1971 Aristocrat Camper Remodel Before and After

The Jones has come a long way since November. Here is the progress I've made on him in five months.

Before:

Despite the condition of this 1971 Aristocrat, you can tell I how ecstatic I was to get it for $450. lol 

After

 Made a long pillow out of a flannel skirt 

 Sewed flannel shirts into curtains 

 Painted over that awful, 70's blue 

 Spray painted all of the hardware shiny silver 

 Put to use some wedding decor ironed on decals to thrift store pillows

Sewed lazy-(wo)man slipcovers using $5 Wal-Mart Sheets 

Redid the counter tops 

Spray Painted the outside white and hunter green 

Skidaway Island State Park 

Hot Springs, NC 

Left to do: 

1. Install an air conditioner

2. Sew an awning 

3. Paint an outdoor rug 

Flannel Bombing the Camper

Turns out we love flannel.

Maybe a little too much.

Nah, that could never be ;)

Instead of paying tons for fabric to make new curtains for our vintage camper, I hit up my local thrift store on a sale day and brought home a bag full of flannel shirts for $2.

Then I cut all of the large portions off and lined them up.

Then I sewed them together one by one and added a loop thingy at the top to put the curtain rod through.
It only took me about one hour to do this project, and I absolute adore my custom made curtains for our little camper :)

Also, while I was at it, I took a flannel skirt , made one cut (cut the waist off) and sewed a pillow out of it. Love.

Hot Springs, North Carolina

Our second trip in The Jones was to Hot Springs, North Carolina. It is a neat little town about 30 minutes outside of Asheville, NC. The campground is privately, not state owned, so it's a little pricey at $40 a night, but the good thing about it is that friends can set up tents on the site, and no one will say anything, so we split the price and saved some money.  Camping is always more lively with friends :)

 This campground has a lot of sites that are right on the river where you can float, raft, or sit in a lounge chair and just watch.

But the best part about this campground though is that you are within walking distances from a spa, a bar-b-que, place, and two taverns. This town is really dog-friendly too, so we were able to take Hank with us and sit on the patio to eat at Spring Creek Tavern.

My friend, April, took some really awesome photos of our camping trip at: NamastApril 

Our little camper looks so cute in the woods!

Camping versus Hotel

On our maiden voyage to Skidaway State Park, I decided to do a cost comparison of camping versus staying in a hotel. Here are the totals:

	Camping	Hotel
Stay	$80 ($27 per night x 3)	Around $500 for 3 nights (this price is based on the average hotel cost close to downtown Savannah, GA)
Gas	$130 (had to take the truck)	$80 (based on my small car’s gas millage)
Food	$125 (based on only eating out once a day plus the grocery bill for breakfast & lunch food)	$150 (based on eating out 2 times a day since most hotels offer free breakfast)
Dog Care	$0	$30 boarding fee
Total	$335	$760
	Saved $425

We almost saved the price of the camper ($450)! Obviously by saving money you lose luxuries like private showers and such, but sometimes it does the heart well to rough it a little :)