Preparing to take on this project meant spending some time on Pinterest and Googling other projects. There are a ton of great ideas out there. We got a lot of inspiration from The Popup Princess https://www.thepopupprincess.com/
This is what we were starting with:
Looking at it now, it’s like 1997 threw up. But it really wasn’t until I started exploring options that I became committed to changing it. We had been happy with our little camper and it’s functionality…until I realized we didn’t have to be stuck in the era of dial-up internet.
Initially, my remodel partner and husband of 21 years (how are we that old!?) wanted to take out all the cabinets so that we could lay the floor and put them back in. Let me tell you something that will keep coming back as we go through this remodel – we are not professionals! We also have a tendency to cut corners when the things are more than we bargained for. We ended up only taking one dinette seat and the cabinet by the door. All other cabinets either were riveted in or held other more complicated items like the power converter, the bathroom, etc. All of that stayed in and we just put the flooring in around (to be discussed later).
This countertop needed to be replaced completely. We had never used the indoor stove and wanted to have extra counter space beside the sink. In addition to needing one piece, without a big hole for the stove, the counter was cracked. We removed the sink and the stove for a new counter.
After we got the two cabinets removed, we removed all doors from the cabinets and hardware from the doors. We lightly sanded all surfaces that didn’t have plastic shrink wrap faux wood sticker – who knows what it’s really called. We cleaned all the cabinet surfaces with TSP but you could probably just wipe down with a damp cloth, unless there is grease or other substance.
We removed the faux wood sticker. It was old and brittle and easily peeled off.
Finally, we removed all t-trim and electrical plates to prepare for painting. I was still pretty happy to be working on this project at this point. We had the optimism of a “small” project to do on weekends during 2020 isolation.
Life’s Ms. Adventures 