Earlier this week, we scored an awesome deal on a pop-up camper, which will make our frugal vacation of choice much more fun, easier, and make momma a much happier camper!

{Read About How We Scored A Great Deal On Our Pop Up Camper}

With the change to working at home, we were loving having the freedom to travel often, but tent camping was making it difficult to keep a steady work schedule.  So, when a great camper popped up on our radar in early January, at a great price, we jumped on it!

The wonderful thing about the camper we bought is that we could go camping tomorrow and not NEED to do anything to it, but considering that we’re planning to take a couple of more extended trips this summer and fall, there are several things that we want to do {that are borderline needs}, so I’ve been binge reading blogs about pop up camper remodels, gathering ideas, tutorials, an idea of how much all of this is going to cost, and of course running it past the hubs.

How much does it really cost to remodel a pop up camper?

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The aim of this post is to come up with a budget, and to rank expenses in order of priority so that as the budget allows, and when the weather gets warmer we can tackle projects one by one.

In case you’re interested, here are some pictures of the camper, as it is right now:

Quick Side Note: I’m gathering even more inspiration for our pop up remodel here.  Go check it out!

Flooring: $180

One of the things that we want to happen fairly quickly is the flooring inside.  The existing flooring is in pretty good shape, but it’s ugly linoleum.  When you picture the existing cabinets, cushion, and wallpaper nice, durable wood floor, it just makes the whole thing seem that much more appealing, at least to me!

But, putting in quality flooring will be one of the more expensive part of this project, so we’ve allocated $180, which is the same amount as they used in the Pop Up Princess Tutorial below in resources.

Tutorials & Resources:

The Pop Up Princess Flooring Tutorial

Ideas from The Pop Up BackPacker

Paint: $60

Besides flooring, I’m really hoping to swing a couple of gallons of paint to paint both the cabinets and the areas of “wall” that show.  We’re planning on using primer + the expensive paint from Sherwin Williams (thank you, father in law for your contractor’s discount!), since the construction of camper cabinets is pretty terrible.  Even though the “good paint’ is expensive, it will adhere better the the cabinets and walls.

I love the idea of blue cabinets, like in the example below, but I would also be completely ok with cream.  The hubs has yet to weigh in on the paint color, but he is color-blind, so I might get away with a crazy color!

Tutorials & Resources

Ideas from Maria & John’s Remodel – love the blue cabinets

How To Paint The Cabinets from The  Pop Up Princess

Curtains: $100

Take a look at the picture above and you’ll see what I mean about the curtains being TERRIBLE.  They’re in decent shape, so replacing them is probably lower on the list of needs, but since we have a brand new IKEA in St. Louis, I’m pretty excited to go curtain shopping there.  Between IKEA’s affordable prices and my friend’s sewing skills, I think we can get the job done for about $100 or less.

Tutorials & Resources

Ann’s Pop Up Camper Remodel

Jennifer’s Pop Up Camper Remodel

Upholstery: $60

The upholstery in our camper is actually in great shape….but it’s UGLY!  Who honestly thinks that putting that color and pattern of fabric anywhere is ok?  I don’t care if it was the 90’s, they still put the same patterns in new campers today!

Ugh.

So I would love to get new upholstery, but I think it’s going to be expensive.  In case it is, the hubs and I decided I could have $60 to spend on slipcovers, to go over the existing cushion, as well as heavy duty (nicely patterned) fabric to staple over the cushions that have boards as backing.  Those will be pretty easy, but I am concerned about finding the correct size slip covers.

If I can’t do everything in matching fabric, I probably won’t do anything, so this might be challenging when you realize that I don’t sew.  Like at all.  And I’m not asking friends to help me because sewing slip covers isn’t exactly easy :-)

Tutorials & Resources

Love the upholstery in Jennifer’s pop up

And in Anne’s Pop Up

Mattresses: $308

Our Mattress budget is a worst-case scenario budget, in that we want our beds to be as comfy as possible, because we want them to seem like home!

The existing mattresses seem to be in pretty good shape, so we’re hoping to find some memory foam mattress toppers to up the comfort factor a bit.  Worst case scenario is having to purchase a new queen & twin mattress from IKEA, which will run us $308 with tax.  Not too shabby, but we’re hoping to do it for a lot less.

Also worth noting is that this camper actually has 2 queen size beds and 2 twin sized beds, but because its just the 3 of us, we’re not too concerned with replacing every single sleeping area in the camper.  If we had guests later on, I guess we could, but its just not a priority right now.

Counter Resurfacing: $80

The countertops in this camper are actually pristine and not that ugly.  I’m thinking with a nice coat of paint on the cabinets, they’ll look fine.  But, if we paint and I decide I hate the countertops, a resurfacing kit will run us about $80 + a weekend of work.  We have the sander and everything else we need to resurface them.  The counters are also a pretty low priority.

Tutorials & Resources:

Replacing The Countertops by The Pop Up Princess

Ramie’s Pop Up Remodel

Giani Granite Paint

Under Bed Coating: $30

The hubs is concerned about the particle board underneath each of the mattresses.  Concerned about it getting wet and disintegrating, or something.  I don’t completely understand, but I trust his judgment, so he’s going to pick up some kind of coating to protect them from water.

Extra Outlets + USB Chargers: $60

One thing I’m really hoping for, especially since I’ll be working out of this thing for a good bit of the summer, is that we can add a few extra outlets as well as USB charging outlets.  Bring it into the 21st century a bit.

Bringing the camper into the 21st century with LED lights and USB outlets

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Larissa from The Pop Up Princess did this with her hubs, and I thought it was a great idea!  The hubs says he can handle it, for which I am thankful!

LED Lights: $100

Apparently, LED lights are not only a money-saver, they look better.  The hubs and The Pop Up Princess agree on this, so I’m going to go with them.  I’m not exactly sure how much it will cost, but the hubs seems confident that it will be around $100, and that he can handle it.  Just in case, I’ve gathered a couple of tutorials for when we get stuck installing them and need help.

Tutorials & Resources

LED Lights Tutorial

Large Fridge: $120

Right now, there is a small (working) cube fridge in the camper.  Not terrible, but if we intend to take a trip that is more than few days, and still want it to be cost-effective, I would like to put a slightly larger fridge into it.  There is room in the cabinets with a bit of modification from the hubs, and I’m hoping that if we catch a sale/clearance/craigslist deal, we can score the larger size dormitory fridge for about $120.

Sheets: $60

Unfortunately, we only have king and twin sheets at our house, and the bed we’ll be sleeping on the in the camper is a queen, so we’re going to need some new sheets.  Also, since once of the things we’re most excited about with the camper is being able to store most of our camping gear inside of it – making packing up for camping MUCH easier – I would like to buy sheets and blankets just for camping that can be stored inside of it.

One less thing I have to pack up for a trip!

Outside Maintenance: $150

The exterior of this camper is actually in need of a bit of repair.  While the roof does not leak, there are a couple of spots on it that the hubs is worried about leaking in the future, so we want to repair them….probably with FlexSeal because the hubs loves the stuff.  Fine by me, but at $10 a can its going to take a few cans.

Also, it looks like the previous owners backed into something at some point, so one of the taillights needs replaced and there are 4-5 cracks on the back end that need repaired.

Finally, we want to re-waterproof the canvas, just to be safe.  All told, we’re looking at about $150 for outside maintenance, which I don’t think is too bad!

Tutorials & Resources

How The Pop Up Princess fixed the exterior of her pop up

Repairing a Coleman ABS Roof

Total Budget: $1,308

All told, if we do EVERYTHING on this list, we’re looking at $1,308 for upgrades + remodel, plus the $2,400 we paid for it, for a total of $3,700, which isn’t too shabby!

As I said earlier, not everything has to be done, some of it is just preference, and whatever will do will take place over the course of at least 6 months….probably more like a year!

If you want to keep up with our camper remodel, check it out here.

What are you thoughts on camping?  Would you ever take on a project like a camper remodel?

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