We transformed an old musty caravan into a stylish tourer with Home Bargain, Temu & Dunelm buys – now it looks stunning

HOLLY and James have been enjoying family holidays up and down the country in their newly-renovated caravan.

The couple decided to buy a 24-year-old caravan from Facebook Marketplace and upgrade it using bargain buys and DIY hacks.

The couple said: “We bought [the caravan] for £2,250 from a lovely family via Facebook Marketplace. They were sad to see it go but were upgrading to a newer model.

“They had looked after it so well and pretty much everything still worked so we were over the moon when we saw it!

“It was just what we were looking for.”

But when the couple took a closer look at the fixtures and fittings, they soon realised it needed more than a hoover and a lick of paint.

So they went about ripping out old units, upgrading fixtures and adding a more homely touch with bargain accessories and decorations.

“Our heater was not working properly so we decided to replace it with a brand-new diesel heater. We took out the old heater, which took up quite a lot of room, and made it into extra kitchen storage.

“We figured this was the best use of space especially with us having a baby,” they explained.

“We bought a new enamel caravan sink online as our original one was plastic, and then we had the new sink powder-coated white. And we sprayed the original caravan taps gold using Rustoleum metal spray and primer. 

“The mirror was the original caravan mirror but to update it we added a bobbin trim with wooden bobbins bought from Amazon and painted it in the same Constance Moss shade from the Frenchic Paint Al Fresco range to match the cupboards.

“We also changed the kitchen cupboards, which we think has made the biggest difference, by taking out the middle of the original doors and replacing it with rattan cane upholstery webbing.

“The biggest job was painting the cupboards, but the paint we used meant we didn’t have to prime the wood first.

“We did however, sand down the all the units, which to be honest, we don’t think we needed to do. This could have saved us a lot of time.”

The couple also removed the small cupboard above the front window, and used those handles to replace any others that were broken.

“Changing the flooring was the biggest job of all,” they revealed. “Our original carpet was stuck underneath all of the units and furniture.

“We sought advice on the best way to fit the vinyl, on Instagram, asking what others had done – which was to use the old carpet as a template.

“This worked well but actually getting the vinyl fitted in one piece around all the furniture and units was very time-consuming and took a lot of patience.”

As for how much was spent on the transformation – around £900.

“The wallpaper, flooring and cane webbing on the cupboards were our biggest outlays,” they explained. “We saved a lot of money by keeping the original fixtures and fittings as everything was intact.”

But it would’ve cost “hundreds” more if they had replaced the kitchen.

“We did think about replacing it and changing the layout, but we decided it was too bigger job,” they added.

“We were also toying with the idea of replacing the worktop with real wood but had to consider weight so decided to use vinyl wrap to wrap it instead.”

Holly and James’ followers on Instagram loved the transformation.

One commented: “Love this! You’ve done such a good job.”

“Looks fabulous,” another wrote.

A third said: “Gorgeous, love the styling,” whilst one simply commented: “Stunning.”

You can follow Holly and James’ caravan adventures on Instagram @TaylorTheSwift_Caravan.