Sweet Caroline (the vintage camper)
The Vintage Camper
Here is her story, We found this camper on Facebook marketplace for $1000 last year. Ryan was game to purchase it because the previous owner was mid fixing it and redid all of the hard stuff. Huge plus in the camper Reno game. And also it had a/c which was amazing because most vintage campers do not. I honestly was a little bummed though because it was already completely stripped inside.
My gifting is with taking the old and making it pretty, a blank slate scared me!
I'll share all things interior in that blog post but this one is going to be all about the exterior! Now lets see how it all went down!
This is how she came. Lots of character but she needed some love! My favorite part! I usually always leave the exterior for the end but I realized if she's going to sit in my yard for a few months while I work on the inside, I might as well have her looking cute, so I focused on that first this time!
First we started with off with pressure washing making sure she is squeaky clean. I told Ryan I would pressure wash but he insisted on doing it. If you never have pressure washed it is satisfying so I didn't blame him!
We used our old pressure washer we've had for years but this one I love and would recommend.
Next, I tapped off the windows so I can spray paint them black first before painting the entire camper.
When spray painting windows I have found that it is best if you can keep a continuous spray going. I used 4 cans total.
This is the spray paint that I used and use on everything that I spray paint black.
I just love the pop of black windows with the white, the contrast ahhh!!
I ended up painting the door as well and I am so glad that I did... Once all of the windows were sprayed, I peel all of the tape off, that is one of the most fun parts!
Next step is to tape and cover everything off that I don't want to get sprayed white. So windows, lights, handles - everything. This part takes a while. It took me probably 2 hours to tape and cover the whole camper but the rewarding part which is next!! yay!
How she looked at the end of tapping it all off.
Say goodbye to the turd brown color, white has arrived! I used a creamy white this time to make it a little warmer. The color is called Silvery Moon by Pittsburgh Paint in satin.
We had a little bit of bumpy start as I wanted to try using the battery powered paint sprayer I got, but it clogged and that got so frustrating. So I went back to the one that has never let me down, my trusty home right sprayer (here is the one I ended up using)
It only ended up taking an hour, even with our paint sprayer hiccup, but in the end pretty amazing how fast painting goes!
You know I just had too! The doorknob needed a little bit of a pop, I knew just what to do. Rub N Buff for the win again!! I used the color gold leaf, which is a bit of a brighter gold. I usually use European gold, which is more antique, but wanted it to pop on the outside.
How she looked after just paint! This is what $75 can do. Isn't that just wild how paint can transform an entire exterior camper.
The camper colors are called Silvery Moon by Pittsburg paints in Satin, and canyon satin black Rust-Oleum spray paint.
(link is above in the spraying painting section)
I love how she is looking but I don't think she is quite done just yet
The final step, naming her! I wanted to paint the name on the side to make it just perfect.
I brought out the overhead projector and traced it on. They I went and filled it in with a basic black outdoor paint. I used a little paint brush as seen in the photo above to make sure I stayed in the lines.
It took 2 coats and ta da! The exterior was done!!
Oh sweet Caroline!! You are already one of my favorite little projects!
p.s I cannot WAIT to show you guys where she is going to go! eeeekk!
Now onto the inside!
Check out my other camper reno's here!
