Love my caravan

The whole project is coming along really well now, sorry it's been a while since the last post but there are loads of changes and I'm really loving the van now.  The space has gone from bug infested and quite scary to be in to fresh and clean and ready to travel.  Here is a rundown on what I've done and the order I did it in: 

•  Painted the brown ceiling, cupboard frames and cabinetry white.
• Relined the old and perished ply facings below the beds and round the seating area in grey vinyl.  I know that these shuld probably have been ripped out and replaced but hey, it's a fun van and that was WAY too labour intensive and difficult.
• Recovered the mattresses.
• Recovered the seating cushions - the old covers were basically more dust than fabric but I managed to salvage and reuse the zips after a wash.
• Relaid the floor to cover the old brown one.  These are stick on tiles from Bunnings which can be cut to size with scissors.  They discontinued them half way through the project and I had to do a spot of detective work to track some more down but I love them and this is a much easier option that trying to work with the rolls of vinyl on this kind of space.

I think that's it for now and you can see it all in the photos.  I'm hoping to have all the curtains finished and the cupboards relined in something other than hideous pink rug mat stuff so I will post again once this is all done.  I haven't been able to track down replacement handles for the two missing ones in the kitchen though so if anyone knows of a Jayco van being stripped or wrecked or happens to have a couple of these hanging around at home, please tell me.  The story goes that the same handles were used on ALL Jaycos and many other brands for about 15 years.  All were made at the same factory and it continued to create spares until a fire gutted the factory and destroyed the mould.  It was never recreated as by that time they were only making spares so these handles are pretty hard to get hold of - might have to get clever and rig something up.


I'm still working out what I'm going to use on the cupboard doors, want to wait until the curtains are in to see what will work.

Here are the pics

Caravan carries on

Hello blog followers, this week is just a quick caravan update but ... drumroll ... I actually have some photos of progress made (along with one of me & Alex with some superheroes we met while taking time out from the reno).  A little bird I spoke to this week tells me there are a few out there who are watching what I'm up to but haven't yet followed the blog, I'd love to see who you are and know that I'm not just yabbering away to self, so please follow me, comment on me and give me any advice.

You can begin to see where I'm heading now even though we have a ways to go yet.  The vinyl on the walls is up and looks great with the new red cushions and the white paint.  It looks a bit bumpy in the photos which is partly true as the ply under it is a bit warped but the sun made it look way worse in the pics and I reckon once I've reattached the brackets for the green table which sits in the middle there it will all stabilise nicely.

Next step is remembering which bracket goes where and then starting on the flooring.  I will have to pack it all away again for a week or two now though as the open home/auction of house combo this weekend might go better if I don't have a fully open caravan in the middle of the front yard (just a thought).

I think that's it for now so Ciao All and speak to you soon.

Sloooow progress (but progress all the same)

Well, it's been a little while since I posted a progress note on the van, no photos yet but I'll get some later this week.  The painting is all done now and it looks fab, new seat covers made and covers for the mattresses.  I've also managed to find a spot in the corner of the front yard to park the van which hopefully won't upset the neighbours too much.

Progress has been slow this last week or so as we've decided to sell the house in the meantime.  This has meant that all my fun caravan reno time has been stolen by house tidying time (bah).  I did have a big score this week though for the wall covering vinyl I was after.  I managed to source a roll of several metres of industrial wall/floor vinyl from the lovely man at the carpet shop for a complete bargain $20.  It did take a while for me and the carpet guy to be on the same page regarding what I was after (not brown, beige or fake tile look) but what I've ended up with is perfect for me and has been hanging round his warehouse for years left over from a job apparently.  Very excited and now working out the best way to cut it all to size without losing a finger or two.

That's all for today folks, will get those photos happening soon.

Ants everywhere - slight setback

This week I started to paint the ceiling of the caravan.  It had an old leak which had left the roof looking pretty scruffy so I'm painting it white.  I should tell you all the my theory is that there isn't much you can't achieve with a bucket of white paint no matter what the job is!  A quick trip to the paint dude at Bunnings Hardware and a can of stain covering primer later and the action began.  Big surprise as I'm happily priming away, turn around and a sea of ants is descending from the roof (guess they don't like primer too much then).  Honestly, it was like something out of a horror movie (remember the flies in Amityville anyone?).  No way I could continue until the ants were gone so I've basically spent the week waging a war on the little terrors. 

At first I was worried that it was a major setback but a quick google fest later and it turns out this is pretty common in old vans which have been stored outside for a while.  I tried bug bombs and sprays to little success but good old ant rid seems to have now done the trick, took a few days but they are goneskis.  The ants couldn't get enough of the stuff and I'm happy to report that there are no live ants left to be seen now and about a gazillion of them dead on and around the van.  Now that I've seen (and hoovered up) more dead ants in one place than I ever care to see again, it's back to work.

Recycled Rose Crafty Caravan Restoration

So the blog is new and I'm going to start it off with my biggest project yet, revamping our 1981 Jayco Dove pop top camper.  The van was a bargain and is in really bomby condition so my big plan is to make it into a fabulous family holiday home.  I'm posting developments good and bad so jon me on the journey.  I'll get some "before" photos up in the next day or so and we'll go from there.  Cheers