Caravans can be expensive to buy brand-new, so buying a used one and renovating it yourself can be a great way of keeping costs down.
Alice Rayment, 35, and her husband Dave bought an “old, damp and dated” caravan on Facebook Marketplace for £4,000. They then set about transforming it themselves with a strict budget of just £1,000 using bargains from IKEA, Amazon and more.
As reported by LatestDeals.co.uk, Alice told money-saving Facebook group DIY On A Budget UK: "Having always enjoyed camping with friends, especially at festivals, it was definitely something we wanted to carry on once the kids arrived.
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"After a few trips setting up the tent with the kids in tow, though, we realised we needed something sturdier for our adventures. With the cost of living crisis and the pandemic, holidays abroad were less and less viable for us, so buying a caravan felt like a great choice for us.
"With a strict £5k budget to achieve our dreams, our biggest expense was the caravan itself, coming in at £4k from Facebook Marketplace. Once we’d bought our Avondale Dart 556-6, now affectionately known as ‘Connie’, next came the daunting task of tackling the dated decor, soggy walls and smelly carpets.
"We began by having Connie serviced, as well as inspected for damp and water ingress, as there was no point papering over the cracks, so to speak. We identified several areas that needed urgent attention, such as water ingress and rot around one of the windows, and tackled them first. Luckily, Dave is very handy being a plumbing engineer, so we were able to do a lot of the work ourselves.”
Once the couple had established the caravan was structurally sound, they got to work renovating it. Alice continued: “I removed all of the cupboard doors, sanding them back to the original pine wood and staining them for a rustic look. I popped out the inserts and replaced them with cane webbing for a more modern look.
"I painted the cupboard units in a hardwearing wipeable paint from The Little Greene Company. We created the worktops ourselves, using 18mm chipboard flooring, and covered it in sticky back vinyl from the DC fix range. The herringbone tile effect was achieved using sticky back tiles we found on Amazon, and on the walls, we used regular household wallpaper to give the caravan a modern and up to date feel.”
The couple were originally quoted £1,200 for the upholstery, so after some research, they decided to do it themselves. Alice explained: "The lounge area and the dinette area were covered with the IKEA TIPHEDE rugs, which come in at only £10 each - a bargain! We used eight in total.
"For our flooring, we used offcuts of carpet we had leftover from re-carpeting our house, so it didn’t cost us a penny. Even if you don’t have such things lying around, carpet shops sell offcuts for £20 to £30, so this is a great option if you can’t afford a caravan specialist flooring company.
"My top tip for anyone looking to do something similar is not to be intimidated! With a little research, chipping away bit by bit, and a lot of elbow grease, amazing things can be achieved. We were total newbies to this before we gave it a go.”
Alice also recommends reusing and upcycling anything you can. She said: “Our curtains were hand me down sheets from my Mum. We repurposed them for the caravan and they’re perfect. Don’t be afraid to go bold in a small space, if it feels right and feels like you then go for it!
"Connect with others doing a similar thing - there’s a thriving caravan renovation community on both Facebook and Instagram. Everyone’s so friendly, and always happy to share experiences and lessons learned. Now Connie is finished, we’re looking forward to a summer of weekends away on the coast, and festivals with the kids (she’s coming to Glastonbury and Farmfest with us!). The reno has cost £1k, which is within our strict budget.
"A new caravan can cost up to £30k, or much more depending on the spec, so we saved tens of thousands doing it this way. We’re over the moon that we were able to achieve our dream caravan at such a fraction of the price of buying brand new.”
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