used some green in my remodel, but it’s sage.
You are super brave to have picked up your PUP and went directly to a camping trip. So glad that turned out well!
I’m surprised you haven’t used the bathroom and oven yet. A bathroom was a requirement in my newest PUP, and gets a lot of use. Until recently, I didn’t even know they made PUPs with ovens, so that wasn’t on my wish list. However, I did add a large toaster oven right away. I wouldn’t want to camp without it.
I am so excited to see this makeover! I have wanted a PUP for awhile now, but keep looking at other types because I didn’t think any had bathrooms! Great makeover! I love this site!
I was one of those people that said “NEVER, NEVER, NEVER in a million years would I EVER camp in a pop-up camper. I have gotten over the fact that they don’t have hard walls. I have even gotten over the fact of not having a ‘REAL’ bathroom. I have ever gotten over the whole process of setting it up and taking it down. I was nervous of having children laying in tents on opposite sides of the parents. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the makeovers and all of these great positive feedback I get from families that camp in pop-ups. Your make-over is just amazing and thanks for sharing! My biggest concern now is how do you deal with bad weather and children not being scared? Again, AMAZING!!!! I am so glad I stumbled onto this website! Enjoy your journey!
Hi Dawn! Sorry for the delay! 🙂 It’s only rained a couple times, we’ve never used it in really bad weather. But my little one likes it when it rains! 🙂
I’m just wondering what type of paint you used? Did you use a cabinet paint or ?? Ugh this process!
OH … and the colour? 🤦🏼♀️
My hubby took the doors off and spray painted them with regular ole white spray paint! It was quick and easy – BUT the doors are a LITTLE bit yellow compared to everything else. I used white (I don’t remember the exact shade) of Behr with primer in it. But DON’T skip using REAL primer first! Whew! it WAS a process! lol!
We just bought a 1999 Viking Saga this morning and I came across your amazing page!!! I can’t wait to tackle the interior! Thanks for the inspiration!
I have the exact same camper. I need to know how many yards of fabric for the curtains please
I have very recently began searching for a camper to renovate and a shower is a must for me! Did you close in the shower area or are the pictures deceiving me?
Jill’s camper is a high wall PUP, Kasie. They usually have hard-walled shower areas. They are quite a bit bigger and require a higher tow capacity from your tow vehicle. Check out our article on buying a used pop up camper (here) for more info on that. 🙂
I’m finding this article several years after your remodel so I have to ask how the exterior spray paint has held up. We were contemplating doing the same but has it peeled off quickly?
I have a question about the metal edging on the shower and by the dining area, did you use the same paint as on the cabinets or something different?
I would use an oil-based or enamel paint that is meant for metal, Tara. Definitely prep the surface first according the the directions on the paint.