Mel's Caravan Renovation
06 May, 2021
Flooring Xtra, “Why did you decide to buy and renovate a caravan?”
Growing up my summers involved pitching a tent and camping with my family and while I wanted our girls to enjoy the summer memories I did, I did not want to pitch a tent. A caravan has long been a dream of mine instead. All the fun of camping but with a glamping feel, and who doesn’t love the idea of moving their holiday home to wherever they fancy.
Flooring Xtra, “How did you go about renovating the caravan and how long did it take”
When I finally got Jase to agree to a caravan he laid a few rules down before I was allowed to purchase one. She had to be roadworthy already and the exterior needed to be tidy. Hunting for an older style caravan on the budget I had was a bit tricky but we always planned to revamp it so didn’t want to overspend on the initial purchase. We ended up finding Poppy locally and after some negotiation I had a caravan for my birthday just before Christmas.
We took Poppy away over the Christmas/New Year period as she was. She didn’t leak, there was beds for us all and she towed like a dream but she was not pretty. Once home again we completely gutted the inside right down to the frame. I am very lucky to have a super handy husband because he then rebuilt Poppy from the frame up and to my specifications. Poppy is only 14.6ft so having a floor plan that worked well for a family of 4 was really important.
The complete rebuild took about 10 weeks, and was mostly done after work and on weekends.
Flooring Xtra, “How did you go about selecting Poppy’s flooring?”
I knew exactly what I wanted for Poppy. We had recently completed a new house build the year before and Poppy was the perfect project for my overflow ideas. I wanted wood look flooring but it needed to withstand the movement of Poppy while travelling and clean easy with a quick sweep for the beachside retreats. I wanted tough but pretty flooring, sounds easy right.
Flooring Xtra, “How did Flooring Xtra help you select your flooring?”
I went to our local flooring xtra with a particular idea in mind. I was super set on my light wood look flooring idea and the consultant helped point out all the available options from lino to the wood planking. After much discussion I eventually settled for the LVT style floor because it ticked all the boxes. It’s tough wearing, comes with a warranty, cleans well and looks amazing. It definitely gives poppy the luxury feel I was after.
Flooring Xtra, “How was the installation process with Flooring Xtra?”
The boys that installed Poppy’s floors were amazing, I’m not sure they realised the tightness of the space they were expected to work in together but it took only 10 mins to measure her up and about 2 hours to install. They ran the boards longways in Poppy as per my instruction despite it making things a bit trickier but the idea was to make Poppy seem longer than she is and I think the long lines of the flooring helps.
Flooring Xtra, “What’s your favorite thing about Poppy’s new flooring?”
The flooring is everything I wanted. The colour and look is exactly what I had in mind and it only takes a minute to sweep her out while we are away. Any marks come right off and even though Poppy has been well loved already, the floor still looks as good a the day we installed it.
Flooring Xtra, “We love Poppy’s feminine, tropical interior. How did you put Poppy’s scheme together and what was your inspiration for this?”
Poppy definitely became the home of my overflow ideas. I love the light and airy feel the bright white interior offers and that it softened by the light flooring. I feel in love early on in the rebuild with her beautiful gold tap from The Kitchen Hub and knew it would tie together with the original brass trims we managed to save, you can see these in the ceiling and the locker latches. The kitchen was planned around making the most of the bench space we could but on a tight budget we needed an affordable benchtop option so the timber was an economic options but ties perfectly with the floor. The tile splashback is actually adhesive vinyl tiles from Vinyl Home while the leather handles are from Lewis and Lou, and I love that they add even more luxury.
When it came to recovering the squabs (that also form our bed) I wanted to keep them neutral so I went with a light grey and had them made by Just Sew Decor. Keeping the squabs neutral means I can easily change Poppys interior scheme as simply as new cushions but at the moment her green/pink tropical feel is exactly what I was after.
The girls bunk end is obviously a bit more bright and fun but it just goes to show you can create define spaces even in a tight space.
Flooring Xtra, “What finishes did Poppy require?”
After completely gutting her Poppy needed everything. Walls, floor, ceiling to start but having to replace these gave us a chance to re-enforce the chassis and insulate her with pink batts. All we saved were the original overhead lockers.
Jase custom built all the joinery including the girls bunks and her kitchen. Everything in the kitchen is brand, we did keep the fridge she came with but it is far from original. After revamping with in mint green vinyl from vinyl home it looks very at home though.
The squabs are new and I cut them to size from foam mattresses. The girls bed both have new single mattresses and Trilly’s was cut to fit.
We started this rebuild from the floor up and replaced everything as we went.
Flooring Xtra, “What’s your top tip for anyone looking at taking on this type of project?”
My top tip would be to set a budget. I think it’s like any project and its quite easy to get carried away money wise. I wanted to buy so many caravans before finding Poppy but none of them would have left us enough in the budget to revamp her as we have and waiting for the perfect one for us proved worth it. A caravan to make over is a really fun project and if you are handy, or your other half is, then I think go for it. Having purchased Poppy already roadworthy
meant a lot of her makeover was the ‘fun’ parts and didn’t really involve anything structural which would have really tested our budget.
Do your research and explore all your ideas for the inside. There are so many great caravan projects to follow on Instagram and some of the ideas going into them are really ingenious. Decide how you want your caravan to work for you and go for it. I wanted Poppy to be a luxurious holiday home that we can just hook on and go, and even though she’s small she definitely does a great job.
We’d love to redo the outside now to match hubbys pride and joy!
Related Posts
Meet Our Home Giveaway Package Winners, Erin & Ryan
17 Oct, 2023
by
ECONYL®: a step towards a more sustainable future
12 Oct, 2023
by
Alex & Corban's New Locale
05 Oct, 2023
by
On The Rise: Lucy Furniss' contemporary designed Classic Builders showhome
06 Sep, 2023
by