Katie’s Pop Up Camper Makeover

The weather has been pretty crazy lately, hasn’t it?  While parts of the country are snowed in, over here in Arizona, we are having a crazy heat wave.  Like a lot of readers, we are actually pretty fortunate to be able to camp year round.  Katie is one of those readers.  She and her family live in Florida, so they have great weather year round and great state parks to boot.  So when Katie purchased a pop up camper with the intentions of fixing it up, she knew a beach cabana theme would be perfect!

Prior to purchasing their pop up, Katie and her family had only camped one time–and it was a little bit rough.  They had very young kids, were in a small tent, and were rained out… but they had dreams of travelling across the country in a travel trailer, so when their kids were older they felt ready to try again.  They decided a pop up camper would be perfect for them, and when they found a PUP that was reasonably priced, they brought her home.

Katie named her camper, Poppy, and although she is not perfect, they fell in love with her.  She’s a 1998 Coleman Rio with all the ABS roof issues you might imagine, but she’s water tight and solid, so they immediately got to work.  Their first step was to take out all the fabric, doors, drawers, and countertops, and then Katie gave Poppy a really good cleaning.

The particle board countertops weren’t in the best shape, so Katie knew she wanted to replace them.  She looked around at a few different options before arriving at a super cheap fix.  Katie wanted butcher block countertops, but they were just too expensive and heavy.  On a trip to Home Depot, while looking at the wood, Katie and her husband saw that the laminated pine boards were wide enough for all the countertops and the table.  At $14 per board, Katie knew she had found her counters.  Her husband used the old countertops as templates to cut the new boards, and Katie stained them to match the laminated wood floor they selected.Katie spray painted all of the cabinets, the doors, and the drawers.  She tells me it was challenging, because that wood grain paper coating on the cabinets wasn’t in great shape.  They ended up using quite a bit of spray paint, but look how nice it turned out.  Katie decided to add a fun touch inside of all the cabinets and drawers, so she painted them turquoise.

It took a little bit longer, but she says it’s really fun to open up the drawers and see that pop of color.  They purchased new black hardware to go with their cabana theme.  Katie says the holes from the previous hardware didn’t quite match the new hardware, so it was a good thing her husband was a patient man.  😉

Katie tells me she also went crazy on the sewing machine and made new cushion covers and curtains, too.  After checking the prices on new foam, she decided to reuse the original cushions.  She removed the old zippers to reuse them and used some fabric she already had at home, which helped her save some money.Katie could not find black and white blackout curtains, so she made those as well.  She purchased 10 yards of black and white striped fabric and 10 yards of blackout fabric.  She whipped up these cute curtains and sewed all the original c-clip hardware to the new curtains.  I love how they contrast with the cabinets.  Soooo cute!

Katie and her family are super happy with the result, and they should be.  Poppy looks like a whole new camper.  It’s like a little beach cabana on wheels.  Katie and the family brought her down to The Keys, and they had a blast.  Their next trip is up to North Florida–they can hardly wait.Look at those happy kids!  It makes me want to go out and do some camping.  😀  If you are patiently waiting for spring to arrive, I’d love to hear what camper projects are on your to-do list.  Camping season will be here before you know it!  And if you’ve tackled a remodel project of your own, I’d love to feature it here or on our Facebook page.  Check out our Get Featured section for all the info on submitting your makeover.

Happy Camping!

Happy Camping!