Final touches

So, we made it. And, it's cute as heck. And, this guy deserves a rest. And a huge thank you!

This week we put the final touches on the glamper. Here's a recap of this week's progress:

We painted the stripe. And, repainted the fridge. Instead of seaside turquoise we turned it back to grey. Little man really wanted to help out. We were hesitant at first. Then we let him go all out.  Rather than worry too much about paint drips and runs (which we were overly cautious about in the beginning) we decided to let him go for it. He painted the entire fridge on his own. If you look close at the pin stripe, or the fridge, and perhaps a few other select spots on the camper you will see places that became "imperfections" in the paint. I've learned throughout this process that these little imperfections add character and are subtle reminders and "evidence of all levels of participation" from our entire family. His, mine, ours. It was a process of learning together, loving together, and allowing each and every one of us to contribute at our own level of creativity and love. 

 As the paint dried, we went inside and chilled out. Literally, we cooled off with the new portable air conditioner that we added to the closet that should help cool us off during the Dog Days of Summer.

And, even though the space wasn't yet complete. We spent Saturday night in the driveway playing a a few games. And, of course, snapping a few pictures.

The next night, we celebrated my birthday. Take a look at my "birthday cushions" and new pillows! We were so thrilled with how the "kitchenette/dinette area" turned out.

This area turns into a sleeping area. The boys tried it out and immediately little man wanted to go camping! Only a few more days, buddy! Hang tight!

While we waited for the back cushions to be completed, new contact paper was added to the inside of the cupboards. I just love it! 

Before we knew it, the newly sewn foam cushions were complete! As you can see below, they work as a sofa or fold out into just a little less than full sized bed for a sleeping area. My in laws really out did themselves with this project! We think they look great and are actually super comfy!

Little man was totally ready to glamp when he saw these go in! So, a trip for more fabric was in store so that we could get some curtains ready to go. A quick lesson from MIL and I was sewing a curtain. It was not my cup of tea great! :) I was thankful that I had the opportunity to give it a whirl but perhaps even more thankful when sweet hubby came to the rescue. He got a quick crash course from his parents and he was ready to rock. 

And, like a boss, he rolled out some pretty fabulous curtains. Have I mentioned how awesome it is to be married to the art teacher/Eagle Scout/all-around fabulous dude? Yep, he can pretty much do anything. :) And, though he's not perfect, he's pretty dang awesome. 

Sweetie, great work. On all of this. You deserve a HUGE thumbs up. 

Stay tuned, folks. We're going to get our glamper on. Or, camp. Or, something like that very soon. 

the hard work continues

So, it's looking pretty awesome in the ol' vintage camper if I do say so myself. You can see that the wainscoting is in. And, today sweet hubby and my wonderfully talented in-laws completed the daunting task of matching the floral patterned HGTV wallpaper. They made it look easy but I'm sure that the challenge was compounded by the 90 degree weather inside this little gem of a trailer.

Sweet hubby has spent his first two days of summer vacation working like a dog. And, his parents have joined him every step of the way! So very kind!

 

I am very thankful to have my husband and in-laws working on my "hobby" while I'm away at work. This project will be complete before too long! Next up, tackling the new foam and fabric!

Earlier this week, we spent hours at Jo-Ann Fabric purchasing new foam and fabric for the cushions. It was quite a costly adventure but we were thankful to make the purchase during a 50% off sale, and receive an extra discount since sweet hubby is a teacher!

We relied heavily on the expertise of my MIL. She makes daunting projects like this seem within reach. She spent so much time with us at the fabric store that she joked we were going to have to invite this employee over for Christmas dinner. Or, at least camping! :) She recommended that we wrap the 5 inch foam in extra batting; should be extra comfy for our first outing! 

A lot of progress has been made in a few weeks! As you can see below, it's really beginning to shape up nicely. I just love the new wallpaper.

I'm excited for the progress to continue this week. I think hubby should be able to begin the floor this week. And, soon those new cushions will be ready! We are getting so excited about our glamper! Even our little man has glamper-fever! Check out his project from this week!

He has big plans for our first night in the glamper, which will hopefully be soon! This has been a long time coming but we're thrilled with how things are turning out. Looking forward to adding the finishing touches within the next week or so and getting this vintage baby out on the road again!

Stay tuned!

It has been a while. And, this is still a lot of work.

So we have been busy. And busy doesn't really bode well for those in the midst of restoring a vintage camper. Here's sweet hubby doing a dramatic interpretation of our feelings about the work left to do with this little project. :) lol. So. Much. Work.

But the good thing is, we are making progress. It's almost summer so no more late night track meets during the week for coach hubby and no more late nights on the horizon for me at work either, so we might actually make some progress on this little beauty-to-be. 

We have picked our color scheme: 

So that makes us smile. And, this weekend, hubby installed the countertop and backsplash. 

We covered up the funky looking ceiling with a fresh coat of white paint, and restored the patched area that now is professionally sealed, and restored. 

The wainscoting in the back is starting to go up. Hubby should have that completed, and we'll paint it and add the funky flower wallpaper for some extra bling in that area. And, we'll trim around the windows, so it should look great. We will do the same in the dining area. I'll be sure to post pictures of that process! 

We were excited to see the kitchenette area coming together tonight. I just love that little stove color!

Here's a better shot of the front ceiling area above where the "dining table" will be. that area also will fold down into a bed when needed. The wainscoting will be added along with the wallpaper. We also ordered a vintage-inspired globe for the Humphrey Gas Light (it works!) shown in the picture. Since it is fragile, we probable won't add that back in until the finishing touches.

Here's a shot of the Happy Little Camper in our garage. Yep, it's inside and both of our cars are in the driveway. On more than one occassion throughout this rennovation process we've considered putting our house on the market and moving to a place with a three stall garage! :)

It really is starting to look pretty cute. Hopefully within the next few days we'll get the cabinet doors back on, the wainscoting complete, and the faux hardwood floors in. Then, we'll be glamping before we know it! Woohoo!

Until next time!

A little bath. A little color. A little more waiting. A little progress.

A whole month has passed since our last update. We've given the sweet little camper a bath.

The pink suds were definitely the highlight of this task. It just made me so happy! It was seriously like the first sun-shining day and we embraced the sign of spring to get our "clean" on as we wanted to get some paint on the little vintage camper to make it a little more glamp-ourous.

As I've mentioned before, it's really great to be married to an artist. Sweet hubby tackles these types of tasks with such ease! He didn't even mind that I stood over him and captured his progress for the blog! Thanks sweetie!

And, drum roll please...................we started to spray! By we I totally mean sweet hubby. Though I did stand over him and watch, and take a picture. And, I helped pick out the paint color. So, the color....

We were torn on the color. My original thought was making this camper a pale yellow--hence the original nod to little miss sunshine. But, we ended going with a turquoise/aqua/teal color that we like. Once we started spraying, we really thought the color looked pretty cool. It's called Sea Side by Rustoleum. It has a fun, beachy vintage camper vibe that make us smile. It reminds me of the color of Scooby Doo's collar. Yep, I'm a geek. I seriously just made that point of distinction. Perhaps we'll call the camper Scoob. ZOINKS! Ok, back to the color. . . 

As the first coat started to go on, it just started making our pinterest project feel much more fun. 

1st coat applied! Way to go, sweetie! It looks great! We stopped to snap a picture of the artist.

We think it kind of matches our vintage boat that we got last year. two years ago. Thanks for clarifying, sweetie. Anyway, we named our boat, Newman. He is a 1969 Newman. We got him before Pinterest inspired us to show some TLC to a 67 camper. Who knew we had such a heart for sixties fun? Guess we're groovy, man. 

Anyway.....back to the camper.....

Covering the bumper made a huge impact. Seriously, is this thing getting cute, or what? We're excited to spray the stripe (I think we're going with a dark grey, though I'm growing fond of the original color of the stripe that seems to have this funky brown, green, sparkle thing going on....) and spray the white to cover up some of the wear and tear of years gone by.

A few days after we finished spraying, we took the camper to another RV "fix it" shop in town. Seriously, who knew we had two? To make a long story short: They listened a little better. But, were very slow in their response and time on task. Like crazy slow. Like, do you remember that you are still working on our camper kind of slow!??!? We had to call a few times to check in. They checked the internal wiring to make sure the original wiring was safe, and it got a thumbs up. They fixed the back window and resealed it. Thumbs up. They really liked the color. Thumbs up. 

While we waited for the camper to return--a total of three long weeks--I found this and couldn't resist.

Our project is definitely starting to become a cute little glamper. And, I'm having fun picking out things to make it even more glamper-ous. Thank you, Pinterest, for the inspiration. I knew this was a good idea. Thank you Hubby for making this become a reality. I actually might want to spend the night in this thing. Eventually.