Adam and I have been tent camping on and off for the past 15 years. When my sons were young I had a brand new 1991 Coleman pop up camper. Adam would always hear my wonderful memories of camping in the pop up with my boys and we talked about getting one at some point. Then we decided to rent one and try it out (I had serious neck issues and couldn't sleep on the ground anymore.) We loved it, and our dogs loved it too! A couple of years passed, I had neck surgery, recovered, and we started thinking about camping again. Then out of the blue a friend of a friend had a pop up for sale, cheap! So we went to look at it. The canvas was in good shape, but the rest of it clearly needed a lot love. It was a 1994 Coleman, very similar to the one I had in the early 90's. I wasn't sure, but Adam convinced me we could redo it, so we bought it. Not long after, while researching online, we found the Pop Up Princess site, and it was "YES, we can do this!" First I went on a fabric hunt. We live at the beach in South Carolina, and I knew I wanted a fun seaside theme of some sort. I found the fabrics and went to work. This was huge for me because It had been a long time since my arms and neck would let me sew. I was loving the fact that I could sew again and the new look that was coming together. I wasn't sure how to hang the curtains because the C-clips were no longer there. I liked the clean look and the way they slid in my old 1991 Coleman and I couldn't believe they didn't make them anymore. Then Adam found the mention of the clips on your blog, instead using the type E curtain carrier clips and the type A snap- in curtain carrier tape, so we ordered them from Amazon to see if they fit. The clips fit the tracks great! The tape was a little tricky to sew on but they look and work great! I lined all the curtains for privacy as well. When we bought the PUP, there was a lot of water damage to the interior wood due to the storage bin in the front of the camper leaking. It's the model that you could slide open the door inside to access the storage, so the water rolled right in through there. We decided to do away with the slide opening and Adam gutted the whole inside of the storage box, replaced all the wood, and painted it with truck bed liner. No more leaking! Then it was on to the inside living area. We scrubbed, tore out the cabinets, the floor, and the table benches. We reused the doors and drawers because they were in good shape. Adam rebuilt and I painted. We sealed the floor with several coats of mold and fungicide primer, and we installed a stick down vinyl strip floor we purchased at Lowe's. We added new hardware and the cabinets were looking great! Adam put a new wood top on the storage bench but the kitchen counter and dining table were still that old Welcome Friends blue from the early 90's. We decided to recoat them using the Rustoleum stone spray paint method we read about on the Pop Up Princess site. After sanding, Adam started with a spray adhesive for a primer, then it was several thin coats of paint and poly. So far so good. He also added a new faucet to the kitchen sink. We knew we would never cook inside the camper so we removed the old stove. To cover the opening I went to the local granite company that did the kitchen counters in our home to look for a scrap. They cut and polished me up a piece to fit and delivered it for $20.00 all-in. I love it! When removing the fabric from the old foam beds I discovered a bit of mold, so they went to the dump! We decided to splurge a bit and ordered 4-inch memory foam mattresses. After all who doesn't like to be comfortable? Again, Mr. Research found the best rated memory foam at the best price and we ordered them from Amazon. We had to trim them a bit to fit perfectly, which Adam did with our electric carving knife. It was super simple and worked great! Then I added pillow top mattress pads. The majority of the time it will be just the two of us so I decided to use the full bed end as my a curl up and read lounge area. Both beds are very comfortable! For our maiden voyage, we were all set to camp at an oceanfront campground nearby our home for our first trip, then Hurricane Matthew hit our coast! We had to reschedule for a few weeks as the park was closed due to tree damage, but this past weekend the park reopened and we enjoyed our first trip in our new old PUP! The weather was perfect and we had a great time with great friends. We will camp a few times over the winter and next summer we plan to take our PUP to New York to take our three Granddaughters to my favorite campground in the Adirondack Mountains where I took my sons when they were young. Thank you all for all the great tips, we couldn't have done it without you, and we love our makeover! Watch for our exterior makeover next spring. I know my husband and he is itching to get that spray paint out!
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AuthorI love vacationing all over this beautiful country of ours but my heart is especially tied to the East Coast. Archives
November 2016
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