Pause.

Someone must've pressed pause on our PUP reno because we're in hiatus. Currently, we're just waiting for the curtains to be finished (two weeks - ugh) and for my father-in-law to make the cupboard doors.

There's a few teeny, tiny things I want to do inside but for the most part - we're done! We have to repair a few holes and put the bungee cord around the bottom. Chad still wants to fix up the exterior with some fresh paint as well.

Craft Time

We have tried to keep this thing as budget friendly as possible so when it came to piecing everything together, sometimes creativity was required.  There's not a lot of surface area to decorate so much to my husband's dismay - pillows are a big part of the decor. I ordered these two cases from wish.com. A total of $5!  I just filled them with old pillows I had in the linen closet and ta da! The orange one is super soft, I was really impressed. The sunshine was is of course, burlapish.

The candle I got at half price from Joann, so it cost me $6. It was originally supposed to go into a white casing I bought off of a for-sale site but the candle was much larger than I intended.  So I bought a $2 bag of shells, spray painted an old tray I had laying around and used my trusty glue gun to make this beach inspired candle holder.

The next crafty thing was, I wanted something to adorn the back of the beds since there wasn't any easy way to decorate that. My  original plan was to cut burlap pennants but then I found a string of them on amazing for less than $2. I couldn't buy the raw material cheaper than that! So I purchased it and used some spare fabric I had from the seats and samples to make this nifty little decor piece.

 

The next update will most likely be in a couple weeks once everything is done and ready! If anything happens before then, I'll be sure to post!

I Love A Bargain

One of the most challenging parts of decorating the PUP is keeping the budget in mind while still trying to bring my plan to life. Sure, I could go into Pier 1 or order everything to perfection from Wayfair but then I would be paying for this tiny renovation, well into my retirement. (Right, like I'll ever be able to retire)

I was browsing Wish.com one day, which I never do because everything comes from Taiwan, takes two months to ship and may or may not show up. I've had about 50% luck with the site so far, so I usually don't bother. But I needed pillow! And pillows are expensive!

I ordered this only 10 days ago and it arrived! Adorbs! The best part, it cost a whopping $4 with shipping! (Beats the hell out of Pier 1 with their $40 pillows!)  I found it kind of fitting.

Bit By Bit - Piece By Piece

Things are progressing nicely on the Pop-Up Pad. My father-in-law, who is super handy with wood, has agreed to fashion us up some doors for our cabinet. My fabric has arrived, so I have to take it down to the Sewing Center tomorrow to get the curtains made!

A few more tiny purchases like a rod and some hardware and we should be done! D-O-N-E! I am waiting for a couple more pillow cases to arrive but I have everything else. (I think)

I bought this cowboy boot and I really wanted to use it but I've been having a hard time finding a place for it. Decorating space is very limited in our tiny PUP. (Pop Up Pad - Can't believe it took me this many entries to abbreviate)

The Boot

 I found it for a few bucks at a local indoor Flea Market. I had the bright idea of putting flowers in it but fresh flowers didn't jive with me because - well - they die. So I kept looking around for fake flowers - but man - they're ugly.

I finally happened across some white ones that looked acceptable. Not amazing but for a PUP, should be fine.

 

I really wanted orange flowers. Orange is one of the colors I chose to compliment the aqua/teal but items in that shade are few and far between. So I decided to get adventurous since my $2 fake flowers had more than I needed.  Hello Spray Paint! My last endeavor with spray paint ended terribly so I wasn't very optimistic. But.... I dig it.  I purposely didn't try to cover it fully. I thought the white peeking through was nice!

Here's a sneak peek of them in the PUP!

More Later!

Paint Please!

I am so excited to give all of my non-existent readers a sneak peek into the pad! Chad started painting it today and I am loving the white against the flooring! Even more than I thought I would!

My fabric is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, so I may be able to begin re-covering the seats. The curtains will take longer but it's all beginning to come together!

Operation Re-Build

I'll give you a break from my Virtual Design Show and show you the progress Chad has made on Operation Re-Build.

He felt the old wood was too rotten and in rough shape. So he re-built the entire thing! All it needs now are some doors and a coat of paint. These pics don't show the finished work (such as Trim and holes puddied (yes, I made up a word) etc., ) but it will give you an idea of the work he's done thus far! He also replaced some wood below the hard top cover.  Chad is so handy and never ceases to amaze me with the tasks he accomplishes. I can't wait until the paint hits and my stuff arrives and we can start seeing things come together!

Wrong Color? No Problem

A little bit of paint goes a long way. I ordered some things online, prior to purchasing anything in person. I created this little "idea board" to give anyone who would listen, an idea as to what I was visualizing...

You can see all the fabric swatches I ordered as well as the pillows and candle (which haven't arrived yet) The other things, such as the bucket, lights, basket, bedding, etc., were all just ideas I hope to bring into fruition.

I did order that sign as well but it got cancelled. Insert sad face. That's what happens I guess when you come across a big ole' online sale! At least I got my pillows (The three in the middle) The outer two are from another site and are just cases. Nothing has arrived yet though so who knows how they'll look!

With the above considered, I affectionately coined the Pop-Up Pad's esthetic as "Rustic Beach". I wanted a country flare (al la Kentucky) with a nautical feel (a la Nova Scotia!) Chad and I went to a couple of our local indoor Flea Markets and found a few things. One was this ugly green oil lamp. I thought with a little paint, it could work! I also found a mini sign that said "relax". It was supposed to compliment my beachy sign that ended up getting cancelled :(

So I took both signs and painted them the Blue-ish/Teal color. I didn't like the look of either, so I ended up brushing on some white to give it more of a textured look. Still not in love but hey - it's only in a camper so who cares :) I'm on the hunt for some sort of fake flower/sticks or something to put into that cute little cowboy boot! That was originally for my office but I figured it might work in the camper better.

Design Inspiration

Let's take a break from the construction stuff and talk about design. I love HGTV and renovation shows! When my friends do home renos and post about it on Facebook, I admit I get a little too excited to see the Before and After Photos!

Since this space is literally 6x7 ft and has no actual wall space, there's not a lot I can do in terms of creativity, but my goal is to bring it out of the 70s and into the next century. I love grey. I dream of some day doing my whole house in grey. But since I can't afford that, I'll start with the Pop-Up Pad!

The first thing I did was go down to our local fabric shop to ask questions about how much it will be to have curtains made and check out fabric. Since the curtains will be catching a fair bit of sunshine, it was important to get indoor/outdoor fabric or put some sort of backing on them to resist fading. I guess since this is the only joint in town, they can charge whatever they want. All I know is when I left there, my blood pressure was through the roof and there wasn't any fabric in that store that was fitting what I wanted. I decided the indoor/outdoor fabric was the way to go and since I wanted grey - I had two options. Very expensive options.


Eventually, I landed on Fabric.com and decided to order a few swatches to see how the material felt and what the color actually looked like. Here is a glimpse into not only the fabric choices but also the color scheme. There will also be a pop of orange and yellow thrown into the mix.

The more I look at it, the more I question my choices but I guess only time will tell if it comes together as I hope it will, or if it looks stupid! Once my fabric arrives, I will work on reupholstering the seats, which I am sure I'll screw up royally. Even though it's pricey, I've opted to have someone make the curtains. I am not quite ready to learn how to sew.

Before and After Time

Since I love Before and After Photos,  I've decided to share another with you. I will work on the angles, I promise. This is our ugly brown table before. And our beautiful Chalk Board table after! I attempted to paint the legs white with spray paint but man - that's not as easy as it seems.

Fortunately, I am married to a professional painter and he fixed it up nice and pretty! I wanted to do Chalk Board because I thought it was cute and fun! Imagine a rainy day at a camp site, tucked inside playing Tic Tac Toe! Currently, I have a burlap thing I bought acting as a runner. Not sure if I like it or not.

Flooring On A Budget

Did I mention we were trying to keep this affordable as possible? Since the demo has been done, it was time to decide on the floors. We headed over to Lowe's to see what our options were. My vision for this camper was to be clean-lined, bright with grey accents. I wanted grey flooring that looked like wood planks.

When we arrived at Lowe's, the reality of renovating (even a tiny pop-up camper) hit home. This was actually going to cost money. I mean, I watch HGTV - all their supplies just magically appear - I never thought about having to actually buy anything.

It didn't take long to realize my options for flooring were very limited if I wanted to keep this affordable. I basically had to choose between two plank-like vinyl. One was a creamy medium brown. However, as I mentioned earlier - I wanted grey!

So we went with the only other option, which was "Driftwood". This provided a much more 'rustic' feel than I had originally envision but since it still had a grey under-tone, the concept was not entirely lost.  This just meant I would have to go away from the clean-line/modern - more towards rustic!

As long as I got my grey and white, I was happy! Chad worked long and hard and did a perfect job laying down the flooring.

I now get to reveal our first Before & After photo! Oh the excitement or renovation blogs!

...Drum Roll Please...

I wasn't as much of a keener as I usually am with taking photos, so that is why I don't have the same angles but you get the idea. To be completely honest, I didn't even have any actual before photos. The husband began demolition before I had an opportunity to take any. Fortunately, I was able to locate the original "For Sale" post with their photos - so we still have something to compare!

The pictures don't do the floors justice, they look fabulous! Chad did an AMAZING job! I can't wait to reveal Operation Re-Build and then get those bad boys painted white to see my vision come to life!

Demo Days

When we first agreed to get this little pop-up camper, I figured there would be a few coats of paint, some new flooring and some reinforcement of the beds. Apparently my husband had other ideas.

Good-Bye Floor. Good Bye Cabinet. Good-Bye Seats. Good-Bye Walls.

As someone only concerned about what it looked like, I didn't think all this was necessary.  The husband, on the other hand, suggested some of the wood was rotten and wanted everything sturdy and new. Alas, demo was complete and Operation Re-Build was underway.

Camper Crazies!

During my youth, I spent a lot of time camping with my family. Some of my best memories are sitting around the campfire listening to my Dad and his cousin Jimmy singing Bad Bad LeRoy Brown.

Camping wasn't always luxurious but it was always fun! Ever since I was a wee youngin' I've admired those folks who could go inside to sleep. Who could get into bed instead of falling onto the ground for bed. You know, like in a camper!

A few years ago my husband and I bought this really old camper to fix up.  Oh we had dreams.

 

We would have gone for it I think, despite the insane amount of work involved to get this thing live-able. Only, we encountered a teeny, tiny problem. Like the novice's that we were, we purchased a camper from a stranger who we assumed was honest and would follow through with supplying the title. Since he never did and it was required for a fire safety and to get this on the road - the project was aborted.

Fast Forward To Today!

But here we are again... This time, a little less work, a little less insane but still a project! (With a title and everything!)

It's old and it's tiny but it was actually in pretty decent shape. Naturally, some work needs to be done and we're well into the depths of it. Chad, being the handy man he is, is responsible for the construction related tasks. I, the decorating!

As you can see, it's dated. The cushions need to be reupholstered. The flooring removed, new curtains, cabinet painted and the list goes on!

It's a super small space but by the time we're done with it, we hope to make it cozy and our own!