Kenya’s Pop Up Camper Makeover

It has been awhile since I’ve shared a girly makeover, so I’m overdue.  😉  And what better makeover to share this week than this adorable one from Kenya?  She had been a happy tent camper for her entire life.  She never thought she would ever want a camper and hadn’t put much thought into it until she heard a couple of her coworkers discussing a pop up that one of them had for sale.

Once Kenya took a look at the pictures of that camper, she was immediately in love.  She purchased it on the spot.  The whole thing was musty and smelled terribly of moth balls, but it was in great condition.  Kenya decided that she needed to try to recover the cushions to help get the smell out, so she Googled a few things and found this blog.  After seeing all the awesome reader makeovers here, Kenya was hooked.   She gave herself a one month deadline to get everything done.  She knew that she would have to do all of the sewing herself, but she recruited a couple of her coworkers to help her with the painting and flooring.  Kenya tells me she is quite the girly-girl and not married, so she decided that a girly theme was right up her alley.  She named her little camper “The Dollhouse” and got right to work!

Kenya used Behr Marquee one coat paint from Home Depot to paint her cabinets.  She lightly sanded all of the cabinet surfaces, wiped them clean with an all purpose cleaner and started painting.  Even though the paint said it covered in one coat, Kenya still needed at least two coats (in some places three) to cover the cabinets.  That was a bit disappointing since the paint is a little pricey at $40 dollars a gallon.  (Note that Kenya didn’t use a primer.  You can eliminate the need for multiple coats with a good primer.  🙂 )  The turquoise color on the cabinet doors is spray paint.  She found the adorable jeweled door pulls on Amazon for $8 dollars for a pack of 12.  Kenya saved and reused all of the original hinges and covered the front of the fridge in adhesive chalkboard paper that she found at Hancock Fabrics.  They were having a going out of business sale, so she scored that for 60% off!  Nice!

Kenya bought peel and stick flooring from Walmart.com for only $17 dollars.  She tells me it was very easy to lay, and she loved how it immediately changed the look of the camper.  She initially bought one box but ran out and had to stop and order another box.  Because she had read about others’ makeovers on the blog, she knew that most pop ups are not square inside–so she knew she could use the extra flooring.  She used quarter round to finish the edges, as she did not replace the flooring under the the cabinets and wanted a finished look there.

 The table that came with the camper was homemade and two of the edges were not finished, so Kenya knew she needed to do something with it.  She began searching Pinterest and came up with the penny table idea.  Kenya tells me that the table is by far her favorite part of the camper, although it is fairly heavy and may not make it to the campground.  Kenya collected pennies from everyone she knew, keeping a cup in her office and asking everyone she worked with to empty their pockets of pennies every time they came in.  She started by painting the table with a coat of black primer that she had laying around.  Then she used Gorilla super glue to glue the pennies on.  A couple of of Kenya’s coworkers used a grinder to smooth out the edges before mixing and pouring the resin on the top.  They let the table sit to cure for three days and used the grinder again to remove the drips.  The table weighs about 10-15 pounds, but it definitely is beautiful.

The cushions and curtains were the last project Kenya tackled.  Because the original cushions and covers smelled horrible, she removed all of the old covers and left the cushions out in the sun to air out for a few days.  She found the red duck cloth at Hancocks on sale and used it on the bottom cushions.  To make the cushions, Kenya sewed one seam down the long side and then closed the ends like a present.  Then she glued one end shut using fabric glue and closed the other end with Velcro.  She wanted to make sure that she would be able to take them off and wash them, and this works well for that.  On the two dinette cushions, Kenya added contrasting polka dot material on one end for visual interest.Kenya decided to recover the original curtains, so she wouldn’t have to mess with reattaching the curtain clips.  She layered a cream muslin and a sheer organza and sewed them right on to the original curtains.  The polka dot tie backs were a last minute fix because she didn’t finish the other tie backs she was going to make. 😉  Sometimes last minute fixes are the best!

Kenya found her bedding at HomeGoods and Ikea.  Gotta love Ikea for bedding!  She also followed our advice and bought memory foam mattress pads for both bunk end beds–if you want to read that post, you can find it here.

Kenya had an original budget of $500, and she would have stayed right on track but along the way, she broke the camper’s lift system.  She tried cranking it up with one of the corners still latched.  🙁  Thankfully the part was only $13 and took about an hour to install.  She had to replace the tires and also discovered that her original vehicle would not tow the camper.  Of course, she had to buy a new (used) truck to tow her new (used) PUP.  Lesson learned.  If you are trying to stick to a budget, it is always a good idea to set aside some of your budget money for unexpected expenses.