I apologize in advance for not taking a lot of pictures of this process but for the most part it was pretty straight forward!
I know a lot of people would take their cabinets out and sand and use a primer then paint and it seems the trend is to use a light paint (which I do love as I repainted my kitchen to a nice light grey!) But since the nature of camping can be messy I wanted to go for a darker brown. I used Rustoleum spray paint in Kona Brown. I didn’t remove any cabinets or doors but did remove the hardware.
Frankly I was being super lazy/couldn’t seem to find it in me to take longer in the renovation process because I was so excited to get the canvas on!
The floors were in great shape so we did nothing with the floor other than a good clean. I taped off all the exposed metal in the camper, put down drop cloth to cover the floors and didn’t worry about the counter because I was replacing it but did cover the sink since I was going to keep that! I even took out the cushions and bed mattresses so they wouldn’t be affected by overspray.
If memory serves me right it easily took 3-4 cans of spray paint. I would spray lightly and at a distance so it wouldn’t get clumpy and tacky. Spray painting in humid Ohio can get tricky but it was a low humidity day in April.
I also kept the hardware and spray painted it a nice bright silver. It really pops on the dark brown!
Once the cabinets were all painted and dried and the hardware reinstalled it was on to installing the canvas. Since we had taken off the previous canvas we knew how the new one was suppose to go in. I think Bear Creek Canvas also sent instructions/tips with the new canvas. I ended up going with a grey canvas because it’s what they had in stock and if I wanted tan I’d have to wait and again, I wasn’t being very patient! I have to say though I think the grey looks great!
It took about 3 of us to get the canvas on the camper- could have been two I just had the extra help- and we accomplished it in less than a half hour! It was just a process of pushing the vinyl into the metal casing. Thumbs might have gotten a little sore. Overall though if I had to replace a canvas ever again I wouldn’t hesitate to get a canvas from Bear Creek Canvas because it’s such a high quality! I’ve even been inside the camper during a storm and no leaks!
I also thought it was great that the Kona brown cabinets matched/coordinated with the stripe on the outside of the camper!
That about covers (haha) installing the canvas and painting the cabinets. After 3 years and probably 7ish trips I can tell you the cabinets are still holding up really well as far as paint. There’s a few knicks here and there but it still looks really great!
Next week I’ll share links from Menards on our purchases for the countertop and fixing the table! I also detail a bit on how we did the countertop!
Are you guys itching to go camping yet? Or buy a camper and renovate one for yourself?! I know I can’t wait to go camping again!
Xoxo -Robin
