My Vintage Travel Trailer; The Beginning

With my flower beds all spruced up, freshly mulched, and looking like something out of an issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine – okay, maybe I’m exaggerating just a little, I announced to my hubby that I needed a project.

Little did he know what I had in mind, or should I say in store.  In fact, I had been hashing this (not so) little project over in my head for quite awhile.

For years now, this little diamond in the rough has been sitting out back waiting for someone’s undivided attention.  That someone, as it turns out, is me.

I love just about anything vintage, retro, and antique, so when I started looking on-line and saw how people are re-doing vintage travel trailers and making them into the coolest, hippest, tiny spaces on wheels, of course I wanted in.

Armed with bee spray, a shop vacuum, and massive cleaning supplies, I dug in.  A couple of hours into the start of this project I wondered if I had suddenly, without any warning, become insane.  There’s always that chance you know. 

Apparently, the chipmunks, mice, bees and ants take vacations too because  I found chew holes in the walls and cabinets, along with mouse droppings and  black walnuts that had been stashed in every drawer and crevice. I even found an abandoned honey comb under a seat, and the ants still visit daily.

Since I’m not a fan of inexpensive dark wood paneling, which is pretty much what this whole travel trailer is made up of, I am painting  the inside of it, as well as the outside.   And my color of choice?  Hold on to your coffee cups, PINK!  Of course, out of consideration for my hubby I asked him if he’d mind the color pink and he (being the loving and supporting) husband that he always is, said “No, this is your project, you paint it any color you want.”  Hence, he has already come up for a name for her “Pink Paradise”.

My objective; beautify this relic on a shoestring budget, and use as much recycled material as I can come up with.  I’ve got a pretty good start on that  since I have some scraps of laminate flooring and lumber on hand.  I am going to use some wallpaper that I bought at a dollar store a few years ago and never  put to good use, and with  a few modifications I might be able to recycle some old curtains I’ve been storing for Lord only knows why. 

Follow along as I  take you on my journey of transforming this beast, into a beauty. 

Click here to see (lot’s of pictures) of our work in progress.   Also, at the bottom of this post are pingback links that you can follow to see our restoration work too.

And here she is close to finished!  

Mission nearly accomplished!

Still want to see more??  Click here to see the  Before & After – 1972 Frolic Camper Remodel – Bathroom Door or here to see Table for Two in The Pink Paradise.