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It’s the dream, isn’t it? Travelling and experiencing the raw beauty in our very own backyard and giving our kids those childhood memories, they’ll never forget.
We have teamed up with Bunnings Warehouse to get this amazing 1980’s gem back to her former glory, going from drab to fab. We’re going to share our journey from selecting paint and finishes, designing storage solutions, tips for travelling with kids and how we want to live a simplified life.
We are experienced renovators but inexperienced campers. So, this should be fun right?
After taking Sundancer for her first official family road trip, we were quick to realise that we needed to redesign and reorganise this RV to make it practical on the road and suit our lifestyle. We’ve renovated numerous homes from top to bottom, but never a motorhome! This will be a huge learning experience for us but if there’s one thing I know as an interior designer, is how to create a design perfectly suited to the people who live there. It’s not about following trends or creating a Pinterest worthy home (or RV!), it’s about the people who live there, how they use the space and what they love. Luckily, I know my family pretty well!
This renovation isn’t about flashy and cashy, it’s about keeping things simple, retaining what we have and giving our RV a cosmetic makeover. The small changes that will make a big impact! When we refer to small cosmetic changes, we mean new floors, upholstery, curtains and of course – a fresh lick of paint! Just changing these things alone will make such a huge difference.
I’ve (Jenna) been doing my research and shopping for samples to really pull this concept together. Paint will be our best friend for this renovation as it’s purely cosmetic. And what makes a bigger impact than paint? We will paint the cabinets finished with new handles, and along with a combination of floral and gingham wallpaper and fabric will be the heart and soul of the space to add colour, pattern, scale and personality!
We’ve selected the Senso Noyer Vinyl Planks from Bunnings for our floors to will replace the blue carpet, these will be a great lightweight option. They are easy to install, and suitable for both wet and dry areas. They will also be super durable with our crazy foot traffic with the kids, and the natural colour I’ve chosen is a perfect way to retain the warmth and character inside. We can’t wait to see how they tie in with the rest of our selections!
Another big component of our makeover is what you can’t see – our storage solutions. After our trial trip, we quicky realised how important is it so be organised and have everything we need ready in the RV, so heading on our adventures aren’t any harder than they need to be.
We’ve done our research, planned our little hearts out, and with our selections now finalised, we are ready to get stuck into the demo and give Sundancer some life back!
With the strain of the ongoing Melbourne lockdowns weighing on us, we have seen a big and exciting life change…we’ve sold our house in Melbourne and have bought acreage in the country! We are so excited for our next chapter in life BUT we still have our sights set on the finish line for Sundancer so we are still able to create those long lasting family memories with our girls.
It feels like our to-do list is ever evolving. We knew when we signed up for this 1980’s tank that it would need some extra love, but we just didn’t know how much love. When dropping off Sundancer to the upholsterer, we had a minor setback with a coolant leak, which was quickly rectified by our amazing mechanics. Then it was back onto the fun stuff- upholstery and demo in preparation for fit new floors and joinery.
We’ve enlisted the help from our amazing mate Joel Pringle to draft up a fresh new look for Sundancer’s exterior. We like the vibe of the old decals, so we want Joel to pay homage to the originals 80’s feels but give us a fresh and updated twist. Before we can get the new decals on however, the existing ones need to be removed.
It is so exciting to finally get our hands dirty and get stuck into our renovation. First things first- we needed to remove what we will be replacing. Josh had the fun job of ripping up the carpet- good riddance to that! The old curtains and blinds were removed, and we didn’t even blink twice when it came to ripping out that electric blue carpet.
We are in the thick of the RV renovations now, this is our happy place. We have stripped the inside of the RV (by stripped we mean ripped up the carpet and removed the doors and curtains), and we are keen to get a fresh coat of paint on the inside AND the old paint off of the outside. Sounds simple…Right?
We thought it was best to get a head start on removing the exterior decals before we sent the RV into the Grafico workshop to be wrapped with fresh ones. I (Jenna) used the Bosch Corded impact drill along with the caramel wheel do slowly start to remove these, which took a lot longer than anticipated. Months infact..
With the decal removal finally behind me, I’ve shifted my focus inside to the cupboards I know they key to a smooth trip will be having everything easily accessible and picking clever storage solutions. Each cupboard in the RV was given a number and the measurements were taken so when it’s time to shop on the Bunnings Website and Bunnings Marketplace for my storage saviours, I know exactly what will fit and where.
The biggest transformation of our motorhome is the flooring. We’ve said bon-voyage to the ugly blue carpet and are thrilled to be installing the light weight and durable Senso Noyer Natural Vinyl Planks. The benefits of these planks are that they have already have adhesive backs and are easy to cut with a Stanley knife. They are also durable for wet areas and will be super easy to clean with all the crumbs and spills that come with toddler life!
Another clever hack that we have incorporated into our motorhome renovation is a fresh coat of paint on not only the walls, but inside the shower! We used theWhite Knight Tile & Laminate Primerto give the little bathroom nook of our tiny home a fresh look and takes years off it’s life!
Originally, we wanted to replace all the cupboard doors in the RV, reason being is that the bevelled edge felt a little outdated. However, our friend Dave gave us the genius idea of simply flipping the doors around, as the reverse side had a shaker style profile, what a hack! This meant that all we needed to so was remove the existing hardware and sand back all of the doors, before puttying up the holes and sanding them back. We then flipped the doors to the new shaker profile side drilled in where the hinges will sit.
Now for the paint! As always, we started with a coat of primer, before moving onto British Paints’ ‘Simply Vanilla’ which is the warm white along with our accent green ‘Woolamai Pine’. Once they had dried, the final piece of our cupboard door makeover was of course the handles. We chose the cutest little pine doorknobs that will compliment the timber bench tops perfectly and balance the space.
So, this project started in March 2021 with the hopes of a ’quick’ cosmetic makeover. We tried to get everything done before the big move, but life really did get in the way.
Cue 100 lockdowns, moving to a new house and new town! Kids, Christmas and well, life. Here we are in 2022, almost a year after we started this venture.
We’ve now settled into our new home and we’re so ready to pick it all back up! There’s really not much to do now other than some finishing touches in the interior like the wallpaper, stocking the RV with the practical stuff, organising the cupboards and styling.
We’ve stripped the outside of all the old decals and we’re ready to have it painted, wrapped and the sign writing done.
It’s the last 10% that will make 100% difference!
There’s no more time to waste because our first family trip is booked!
It’s so important to be organised, as we learnt during our trial trip.
1. For an RV or caravan, you must remember that you will be moving so your items need to be secure. Using a grip tape, you can tape down anything that might move around.
2. Choose unbreakable dinnerware and either store them in their original box when moving or place them in a storage container. (Add bunnings label and item on screen
3. Labels are a great way to tell you know what’s in the container, especially if it’s not clear.
4. Add storage wherever you can, backs of doors and in any hidden nooks are a great option.
5. It doesn’t all have to be practical; you want to enjoy the space so adding some styling elements will help it feel like your home away from home.
Today we are taking Sundancer for her first real dance! We’re headed to a sweet little spot right on the Murray River.
We’ve loaded up the kids, the RV is packed and we’re ready… I think!
Now I really understand why people do this.
We are parked here overlooking the river, the kids are having the time of their lives and we instantly have let go of all our daily stresses.
These are the memories we want to create.
Our first trip in the RV was nothing short of magical. Of course, there were some challenges, as there always is with kids. But overall, the smiles, the experiences, the memories, was worth a few skipped naps!
We set out to do a simple and cosmetic reno on this this RV. Nothing flashy or cashy, but something we wanted to spend time in. After all, this journey was all about creating memories.
Any holiday with kids, needs a lot of organisation so having everything we needed on hand was a game changer. I’m sure the more trips we do, the better we’ll get at packing and knowing what essentials are, and what we can leave at home.
I was so glad to say goodbye to the blue carpet because these floors have been amazing to keep clean, especially with all the snacks!
The colour palette in here feels really fun and fresh but calming at the same time. It feels really warm and inviting and I think the paint has a lot to do with the transformation in here. It really does feel like our home away from home.
Overall, I think we spent time and money on just the right things in here to bring Sundancer back to life. It did take a lot longer than anticipated through various lockdowns and a big country move, but we got there in the end, and it was so worth it!
Thank you for following along on our journey, this really is just the beginning of the road.
- Josh & Jenna
Photo credit: Georgina James
