Fun on Wheels is Ready to Hit the Road! Before & After Pics

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cnh23

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 28, 2012
Posts
76
Location
Indiana - For Now!
Finally got pictures edited for my long remodel project. First I want to thank everyone on here that has shared their thoughts and knowledge to a newbie like me. I really don't know how many times I came fishing on here to get help, but every time I found my answers. Secondly, I want to thank the fathers out there that have taught their little girls how to fix things and use tools and not be afraid to get dirty. My Dad never shooed me out of the garage no matter what he was working on and always showed me what he was doing and how to do it myself. This RV is my last "project" and I am passing on all my tools and what my father taught me to my daughters. I could have never done this without him and his spirit fills every inch of it.

I know many of you will think this is just ridiculous, but we love it. It suits all our needs, plus our personalities. Yes it is not a fancy new rig with all the bells and whistles. This is old-school, no slides,  no TV, 24' 1984 Heritage. Thirty years old and 21K miles. Aside from new muffler, tires were just put on before we bought it in 2012, and a tune-up, she has been running good and gets a consistent 10 mpg.

What have I done to it? Just about everything. New A/C, new paint job, new awning, stripped and redid the roof, new sink, shower, toilet, bamboo flooring, gutted and remodeled to my hearts content. Greatest thrill to me is that my rum lights are holding strong, and no mosaic tiles or sea glass has fallen off the walls. The queen size memory foam above the cab is surprisingly comfy and roomy. All mechanics work fine (water heater, fridge, etc.) and I did install new converter/charger and house battery so that is all good to go. In total I spent: $4K for the initial purchase (yes too much, but the tires were 1200 bucks alone-plus it was a relative and they needed the $) and between $5-6K for all the rest, and this includes the silly amount of hundreds for the tin signs all over the ceiling and the mosaic tiles. My beer tab and sweat equity do not count in the totals. Now we just plan to drive it right into the ground and when the engine blows put in another one and keep on truckin'!

I did my best to get side by side before/after shots but am not the greatest photographer. I may have to post up twice to get the pics in if they are too large.
 

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Looks like a trip to the FL keys is in order, ASAP!

I would love to do a complete gut remodel some day, and make it to fit my wants and needs.  Enjoy it!
 
Incredible exterior paint job.  Certainly one of a kind.
 
Very nice remodel!  Congrats and have fun using it.  Love your comment about your dad allowing you to tinker around the garage.  So did mine.  In fact, I wanted to take shop in high school and they wouldn't let me - for boys only!  I ended up making a stupid apron in sewing class.  Yuck!  When we had a boat I was busy one day with a power saw and some guy came running over to "help" because I might hurt myself.  Jerry told him to let me alone because I knew what I was doing.  Glad some of those chauvinistic attitudes have changed and very happy to see younger women doing fun stuff like remodeling their own motorhomes!

ArdraF
 
I love that shower wall. Was it regular  glass tiles?  What did  you do with  sink and Stove in Kitchen area.  I did not see pics of the after.

Beautiful paint job  on outside.  What a difference.  Well done!
 
Glad to hear there are other girls not afraid to use the power tools! The tiles are all glass. Smaller ones that are opaque are 1/4" square and the clear ones are 3/8" square. DH figured out I glued on around 50 thousand one at a time. Hence the beer drinking. I don't know what was worse the hunching to do the bottom ones or standing on tip toe to get the top done. But I absolutely love it. I am going to try to get a wide angle lens and take another shot of it, it is just in a weird spot to get back enough to take a proper picture. I removed sink and stove/hood. Dumpster for them. I don't cook, and why would my "dream home" need an oven always hanging around mocking me?  We will grill and microwave, have a griddle hubby can fix me some eggs with and there are always sandwiches. The cabinets and resin countertop on the right side when looking back at the bathroom is where the stove was. I made the couch longer than the old one so that took up most of the space where the sink was.

Truthfully I was worried about the paint job. It was all done indoors and never was exposed to the elements. I worked as a mural artist for years and had confidence it would be fine, but never painted on a fiberglass wall that constantly wiggles with every bump in the road. I coated it with spar urethane two coats, so even though it has a yellow tinge to it, it expands and contracts nicely and the water and sun haven't done a thing to it. (Yet!) The tones go well with other rvs, so even though it's different it doesn't stand out too much. Unlike my first paint job if any of you were here when I posted that and asked for feedback. That I had a feeling was not a very good idea (Red sunset sky, very bright) and the consensus was it would create more problems than I needed, so I repainted it. Glad I did, because I ended up liking the new design better-much more calming.
 
While I totally "get" no oven I am  not sure I could do without a sink.  I do wash a fork or two on occasion .  Your  remodel is exquisite! .  Glad it fits your needs.
 
Yes the sink, well I know this sounds really riduculous but when me and my hubs decided to go to the rv lifestyle we moved four years ago into the tiniest studio apartment we could find, just to test the waters on being so close all the time and not having alot of "stuff", plus saved us tons of money. We had the fridge and a small counter but no kitchen per say and no sink, so we had no choice but to wash what dishes we had in the bathroom sink. We are so used to it now that it wasn't even a thought to not do the same in the rv. I am a clean freak so I am always extra disinfecting the bathroom area just because we do wash our dishes there. Plus the bathroom sink and the previous sink were literally maybe three steps away from each other. I figure anything from grilling I can wash up in a tub outside. If after time it really does become a problem then I will cut a hole in the counter and drop in a new sink. The water lines are right under there for me to tap into----oooohhhh wait, I can get one of those really cool ones that sits on top..... uh oh now you got me thinking again!
 
cnh23 said:
I can get one of those really cool ones that sits on top..... uh oh now you got me thinking again!

Your use of  sinks now  makes perfect sense to me.  I am also eyeballing those  sit on top of counter sinks as one would  still be able to have some kind of drawer space under the counter.

As I said before good job on the remodel.
 
cnh23 said:
Finally got pictures edited for my long remodel project. First I want to thank everyone on here that has shared their thoughts and knowledge to a newbie like me. I really don't know how many times I came fishing on here to get help, but every time I found my answers. Secondly, I want to thank the fathers out there that have taught their little girls how to fix things and use tools and not be afraid to get dirty. My Dad never shooed me out of the garage no matter what he was working on and always showed me what he was doing and how to do it myself. This RV is my last "project" and I am passing on all my tools and what my father taught me to my daughters. I could have never done this without him and his spirit fills every inch of it.

I know many of you will think this is just ridiculous, but we love it. It suits all our needs, plus our personalities. Yes it is not a fancy new rig with all the bells and whistles. This is old-school, no slides,  no TV, 24' 1984 Heritage. Thirty years old and 21K miles. Aside from new muffler, tires were just put on before we bought it in 2012, and a tune-up, she has been running good and gets a consistent 10 mpg.

What have I done to it? Just about everything. New A/C, new paint job, new awning, stripped and redid the roof, new sink, shower, toilet, bamboo flooring, gutted and remodeled to my hearts content. Greatest thrill to me is that my rum lights are holding strong, and no mosaic tiles or sea glass has fallen off the walls. The queen size memory foam above the cab is surprisingly comfy and roomy. All mechanics work fine (water heater, fridge, etc.) and I did install new converter/charger and house battery so that is all good to go. In total I spent: $4K for the initial purchase (yes too much, but the tires were 1200 bucks alone-plus it was a relative and they needed the $) and between $5-6K for all the rest, and this includes the silly amount of hundreds for the tin signs all over the ceiling and the mosaic tiles. My beer tab and sweat equity do not count in the totals. Now we just plan to drive it right into the ground and when the engine blows put in another one and keep on truckin'!

I did my best to get side by side before/after shots but am not the greatest photographer. I may have to post up twice to get the pics in if they are too large.


Wow! I love it! Especially the bamboo walls. That's wicked cool! I am gonna need to hire you to come and fancy up our 5th wheel! And I love how you painted the outside. This is an amazing redo! You should totally post this on Pinterest! People would love to see it!
  ;)
 
What a wonderful remodel! Would you please explain the bamboo walls. That technique is lovely. I would love to try.
 
Thanks! The bamboo walls were my take on the feel I was after when I couldn't find appropriate grasscloth wallpaper. What I was REALLY trying to avoid was the 3-4 ft. seams that would have just reminded me of the 4 ft panels that were originally in there. So, I ended up buying bamboo slat shades from Home Depot. The shades were four feet wide and the slats are maybe 1/8" wide each. I cut them apart til they were loose and then just started at the top and glued them on shingle style (went across and then angled my way down to avoid any one seam in the same place). Problems I encountered: once loose the slats liked to warp, so I had to cut alot of them into shorter pieces to take most of the bend out. I didn't care if it was perfect but did want them reasonably straight. I also glued the first ones on with regular construction adhesive and you could see some of the glue when dried, so I changed to a clear drying powergrab glue. Uhm, maybe I should have focused on a smaller area and not the whole thing since it took around five solid days of working to do it all, but now that it is done I absolutely love it and everyone keeps touching it wondering what it is exactly. I like that there is another layer of interest in there. After it was all done I clear coated it siince I figured it may get splashed here and there with stuff and wanted to be able to wipe it down and it not get stained. This same look could be done easier I think with a wider slat. Between those walls and the mosaic shower my hands are tired!

Anyone wants to hire me when on the road needs to know that I work cheap haha! I would love to make a bit of cash and enjoy being creative. Just remember that if you see us out there (don't think there is anyone else with that paint job) please come knockin' we would love to meet you! As of now our plans are to stick to the South between Texas and North Carolina.
 
Oh another important step was painting the walls the same color or something close to the bamboo. Just because there were tiny little gaps here and there between the slats due to the warping and then it just blends in-as opposed to seeing the cream color that my walls originally were. I would just take those little cheap craft paints and paint a section before I glued on the bamboo. That paint dries real fast and of course I could have just painted all the walls at one time, but I had several of those paints lying around and wanted to use them up. I didn't even use the same color, just whatever shades of brown I had. That is why I think that if I were to do it over again I would have used a wider slat that didn't bend and therefore would not have had to paint the walls underneath.
 
awesome job. we did an inside transformation as well this year; so I have a clue what amount of time/work you must have spent. Your exterior is incredible. our next trailer will have aluminium sinding, too. it seems so much easier.

have fun :)
 
Having thought about a DIY remodel, my conclusion was that it was better to do what you did, than to buy a used bus and have to start without any existing RV structure in place. In a 24 foot, it does make sense to avoid redundancy, so using the bathroom sink to eliminate the kitchen sink makes perfect sense.

Not having to consider reselling the unit also gives you a lot of leeway also helps, yes just run it to death. Great job on choosing and carrying through a theme...that would be a very expensive customization idea otherwise.
 
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