Glamping in our remodeled 1980s Lazy Daze

Last year Mike and I took the plunge and bought a pretty fugly 1984 Lazy Daze. I've had the dream to travel trailer across the United States with our boys for awhile and they are now at the age where it's doable for all of us without too much xtra work.

However because our budget only allowed an older RV - boy did we have to compromise on the interior and how it looked. It was super mid 80s looking with ugly brown paneling for the walls, brown and light blue striped fabric for the cushions and brown shag carpet. The previous owners had redone the kitchen with more updated tiles - but it was still just more shades of brown.

But knowing how handy Mike is and how thrifty I am I was pretty sure we could whip this camper into shape with a little shopping and a lot of elbow grease.

The first thing Mike did was replace the carpet with wood floor laminate. So much cleaner and brighter! Then we painted all the brown paneling with a pale warm yellow.

For the kitchen, Mike pulled out all the brown tiles and replaced it with faux tin ceiling tiles. We were lucky that once we painted the walls the light butter yellow that the terracotta colored counter tops actually looked great together.

For the light fixtures I had found these gorgeous patchwork mirrored umbrellas in Little India. Mike was able to jerryrig them has hanging lampshades.

I found the perfect fabric for the curtains at the thrift store! I found 4 pairs of these 1940s barkcloth drapes that had the best scenic imagery on it. Gorgeous pattern of trees and hillside - like the outside is inside - in deep jewel tones of blue, magenta, green and gold.

All that was left after that was to get the cushions recovered. We trekked downtown to the fabric district with a swatch of our curtains in tow and found the perfect deep raspberry upholstery fabric to recover them with.

The final touch was adding a bit of art. The U.S. Map was a vintage puzzle that I took the pieces out of and then painted the inside with chalkboard paint. The blue panel is going to be a place where we can decoupage souvenirs from our trip!

We're so excited to take our updated boho retro camper on our first cross country trip next summer!!

Blast Off!

Turned Gideon's Rocketship Down syndrome t-shirt graphic into a fabulous birthday party invitation!
You can visit my Etsy store to purchase:
http://revampsarahtacoma.blogspot.com

Get Spooked!

Finished a new Halloween invitation design for my Etsy Store.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/161764294/bat-spiderweb-spooky-halloween-party?ref=shop_home_active

Also had fun this morning curating a spooky, victorian, crafty themed Etsy Treasury. Take a peek - there are so many amazing artists in this treasury.

https://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTI4NTE4NjF8MjcyMjQyOTkzNw/get-spooked?index=0&atr_uid

Hoity Toity Doily

So when you are an avid thrifter (as I am) you see some of the same vintage items over and over at just about every second hand shop. Things or pieces that used to have real value but we just don't tend to use in modern society anymore. One of these items are doilies. I see doilies everywhere - little, big, round, square, blue, pink, floral, multicolored...you name it. I picture a bunch of little old blue hairs getting together every week to partake in their favorite hobby of tatting while gossiping about the 30 year old neighbor's tattoo, complaining about their arthritis, all over a hot cup of tea and a few slices of spam. I had a Great Aunt Ruth who I really adored and she tatted me the most intricately beautiful crisp white tablecloth for my first official dining room table.  But alas I don't know anybody my age who tats. I have friends who knit and crochet, but taking up those teeny tiny crochet needles seems to be a lost art.

So every once in awhile, through the years, I would see a doily I couldn't pass up. I had no real use for it  - but the craftsmanship and the beauty of it just didn't belong in a thrift shop. So I would lovingly take it home and throw it in a drawer (ha). Until one day I realized I had 20-30 something doilies all just hanging out in a dark linen drawer with nothing to do.

So I brainstormed. I wanted to figure out a way I could use them. And below is what I came up with:

A new tablecloth for my dining room table using my lovely hoity toity doilies.

I placed them on the table in a pattern that I liked and attached them together at the corners with small strips of yarn. Easy peazy.

Then I added a centerpiece! I had the green/gold vintage candy holder in my closet and I filled it with a bunch of 60s floral pins.

 

I'm happy. The doilies are happy. And I bet my great aunt Ruth is looking down from heaven pleased as punch that I'm putting these lovely labors of love to good use.

Thrift Store Thursdays!

I love a good thrift store! And there's a few that I haunt on Thursday mornings while my boys are in school. This week I've been trying to find storage solutions for my bathroom counter. I wanted to find something for my toothbrushes, hair accessories and various toiletries. Check out below and see what items I scored and then "revamped" to fit my needs.

 

I already had the shabby looking soap holder - but was excited to find this matching gold ceramic swan! It had the perfect patina with bits of pink and green paint showing through (matching the colors of my art deco bathroom). The swan was originally used as a planter with fake flowers, but I took out the green floral foam and gave it a good scrub. It fit my face lotions and toners exactly. I also found the vintage Avon pink powder puff. Exactly what I needed for a pop of color. The little clothespin doll my son Quinn gave me for Christmas last year. He personally picked it out at his school's Christmas fair.

Now to solve the storage problem of my toothbrushes and hair accessories! There was this little piece of sparkly something shoved behind a bunch of ceramic cups. I made a grab for it and was thrilled when I found it was a 1950s lipstick holder! We have four people in our family and the toothbrushes fit snugly into this beautiful piece covered in jewels and rhinestones.

Last but not least I found this very colorful tin that was large enough to store my hair accessories.

I can't wait to see what I find next Thursday!

First Post! Revamped Garage Sale goodies

I love revamping (re-purposing) just about anything and making it into something new!

My 7 year old son also happens to love making things and he regularly asks me for just mom & Quinn art time. So we’ve gotten into the habit of visiting yard sales and picking up the unusual odds and ends. When we can't possibly drag ourselves to another yardsale - we haul our treasures home and see what we can make out of the goodies we found.

This doll was made with vintage light bulbs, brillo pads, a metal hinge, food tongs, buttons and vintage doll parts.