Not long ago, I received an e-mail from a reader named Megan. Megan and her boyfriend had spent five weeks working and living out of a tent in the Adirondack mountains in New York last summer. Although the two of them absolutely loved roughing it, she told me that believe it or not, tent camping loses its appeal after about week three. I am not sure I would have lasted until week three! 😛
Each day they would leave the campsite in the morning, drive an hour in different directions to their jobs, then head back to their tent in the woods at night. Sometimes they would find it drenched by rain or ransacked by critters. Since they survived that ordeal, they decided to reward themselves with a pop up camper. They bought their camper in November, but didn’t get to use it before the snow set in. Megan spent the entire winter searching Pinterest for ideas. I was thrilled to hear her say that she came across this blog, and it inspired her to give her new camper a little makeover.
Here’s what Megan and her boyfriend started with. When Megan began planning her remodel, her boyfriend’s only request was, “Please, don’t wreck it!” 😉
She started with the cabinets. Megan scrubbed, sanded, and painted them using the method we did and used the same paint she had used throughout her own house. On the cabinet doors, the laminate was peeling off in the corners and bubbling up, so she decided to peel it off altogether. Then she painted the doors. She found some funky, old looking knobs and handles to go on them and changed out the hardware.
Next she washed the gross linoleum flooring and adhered sticky backed plank vinyl over the top. Megan said the installation was easy enough that she did it all by herself in about two hours.
She was unsure of her sewing skills, so Megan decided to take the easy way out when recovering the cushions. She found some awesome suede fabric from JoAnn and used the wrap and staple method to give the cushions a whole new look. The fabric is a little thick, so the cushions don’t pop into place as easily as they used to, but Megan has three big dogs who use the trailer with them. She needed something durable. Megan loves her fabric because it doesn’t wrinkle, it’s fairly water-proof, and she can just wipe any dirt right off.
Megan’s favorite part of the camper? Her curtains! She had some curtains in her house that she loved. She took them down, ordered a few more to make up the difference, and had her mom–who is much handier with the sewing machine than she is–sew the new curtains directly onto the old curtains. They took four inches off the bottom of the old, faded, grubby curtains because they were too long and kept getting ripped down whenever anyone sat up against them. The new curtains reach just to the top of the cushions. They are still long enough that you can’t see in from the outside, but not long enough to be in the way anymore. Sewing the new ones right over the old meant that they were really good at blocking out the light. She was able to keep the mesh on the bunk end curtains, and they didn’t have to take all the C-clips off either. Megan’s mom just sewed down the sides and across the top, leaving the bottom open so the curtains can hang without bunching.
The bunkends got four inches of memory foam–which she says is the best thing ever, a sleeping bag, and a pretty quilt over the top. Megan loves that she can completely make the bed (without the pillows, of course) and there is still enough room to close the roof. She’s also a fan of pillows and heard plenty of grumbling that she’d added about 50 pounds just in pillow weight to the trailer. Secretly, though, she knows her boyfriend loves it! That sounds like Mr. TypeTwoFun! 😉
Great job, Megan! I hope you have some amazing adventures in your new home away from home. 🙂
Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. The Pop Up Princess is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This means that if you choose to purchase an item from a link in this post, The Pop Up Princess earns a small advertising fee to help pay for future projects and posts… so thank you! 🙂
Happy Camping!
Beautiful job. Like the colors very much!
I LOVE THE COLORS OF THOSE CURTAINS!!! WHERE DID SHE GET THEM?? GREAT REMODEL!!
That looks so cool. Since camping season is basically over in Iowa, I really want to break open our pop-up in the next week or two, give it a deep DEEP clean, and make a list of things I want to do. It hasn’t been remodeled ever, and we’ve owned it since 1999.
DO IT! And make sure to send us pictures! 😉
Really love the makeover! I’m a lover of RED!
I am a lover of red, too, Beth. It’s all over my house. I had to try really hard not to use it in the PUP. 😉
I love your make over, great job!! Thank you for sharing.
I’m impressed with what you have done. I have always like a pop-up camper. But have a handicap Husband who is a sweet sweet man but the bathroom is the problem. I was just looking at a used one with a dinette slide out. Only in my dreams. You did good with the makeover.
Is it necessary to remove EVERYTHING attached to the floor to put the new flooring in? If it is, how hard was it?
It isn’t, Penny. In fact, you don’t have to remove anything. You can lay the flooring around the new cabinets. It’s all a matter of preference. Good luck! 🙂
Excellent refurb!! I am extremely interested in the “elbow” joint lifts for the sink and stove unit. I was gifted an older Coleman pop up dating back to around 1980 and it needs some TLC and updating. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to get these lift/joints? Thanks in advance for any help!!
Are you talking about the swing level galley bar, Sara? You could always check Coleman Pop Up Parts. They have a pretty good selection, but you may have trouble locating that one.
That is exactly the piece I am referring to! I check the Coleman Pop Up Parts to no avail! :-(. I am going to get my husband to get his grey matter going to see if maybe he can rig something up. Thanks for the reply and suggestion!
We are taking our pop up out for the first time in November and I am so excited!! Your site has really helped me immensely!
I LOVE this! I love how it has the rustic cabin feel. Perfect for time out in the mountains or camping! I would love to do this some day- gotta find the trailer first! <3 I absolutely love this- can't say it enough! This is right up my ally! Great job!
Nice job. I just purchased a pop up and you gave me a lot of great ideas and advice.
love it!! Where did she get her curtains? I LOVE them! That would be a great winter project to work on. Thanks!
Very nice remodel….. I love how bright painting the cupboards changed the whole look. I have a 1998 jayco and i was just wondering if anyone knows why they make two small oddly sized cupboard doors under the sink instead of one larger one that would actually make access to the shelves with a pots easy. Does anyone have experience cutting the opening bigger and fitting in another door in this area or under the dinnete?
The laminate is beginning to peel on a few of our cabinets, as well. How did you peel the material from the cabinets that were in good shape? I’d love to repaint our cabinets, but not without removing that yucky covering. I fear it will be like pulling a label off a jar…halfway there and then it just won’t come off, lol! Thanks for any input.
I have looked through all of the remodels and this one is my favorite. I love it. I don’t know if I will ever convince my husband to do a remodel ourselves since our camper is NTU, only 5 years old and in pretty good shape. But I showed him this one and even he said it was really nice.
I love the rustic cabin woodsy feel of it. Great Job!
Super cute!!
Hi Larissa 🙂 Kudos on your wonderful blog! I’m just about to embark (thanks to all of the awesome inspirational makeovers on this site!) on my very own Drab to Fab camper conversion! Any chance that you might know where Megan sourced her fab plaid curtains from?
Thanks 🙂
Nice! Yes, I am a man and I do like what was done. I’m not a fan of the curtains but that is a personal preference in my humble opinion.
My side is that I took on a similar job myself once as well. I bought a 1982 Coleman Royale trailer from a supervisor for $125 that he was going to just take to the dump. Being a prior mechanized armor combat engieer officer, I was tired of sleeping on cold hard surfaces…. I wanted the better life of “fluffy butt” camping! For about $450, I fixed and upgraded many of the same things & in the same manner. I sold my trailer 1 1/2 years ago due to moving & the cost of fixing her up was too great. But I am still wanting another pop-up & love the ideas that I found here!
Hop
Love this remodel! Your blog and has been priceless for ideas, problem solvers and resources. We purchased a cab over popup camper a few weeks ago with supposedly a little rotted wood in the top, which turned out to be all rotted. So far we’ve dealt with vermin, wasps and fire (no damage from the fire). There is a reason it says HIGHLY FLAMMABLE on the wasp spray. Note to self – buy another fire extinguisher. Once the structural repairs are complete, I can’t wait to start the makeover on our tiny camper. Thank you!
I’m currently looking for a pup, and have been obsessively looking for one online as well as ideas to make it over when I find the right one. I have flip flopped in doing something rustic or modern, but this makeover has helped me make up my mind. Rustic it is! Love all the makeovers though.
Hello! I have the exact camper and am looking to do a remodel. How much did the pictured renovations cost?
Love Love Love this theme and colors ! I just recently bought a pop up camper that is in the 90s at first I thought the material was okay and in good shape… Until I seen this .. and all plans instantly changed ! Infact today I went out and bought a redish and tanish plaid material to start making the curtians ! Thank you for posting and giving me an idea ! I love the cabin theme !
Awesome look and Job! I love the curtains and have looked at approximately 1/4 million swatches all over the internet in the past month to no avail : ( no joke. I see I’m not the only one who has asked, Help please. I’m loosing my mind. “ where did you get the fabric or curtains “. PLEASE
I love the bottle opener and towel rack! I’m doing my hardware in black so this caught my eye.
I love the Reno’s. Very functional and airy. Great job!